The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
ENGLAND -- Before a mission was established in England in 1976, Catholic families in the area went to Carlisle, Slovak, Pine Bluff or Little Rock to attend Mass.
Parishioner Donna Busick, 63, recalled how the late Joe Dolan would take his children, along with several others, to Mass at the Cathedral of St. Andrew every Sunday. England, located in Lonoke County, is about 30 miles from downtown Little Rock.
"He was kind of our inspiration to get this church built," Busick said.
Requests had been made to get a priest to celebrate Mass in England for years, but it was the late Father Frederick Zarrilli who eventually volunteered for the job.
Parishioner Martha Melkovitz, 74, said when Kelly and Charles Higdon moved to England in 1975 and discovered there was no Catholic church, they contacted every Catholic family in England and also in nearby Keo and Scott. They found about 20 families and got them together to lobby for a Mass in the largely farming community.
The Higdons wrote Bishop Andrew J. McDonald and asked to meet with him about getting a regular Mass in England. In February 1976, Bishop McDonald visited Melkovitz's home in Keo and "heard our pleas," Melkovitz said.
At the time Father Zarrilli was pastor of St. Augustine Church in North Little Rock and he stepped forward to offer Mass in England.
According to the
Melkovitz said Father Zarrilli is the reason they have a church today.
"He was a missionary at heart," she said.
Melkovitz and Busick recalled their experiences in the pool house fondly.
Mass was celebrated "while the kids were swimming," Melkovitz said with a laugh.
"We had us a little portable organ," she said. "We had our folding chairs and Father said Mass at a folding table."
At Christmas time, the Jaycees decorated the room for a party and Busick said they benefited from the decor.
"When we turned on the lights for Mass the Christmas lights all came on," she said.
"We were just so thankful to have somebody come and say Mass, we'dve done it out in the middle of a field," Melkovitz said.
"This is the middle of a field," Mike Dolan replied.
Dolan is parish council president and son of Joe Dolan. He was referring to the fact that England did eventually get a Catholic church and it was built on three acres of farmland one mile west of England. The Dolan family donated the land.
Melkovitz, Busick, Dolan, all founding members of the parish, as well as parishioner Edith Workman spoke with Arkansas Catholic at their church on July 29. Pastor Father Thomas Keller also took part in the interview.
While describing how their church came to be, the group looked through old photo albums getting lost in the past. When one spoke, another finished the thought or added a detail that caused everyone to laugh.
"You can also see we've got a bunch of comedians that belong to the church too," Melkovitz explained.
A plaque in the entryway of the church expresses gratitude to the Catholic Church Extension Society, which awarded the small Catholic community a $10,000 grant to help build the church in 1977.
With that money and the value of the land, the group borrowed the rest from the Diocese of Little Rock. Then on Sept. 25, 1977, Bishop McDonald dedicated Holy Trinity Church.
According to the Oct. 4, 1977, Guardian, the 82-foot by 40-foot church had a sanctuary with folding partition separating it from a fellowship hall, kitchen and bathrooms. The small mission parish paid off its $70,000 loan by 1986.
Today the well-cared-for church stands exactly as it was built 31 years ago. Father Keller offers Mass on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. He is also pastor at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carlisle, the parish that oversees Holy Trinity.
Though the mission was never a large community, its numbers have declined in recent years. Most parishioners are older. There are only a couple of young families with children.
"We keep hoping some young families will move in, but I don't know what they'd move here for," Melkovitz said. "This is a farming community and so many farmers are not farming anymore and they've had to move away to find a job."
Together about 3,350 people live in England, Scott and Keo.
"We have an ad in the (news)paper for any new families, and we have had a new family or two in past few months," Busick said.
Father Keller added that a retired deacon and his wife recently moved to England from Chicago.
Workman, 86, said on average 20 people attend Mass each week. She keeps track of attendance, compiles the bulletin and launders the altar linens.
Dolan, 64, said parishioners have weekly assignments serving as lectors, ushers and eucharistic ministers. Two men, one of whom is Dolan, also assist Father Keller as "senior servers" at Mass. Breakfast is served each week after Mass.
Busick said about 12 core people see to the overall operation of the parish.
Dolan said with each pastor they receive he stresses, "first of all, he is not an employee. All we want to try to have him do is show us the way. The (maintenance) is taken care of; that's one less worry for him. And I think the priest appreciates that."
Though they are a small group, Melkovitz said they are diverse.
"We have a Hispanic family. We have a black family; we have Irish and Italian. We just have a mixture of everything," Busick explained.
Outside communication with the parish goes through St. Rose Church, but Dolan said if anyone wants to reach his parish, they should just look up his family because everyone in the area knows "the Dolan name's got to be Catholic."
As for parish life, having breakfast after Mass helps parishioners catch up with each other.
"We used to have dinners and things and we just, I don't know, everybody's getting older, we've got a bunch of widows floating around here so we don't get out and prowl at night the way we used to," Melkovitz said with a laugh.
"Last year we had a Why Catholic? class," Busick said.
Dolan said the parish supports the local food bank and sends money to his wife's cousin who is a nun in South America.
When the parish had more children religious education classes were offered.
"We had 12 to 15 kids or more," Busick said. "We had about three different classes going for the three different age groups."
Now the few children in the parish go to classes in Carlisle, 30 minutes away.
"Our kids grew up," Busick said, "and they didn't come back."
For those that remained, "when their children got to be school-age, they wanted parochial education so they would go elsewhere," Dolan said.
"Back when we had large families we used to have picnics," Melkovitz said. "We'd play silly games and had a good time."
"We'd go out to Martha's or my parents' house and have potlucks and play baseball," Dolan added.
These days parishioners are very concerned they won't be able to keep a priest to celebrate Mass at their church.
"We pray a lot," Busick said. "I don't want to have to start driving 25 miles to church somewhere."
Father Keller has served the parish for the past three years.
"We love our church, we just love our church," Busick said. "We hope and pray that the new bishop will let us stay here. We're going to take care of it and pray that Father cooperates with us and doesn't retire."
Holy Trinity
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