Fordyce members bond during religious education, potlucks

Mission was started by diocese in 1977 to serve small community

Published: September 6, 2008

By Linda Webster
Special to Arkansas Catholic

Linda Webster

Good Shepherd Church was built and dedicated in 1989 in Fordyce after parishioners met for 12 years in a variety of locations.

Linda Webster

Good Shepherd Church was built and dedicated in 1989 in Fordyce after parishioners met for 12 years in a variety of locations.

FORDYCE -- Jeanne Devlin gets the coffee started each Saturday around 3 p.m. when she arrives at Good Shepherd in Fordyce for the weekly Mass at 4 p.m.

"I didn't know there were any Catholics around when we moved here in 1971," she said. "Jan Hutchins, now deceased, started calling people in 1976, asking if they were Catholic and whether they wanted to start meeting for Mass."

For the next four years, about 15 people gathered in one another's homes for Mass whenever they could find a priest willing to travel to Dallas County. Good Shepherd was established by the diocese as a mission in 1977. After a few years, Hutchins' husband provided a building on 4th Street, which they remodeled as a makeshift sanctuary. Then, Father George Weber, CM, arrived in Fordyce in 1985.

"Father Weber wanted to build a church," Devlin said, "and he got donations from everywhere, including a rich friend in Dallas and a group in Illinois. By the time he was transferred (1992), everyone in town knew Father Weber. He had a weekly radio show and he still visits every couple of years."

Fordyce serves a small Catholic community of approximately 40 people who have come to south Arkansas from unlikely locations. Jeanne Devlin is originally from Yonkers, N.Y., and Christine Greene, parish treasurer, is from Lindenberg, Germany.

"That's only about 8 miles from where Father Weber was born in Deidesheim," noted Greene. "I've been here about 35 years and I didn't realize there were any Catholics in the area either until I was invited to a Christmas party years ago and met one."

Greene, who recently lost her husband, then suffered a heart attack herself, is afire with parish projects that directly benefit the needy.

"We just bought yarn so that a group of us can knit caps for the cancer patients at (Arkansas) Children's Hospital. We've made rosaries and we pledge a monthly check to Jo Ann Casey in Thornton for her work with the poor."

Greene described the commitment made by parishioners to provide weekly transportation to Pine Bluff for a poverty-stricken cancer patient.

"We're like an extended family," she said. "We're small but we really care about each other."

Even the church building reflects that caring. The grounds are tidy and the inside of the sanctuary is immaculate. There is seating for about 25 people in three short rows of mini-pews. The small church hall is separated from the sanctuary by a vinyl curtain.

Immediately after the weekly Mass at 4 p.m., those receiving sacramental instruction go to the reconciliation room. Since the parish is so small, there is no Rite of Christian Initiation of Aduts program -- adults and children prepare together for the sacraments.

Only recently married, Tammy Ashcraft, a lector and longtime parishioner, provided the donor kidney for her husband in early March and was right back at Mass on Easter Sunday. She drives from Locust Bayou near Hampton where she has lived since 1980. Originally from Missouri, she discovered rural Arkansas while doing construction work and decided to stay.

Because the population is dwindling, there are fewer activities at Good Shepherd these days. There was no Seder Supper this year although it had been a parish fixture for many years. And the Thursday evening Mass is a thing of the past.

"We tried it for a while but so few people could attend that we stopped having it," said Devlin. "We had Stations of the Cross during Lent and we used to have a Wednesday ladies meeting, but that disbanded."

However, a baby was baptized on Holy Saturday, and approximately four or five children and adults received First Communion this spring. Although there have been no weddings at the church, there have been several marriage convalidations.

Good Shepherd is self-supporting, accepting no subsidies from the diocese. And everyone lends a hand to maintain the church building and keep the ministries active.

"We really care about each other," explained Greene. "It's really more than just a building. When my mother and sister visit from Germany, they feel like they have a home here, too."

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the years Father George Weber served in Fordyce. This article has been updated.

Good Shepherd Church

Location: 410 West Oak Street, Fordyce
Established: 1977
Overseen by: Holy Cross, Sheridan
Mass time: 4 p.m. Saturdays
Sacramental Life: Baptism, First Communion, reconciliation, marriage convalidation
Parish Life: Coffee/potluck after Mass, informal outreach to the needy
Ministries: Religious education
Parishioner's Perspective: "We really care about each other. It's really more than just a building." -- Christine Greene