Decree of Erection of the Parish
Father Joshua Passo, FSSP preaching at the
First Mass
ATTENTION UNA VOCE MEMBERS IN THE SAVANNAH DIOCESE
PLEASE READ THE BELOW. UNA VOCE WORKED HARD TO HAVE THE NEWEST
FSSP APOSTOLATE IN THE USA. THEY NOT ONLY RECEIVED A NEW PERSONAL PARISH BUT
TWO CHURCHES !!!!!!!
This is from the newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
SPRINGDALE – The Latin Mass community in Northwest Arkansas now
has its own home. The newly established parish of Our Lady of Sorrows
celebrated its first Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 12 in
Springdale.
The apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter will
oversee the parish as well as St. John the Baptist Church in Cabot. All Masses
are in Latin and follow the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Around 190 congregants attended the church blessing and the
votive Mass that followed.
In spite of freezing temperatures, parishioners watched as vicar
general Father John Connell, also of Springdale, walked around the building
with Father Joshua Passo, FSSP, and altar servers, blessing, singing Psalms and
sprinkling all four corners of the church with holy water.
Father Passo, a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
who is also the associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Parish in Cabot, spoke
during the Mass of the hard work and sacrifice of the parishioners and others
who had helped make the dream of a Latin Mass community in northwest Arkansas a
reality.
“I am most humbled by the fruits of your labor and dedicate the
labors of my priesthood,” said Father Passo, as he thanked the congregants,
other priests present and Bishop Anthony B. Taylor. “How fitting in dedicating
the parish to Our Lady of Sorrows, as Our Lady will teach us how to suffer and
how to love her son. We start a new family as a parish, a new spiritual family
and a community trying to love God, to go to heaven and to be sanctified.”
Father Connell served as the bishop’s delegate for the blessing
and read the decree establishing the church as a parish. Bishop Taylor was
unable to attend because he was in isolation after contracting COVID-19.
“The Latin community has grown since my arrival here in northwest
Arkansas in 2009,” said Father Connell after the Mass. “I am very happy that I
was able to work with them and to see them become their own parish today.”
The church, at 1600 W. Graham Road in Springdale, is centrally
located for surrounding communities and convenient to the I-49 bypass.
Formerly, the 5,000-square-foot metal building functioned as a Lutheran church
that was looking to downsize. The community was able to buy the church,
complete with a steeple and pews, another small building that will function as
a rectory and nine acres of property for $750,000. The altar is flanked by two
niches, with statues of Our Lady of Sorrows on one side and St. Joseph on the
other, and is separated by a Communion rail.
The Latin Mass community in the area had its beginnings with a
few parishioners at St. Joseph Church in Tontitown. The late Father Greg Hart
began celebrating the Latin Mass for a small group in 2011. Beginning in 2017,
priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter from the Most Precious Blood
Parish in Tulsa began traveling to Tontitown to celebrate a Latin Mass on
Sunday at 4:30 p.m. As the community grew, it became possible to move forward
in establishing a parish. With the bishop’s permission, they began to look for
their own property.
Father Paul Jared McCambridge, also a member of the Priestly
Fraternity of St. Peter and pastor of St. John the Baptist in Cabot, was given
oversight for the congregation.
“They had begun their work before I began serving as a pastor
for them in June of 2020,” Father McCambridge said. “In order to meet their
needs, both Bishop Taylor and my superiors believed it seemed fit that a priest
and parish would benefit all involved. So once there was assurance that the
congregation could raise funds and acquire the building, the timing seemed
right for establishing a parish.”
Parishioner Marie Nowak began attending the Latin Mass in March.
Her family moved from Minnesota four years ago and was a member of St. Bernard
Church in Bella Vista.
“We were drawn to the reverent community, the tradition and the
large families we met here,” said Nowak, mother of 10.
Becky Guy said she and her husband Chris were on a date night
and attended the Latin Mass last spring and were drawn to the traditional Mass.
“We began bringing the kids and coming more to the Latin Mass a
couple of months ago,” she said.
The Fakult family joined the Latin Mass community in 2011. Their
two boys, Matthew and Andrew, were altar servers at St. Joseph for almost a
decade and fittingly served at the first Mass for Our Lady of Sorrows.
“What drew us to the Mass is that it is holy,” Mike Fakult said.
“The Latin Mass sanctifies us as parishioners and a community, but it also
sanctifies the whole area for the parish to be established.”
Michael Gray, a convert to the faith, began attending the Latin
Mass in 2013.
“We have seen a lot of young families and a significant number
of Hispanic families begin to attend the Latin Mass,” he said.
Gray was a member of the building committee that began looking
for property and helped spearhead pledge drives.
“People responded well to the pledge drives,” Gray said. “We did
a generic drive for (the) property, with Fraternity support and the bishop’s
support, from 2017-2018. The second pledge drive had more focus and identified a
timeline for establishing the parish. Both drives exceeded our expectations
with contributors from several parishes and individuals interested in seeing
the church be established. We closed on April 30, the feast day of St.
Catherine of Sienna, and we had funds to begin the remodeling project, which
has been all from donations.”
Members of the community suggested naming the parish for Our
Lady of Sorrows, and Bishop Taylor agreed.
Father McCambridge said Our Lady of Sorrows will begin a gradual
transition to establish fulltime parish life with a regular Mass schedule and a
pastor from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter assigned there. Currently,
Father McCambridge serves as the administrator and Father Passo serves as the
assistant administrator, with the intention of Father Passo moving to
Springdale and assuming more responsibility.
Father McCambridge said attendance in Cabot and Tontitown has
grown over the years. Families registered in the Springdale parish have
increased from 35 to about 55 in the past six months, totaling about 190
parishioners.
“Part of it is a desire that Catholics have to get a taste or
sense of the ancient traditional practice of the Church,” he said
this home, and under its shelter let there be health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness, mildness, obedience to your commandments, and thanksgiving to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May your blessing remain always in this home and on those who live here; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
