Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced the following pastoral appointment:
Fr. John Paul Hartnedy, relieved of his responsibilities as associate pastor of St. Theresa Church in Little Rock effective Sept. 18. Assigned as priest-in-residence at St. Joseph Church in Conway effective Oct. 6.
For Andi Dunn, upholding Catholic Social Teaching runs in the family. The daughter of St. Theresa School in Little Rock’s principal Kristy Dunn, the 20-year-old is an intern at Catholic Charities of Arkansas. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s in public administration and a double minor in Spanish and philosophy at the University of Central Arkansas.
“Working here, I have so many more people my age who work down there that I could talk to about faith and about my struggles,” she said.
Dunn works with many young Catholics, not just at Catholic Charities, but in faith formation and religious education at St. Theresa Church. She has seen firsthand the drive and passion of young Catholics and the Church’s future.
“It makes me really sad when I see those reports that say the Church is dying, because it’s not. I see it everywhere — I see it at Catholic Charities, where everyone I talk to, they care so much about so many things. I think it’s that passion for helping people. I don’t think that goes away in any of us. I think our faith pulls us there even more.”
Her work at Catholic Charities and her upbringing in a family that cares deeply about Catholic Social Teaching and education have led Dunn to “remember the stranger” in everything that she does — which has led to living a life of action, amplifying her faith.
“Really, it’s the act along with your faith. You could say you believe in God, but if you don’t follow it out with acts, it’s not going to come through. So it’s getting to do that work of working with refugees and working with clients and having them feel that love and that faith as well, sharing that love with them really brought me back into it — this really is the true thing. It was much deeper than it had ever been.”
“My favorite thing, and I tell people this all the time, is that it’s better to be kind than nice. Being nice does not necessarily mean helping someone.”
Marj Hunecker, member of Court Our Little Flower, #2287 of St. Theresa Church in Little Rock, was selected as the 2025 Arkansas State Catholic Daughters of the Americas Woman of the Year. Hunecker has been active in her local court for several years and has served as local court regent, recording secretary and Circle of Love education chairman. On her nomination form, she was described this way: “With her giving spirit, Marj has given anonymously of her money, time and talent in other ways that only God knows about.”
More than 500 lay Catholics, clergy and men and women religious packed into every available space at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro May 13 to watch seminarian Quinton Thomas be ordained a transitional deacon.
With this Mass and celebration, Thomas is one step closer to becoming a priest.
For as long as he can remember, Thomas has felt a call to the priesthood.
“I don’t remember learning that there was a God. I think by grace, by providence, I kind of knew that there was a God from very early on,” Thomas told Arkansas Catholic.
Thomas’ mother and his devout Catholic grandparents played a pivotal role in his early faith formation. It was during Thomas’ First Communion that he felt the Lord whisper into his heart.
“I remember after I received my First Communion, I was smiling, and I remember feeling self-conscious about it and looking over to see whether other kids were smiling to see whether I was supposed to be smiling. And I saw that they weren’t. And so I thought I wasn’t supposed to be, so I tried to stop, but I couldn’t quit smiling,” he admitted with a laugh.
“So I ended up putting a hand over my face as I walked back, because I was kind of embarrassed. But I had a really tender kind of closeness to God as a child, but it became more mine very early on. I entered seminary right out of high school because that was what I had wanted to do, basically since my First Communion.”
But Thomas was all smiles May 13 as Bishop Anthony B. Taylor announced from the altar that Thomas, 25, was the first person to be ordained from Blessed Sacrament Church — an announcement that sent murmurs of excitement through the crowd and prompted applause.
During his homily, Bishop Taylor said Thomas’ ordination was the first of five that will be happening in May, and that the lessons he shares in each ordination homily apply to all seminarians.
“By virtue of your ordination here today, your life becomes irrevocably a life lived for the benefit of others,” he said. “As an ordained deacon, you become a minister of the word, sacrament and charity, a servant of Jesus, his Church and indeed the entire human family.”
Thomas said he is enthusiastic about learning different languages in his spare time — a skill that will also be helpful in his priesthood.
“I would say that my Spanish and French are proficient. We just got to go to Italy, so that was my first time to actually try Italian, to try really using it. … I can get by in Italian pretty decently well. Another language I really have fun with is Vietnamese. I was at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock for my ministry assignment a few years ago. I was assigned there to teach kids and do catechesis, and a friend paid for Vietnamese lessons for me. I took a semester of Vietnamese through an online school in Saigon. And then I do classical languages — my Latin and Hebrew are OK,” he said with a chuckle.
“Quinton has several traits that will make him a great priest, but one stands out. Quinton believes. He believes with Catholic faith from his whole person. Jesus is his savior, and the people under Quinton’s care will come to know that very well,” said Father Jeff Hebert, vocations director for the Diocese of Little Rock.
Thomas will be ministering this summer at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock and is looking forward to getting to know the people he serves. After his final semester this fall, in January he will begin his “vocational synthesis” at a parish before he is ordained a priest in May 2026.
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor will ordain Deacon Joel Brackett to the priesthood at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 31 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock. He will celebrate the 10 a.m. English Mass and noon Spanish Mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers Sunday, June 1.
The bishop will also ordain five seminarians to the transitional diaconate in May, which is a major step toward priestly ordination. These men attend St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Ind., in preparation for priestly ordination in 2026.
Quinton Thomas was ordained a deacon Tuesday, May 13 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro. He will serve his first Masses as a deacon and preach his first homily at Blessed Sacrament Church during the 4:30 p.m. English Mass Saturday, May 17 and the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. English Masses and noon Spanish Mass Sunday, May 18. He will serve as a deacon at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock for the summer.
The diaconate ordination Mass for Duwan Booker will be celebrated at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 15 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock. He will serve his first Mass as a deacon and preach his first homily at the 10:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, May 18, at St. Augustine Church in North Little Rock. He will serve as a deacon at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Village, Holy Cross Church in Crossett and Holy Spirit Church in Hamburg for the summer.
The diaconate ordination Mass for Joseph Minh Phong Nguyen and Tuan Do will be celebrated at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 21 at St. Patrick Church in North Little Rock. Nguyen will serve his first Mass as a deacon and preach his first homily at the 10 a.m. Vietnamese Mass Sunday, May 25, at St. Patrick Church. He will serve as a deacon at Christ the King Church in Fort Smith for the summer.
Do will serve his first Mass as a deacon and preach his first homily at the 4 p.m. English Mass Saturday, May 24 and the 8:30 a.m. English Mass Sunday, May 25 at St. Patrick Church. He will serve as a deacon at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro for the summer.
Christopher Elser will be ordained a deacon at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24 at Christ the King Church in Little Rock. He will serve his first Mass as a deacon and preach his first homily at the 10 a.m. Mass Sunday, May 25 at Christ the King Church. He will serve as a deacon at St. Mary Church in Batesville and St. Cecilia Church in Newport for the summer.
The underserved in Little Rock now have a place where they can access affordable health care.
Dr. Lee and Lori Wilbur, members of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, began their ministry in 2018 with outreach events. Now, the cofounders of Divine Mercy Health Center have been operating their first physical location since December.
The brick-and-mortar clinic, located at 6221 Colonel Glenn Road, Suite B, has 13 full-time and part-time staff and medical personnel to help the most underserved in Arkansas.
In 2013, Lee, an emergency medical physician, and his wife, Lori, a physical therapist, relocated from Indiana to Arkansas and got active in their parish. Over time, their experiences in health care strengthened their faith-driven commitment to serve the needy.
“Central Arkansas faces significant health care challenges, particularly in rural and underserved communities,” Lee said. “Seventy-two percent of counties in Arkansas are rural, and 68 percent have Health Professional Shortage Areas.
“Arkansas ranks poorly in most health issues compared to the rest of the nation. Hard economic times make these challenges worse. Over 95 percent of our mobile medical mission patients are uninsured, and over 80 percent come from economically impoverished families. Over 90 percent of our patients lack a primary care physician. Even among our clinic patients, only about 30 percent have Medicare and Medicaid. That means that the population we serve consists of people who, for the most part, would really struggle to afford or access health care if we did not exist. These barriers make it very difficult for the marginalized to achieve their best health.”
“We feel called and have been taught by our faith to be the hands and feet of Christ,” Lori said. “There is so much suffering in our world, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual, and these are hard situations that can seem hopeless and overwhelming. But just because we can’t help or cure everyone, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do something. So we do our part and trust in God to do the rest.”
The pandemic led the Wilburs to realize that they needed to meet the most vulnerable where they were at until they could work through the paperwork and responsibilities that come with starting a clinic.
The two partnered with churches in Little Rock to host mobile medical missions once a month throughout the city, such as St. Theresa Church and the Cathedral of St. Andrew. The effort caught the attention of pastor Mark DeYmaz at Mosaic Church, who offered the clinic a suite on the church property.
The Wilburs say the uniqueness of their medical mission lies in its accessibility and affordability.
“I often refer to it as the 10 Fitness of medicine,” Lee said. “We’ve got different membership levels and opportunities available for patients.”
People can also sponsor patients by buying memberships anonymously.
“Since seeing our first patient on Dec. 12, we’ve continued to grow tremendously,” Lori said. “In these few months, we have seen over 350 individuals and are grateful to all those who have entrusted us with their care.”
Deacon Don Greenway, a retired gastroenterologist who serves at Christ the King Church, volunteers at DMHC.
“I assist Lee as a volunteer doctor at both the permanent clinic and the free rotating clinics at the churches,” he wrote in a letter sent to Catholics in Central Arkansas, updating them on progress at the clinic. “Our dream and plan is to one day spread this model of care for the poor throughout the state of Arkansas. The clinic is a hybrid model. Patients are asked to pay a small fee for care as we become their ‘family physicians’ at a very low cost. Rest assured that no one is turned away, as we see everyone who enters the clinic.”
Even with a permanent location, the staff and volunteers continue to work weekends to operate one-day outreach events, partnering with Catholic and non-Catholic churches in Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Medical missions could expand into Faulkner County in the next 12 to 18 months.
“Our Medical Missions Program serves 40-60 individuals per mission and operates seven-10 missions annually, providing a wide range of medical, mental health and addiction services,” she said. “Our efforts have led to 20 medical missions, 550-plus exercise classes and 90-plus cancer screenings, as well as donations of thousands of pounds of healthy food to families in need.”
Betty Jo King, a parishioner at Christ the King Church and volunteer coordinator with DMHC, said, “It’s exciting to see the growth of the free Medical Mission Days, which are hosted by churches. In 2024, we offered six medical missions at three locations, and we are on track to offer nine medical missions in 2025 to five different churches.”
The Wilburs said they hope to open more clinics in the future and spread the medical ministry around the state.
Staffers and volunteers of DMHC gathered at Christ the King Church April 27 to pray and celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.
Neal Reeves, a parishioner at Christ the King Church, a diaconate candidate and nursing professor, said, “From the beginning, Lee Wilbur’s vision for DMHC has been to reach the marginalized and forgotten in society in our modern health care model, and that was realized in the mission outreaches. Since the clinic has opened, these individuals, who so badly need consistent health care, have come to DMHC because they know us or heard about us and know we live out the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40… Pope Francis was a great role model for all of us on the importance of prioritizing the needs of the poor and marginalized, and we are doing our part right here in Little Rock.”
The clinic is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit divinemercyhealthcenter.org.
Linda Williams gave a presentation on behalf of the Diocese of Little Rock’s Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Pornography to more than 20 Catholic Daughters of the Americas during their 100th anniversary conference at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock April 5.
Vincente Gonzalez, a speaker with the Diocese of Little Rock’s Task Force Against Human Trafficking and Pornography, gives a presentation in Spanish to more than 75 attendees at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock March. 12. Several informational handouts and resources were also shared with attendees before closing with a prayer.