The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Change is in the wind at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Crawfordsville.
In some ways, the updates are new but also sort of a return to what the church looked like when it was dedicated in 1949, replacing a wooden structure that burned.
Parishioners have been pitching in to do the work and hope to complete the renovation in time to celebrate Easter, said parishioner Carol Smith.
The parish has long been paired with St. Michael Church in West Memphis. Father Les Farley makes the trek from St. Michael to celebrate Mass with the parishioners at 8 a.m. on Sundays.
The inside of the church was recently painted, the carpeting removed and a new wooden floor put in and it has new pews, which came from a church in Illinois.
"It has been quite a transformation, and it is just awesome," Smith said. "I remember what the church looked like from when I was a child."
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The church renovation has been done with the encouragement of Father Farley, Smith said.
"It really has been more of a restoration, and he has been very inspirational and has really helped a great deal to get this done," Smith said. "That has helped a lot that he has worked with us on that. A lot of the work has been done by parishioners. Some went to pick up the pews, others worked to get the pews shortened. There was a lot of expense of time and talent that was given to this that would have possibly made doing it prohibitive because of the cost but having parishioners able to do this has helped a lot. When you are a small community like this, you have those expenses that get taken care of by people serving instead of paying people to do the job. What few talents we do have we give back to the church.
"This church has inspired a lot of people I think and will continue, hopefully, to inspire," Smith added.
The first Sunday of the month, after Mass they have a fellowship in their "parish hall," also known as the sacristy, where they get together for coffee and doughnuts.
The parish is proud of the two brothers from Sacred Heart of Jesus Church who are diocesan priests, Father John Marconi, pastor of St. Paul Church in Pocahontas, and Father Joe Marconi, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Tontitown.
Smith recalls them as boys serving at Mass here.
"Whenever they come back to visit, they talk about the fact that this is their home. We are very proud of that fact," Smith said.
She recalls one time she was leading a Word and Communion service in the 1990s. Father Joe Marconi was a seminarian and was present that Sunday. Usually at these celebrations, there was no homily, but since the seminarian was there, he was asked to give a reflection.
"We were all just completely in awe, even his mother, Lucille," she said. "You could hear a pin drop. It was unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. I remember everyone talking after because Joey was always very quiet and reserved and soft spoken. I don't know why, but we never thought that he would be one to stand up and, I mean he just had everybody, from his first couple of sentences. It was like, "Oh my God, what a wonderful priest we are about to have.' It really was a memorable experience."
The mission started as a community of farming families, but now there are only a few farmers in the congregation. Most of their children have gone off to find other careers.
The parish also serves as a small venue for different functions, she said. A wedding was celebrated there in January with a couple from Little Rock.
The church continues to grow, getting converts who Smith said find the small parish a comfortable fit.
"We have couple of parishioners, one who just converted to Catholicism from the Episcopal Church, she said. "Her husband converted to Catholicism as a teenager and had been away from the Church for a number of years. He had called and decided they wanted to get back into the Church atmosphere but did not want a whole lot of people I guess, from the shyness of it. They have been coming to church here, she has since converted to Catholicism, and they renewed their vows."
Like many parishes, families have their history there.
"This is where I got married, this is where I met my husband," Smith said. "It is a good place to be from."
As in many parishes, families continue their traditions.
"Those who originally started out as lectors, servers and eucharistic ministers are now seeing their children and grandchildren continuing their ministry in the church as their parents and grandparents did," she said.
Lucille Marconi credits Sacred Heart parishioners for having a lot to do with two priests coming from the parish.
"They grew up here, were altar boys and served Mass, and people through the years have prayed for them and encouraged them. That had a lot to do with them being priests," she said.
The mission is holding steady at about 50 parishioners.
"We may lose some, but we gain some more," Marconi said. "Our church is fairly full every Sunday and holy days. The ladies are wonderful about keeping the church up and the men keep the yard up but really basically it is the same. It is just faces, we gain some and we lose some. I am getting to be one of the older ones now."
Marconi keeps busy helping her son Michael at Uncle John's Restaurant, which was started by her late husband. The restaurant is home to many church functions. Priests eat free.
"Uncle John's has been a part of the church," she said.
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