A History of St. Joseph Church
By Gretchen Gearhart
As the people of St. Joseph Parish, Fayetteville, Arkansas, moved to a new home on Starr Road in August 2002 after 130 years on Lafayette Street, it seems appropriate to look back to their beginnings and tell the story of the Catholic community in Fayetteville from 1844 to the present, of the valiant priests and lay people who served the church as it developed from the small Irish community of worshipers to a thriving multi-cultural parish of more than one thousand families.
On March 10, 1844, the year after the creation of the Diocese of Little Rock, the ordination of an Irish-born priest, Andrew Byrne, as Bishop of Arkansas took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Soon after, he and two priests, Fathers John Corry and James Donahoe set out for Arkansas by way of New Orleans, arriving in Little Rock on June 4.
Not long after their arrival, Bishop Byrne sent Father Corry to Fort Smith to build a church. Father Corry was a man of independent means, having been a merchant in Boston prior to ordination. While stationed in Fort Smith, he traveled over the Boston Mountains, no doubt by horseback, to Fayetteville, where he purchased 440 acres of land for church purposes. According to a 1925 history of the church in Arkansas, “His ambition was to establish an Irish Catholic colony, with Church and school as center.” He built a log chapel on the land which was in use until the Civil War. When Father Corry learned that Bishop Byrne planned to locate the church and college he envisioned at Fort Smith instead of Fayetteville, “he felt a bitter disappointment and went back to New York.” On January 12, 1847, Father Corry deeded over the land to Bishop Byrne for the sum of $1.00. Settlement of the land by Irish families had begun in 1846 with the arrival of the William Flynn family. The bishop made additional land purchases in 1854 and 1856, making his total holdings 630 acres, all near what is now Mission Boulevard and Crossover Road.
The earliest recorded baptisms in Fayetteville were performed by
Father Peter Walsh in 1847: William, son of slaves Bob and Alera, and Judith, daughter of Kate, a slave, on February 15. Five days later Father Walsh baptized Alira (Alera?), a forty-five-year-old slave, and her daughter Miranda, and on December 5, Augustus Merrill, legitimate son of James Merrill and Elisabeth Dixon. A man named J. B. Costa sponsored the slaves. Would that more were known about these people. One wonders if they were accepted by the Irish families and attended Mass in the log chapel.
Priests from Fort Smith served the Fayetteville area until 1881, making the arduous trek over the mountains by horseback. Father Laurence Smyth was the first to make regular visits. Beginning in 1857 he came two to four times each year, with the exception of the Civil War years, when there were no visits by a priest for four years. Diocesan records show Father Laurence Smyth as the first priest assigned to St. Joseph’s Parish (1870-1872), followed by his brother, Father Michael Smyth, (1872-1880).
The visiting priests celebrated Mass first in the log cabin on the Flynn property and later in the Flynn home until a frame church was built at the corner of Lafayette and Willow, on a plot of land purchased by Maurice Coffey for $100 and donated to the church. Bishop Edward Fitzgerald dedicated the church in June 1878. At this time the parish, which had been known as St. Mary’s or Mount Saint Mary’s, was named for St. Joseph. This church building served until 1936.
Father P. J. Reilly of Boston was St. Joseph’s first resident priest. Until a room was built for the priests adjoining the church, the Byrnes family gave him a room and the Coffeys, his meals. Fr. Reilly served only from 1881 to 1883. After that, priests were in residence only intermittently until after World War I.
The first Catholic cemetery in Fayetteville is a plot on the Flynn farm not far from the log house that served as a chapel. William Flynn and his wife and two Coffey children are buried here. Later Patrick Hennessey, one of the early settlers, donated land for the cemetery on Highway 45 which is still in use.
Father Pietro Bandini, the founder of Tontitown, served Fayetteville in 1899-1900, 1906, 1909, and 1911-1914. Father Bandini established a parochial school, St. Joseph’s Academy, in Fayetteville in 1916 under the guidance of Ursuline Sisters from Springfield, Missouri. Classes were first held in a former home on Washington Avenue, then in the remodeled rectory on the church grounds, which was dedicated Sunday, October 24, 1920, by the Right Rev. Bishop John B. Morris. Each room of the building was separately blessed, after which all proceeded to the church for Mass. The children’s choir sang during the Mass, concluding with “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.”
St. Joseph’s acquired its first resident pastor in June 1916. Rev. Walter J. Tynin, S.T.L., who was the first native-born Arkansan ordained for the Diocese of Little Rock, had been appointed pastor of St. Joseph’s and would also serve Rogers and Benton County. He arrived in Fayetteville on June 30 and on Saturday once more placed the Blessed Sacrament in the church.
The historical record is not clear regarding the parish property at Lafayette and Willow. The frame church dedicated in 1878 faced Willow Street. In 1885 a small room added to the frame church provided living quarters for the priests. A. M. Byrnes built a house for the priests south of the church in 1888. In 1920 this rectory was remodeled for use as a school and living quarters for the sisters. This building was later moved to the east, facing Lafayette, now site of the school playground.
With the laying of the cornerstone for a new edifice on the corner of Lafayette and Willow on July 18, 1936, St. Joseph’s parishioners rejoiced that the congregation would soon have a more comfortable house of worship. The completed building was dedicated by Bishop John B. Morris on November 8, 1937.
Vivid in the memory of longtime members of St. Joseph’s is the tragic fire which took the lives of the pastor, Father Charles McCauley, and a visiting priest, Father Dollarton, on Christmas Eve 1946. Father McCauley was ill with influenza, and the night was extremely cold. An explosion in an overheated gas stove started a fire. Ellen Coffey and her family were at the scene before the fire engines arrived. The housekeeper, who lived downstairs, tried to save the men, but rescue was impossible due to the intensity of the flames.
In 1948, after more than twenty years without a school, under the leadership of Father Francis J. McKee the parish acquired a residence on the corner of Lafayette and Walnut and opened a school there with 39 pupils taught by Benedictine sisters from St. Scholastica in Fort Smith. [From this beginning, the school continued to grow, until] an all-day kindergarten with teachers Susann Heckel and Lois Heckel gave support to the school for about seven years beginning in 1955, as many non-Catholic parents enrolled their children.
When in 1969 their request for raises was denied, the Benedictine sisters announced their intention to leave. It is said that Father Maloy could not accept the Benedictine sisters’ decision to abandon their traditional habits and thereafter was less open to their needs. The Franciscan Sisters of Wheaton, Illinois, joined the teaching staff in 1971. Four lay teachers were also on the staff. In the years following, enrollment dropped below acceptable levels, and the school’s continuance was in jeopardy. Parishioner Fred O’Baugh led the effort to bring two Franciscan Brothers [of the Holy Cross, from Springfield, IL] to the school in 1981. Brothers from that order remained until August 1996. From 1982 to 1986 Brother Andrew Schmidt, FFSC served as principal. He was followed by Ann Ferrell Wilson, who served for ten years. During her tenure, a six-classroom addition made room for the nearly 300 students and 14 teachers. Deacon Chuck Marino succeeded Mrs. Wilson in 1996. Paula Thiessen, became principal of the school in 1999.
The pastor with the longest term of service to St. Joseph was Father Edward R. Maloy, who arrived on January 1, 1951, and served until 1973. Under his guidance the parish built both the old school (313 E. Lafayette) and church (Corner of Lafayette and Walnut). Building the church on Lafayette and Walnut was possibly Father Maloy’s most challenging undertaking. Bishop Albert L. Fletcher dedicated the church on Sunday, September 22, 1968.
Rev. Leo Reidmuller (1973-1975) succeeded Father Maloy and was by all accounts a much-loved pastor. However, he served only two years. His successor was Rev. Rudolph E. Maus (1975-1993). Father Maus had been pastor briefly in 1939 when he was twenty-four years old and newly ordained. Father Maus, later Monsignor Maus, served until his retirement at the request of Bishop McDonald in 1993. “A thrifty German who took no salary, cut the grass, and shoveled snow,” he is also remembered as a fine storyteller who loved to fish and tend his vegetable garden behind the rectory. During his tenure, the parish was able to pay off its mortgage on the church.
The year 1993 brought major changes to St. Joseph Parish. Following Msgr. Maus’s retirement on June 1, St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish and St. Joseph combined under Father Mark Wood, who was already pastor of St. Thomas. By August 1994 St. Thomas and St. Joseph separated. In October 1994 St. Joseph’s Parish purchased a 2500-square-foot house on Hillcrest Avenue for $115,000 to serve as a rectory, thus providing the pastor a home removed from his office with space for visiting priests or other guests. Other properties owned by the parish include the former rectory at 310 Sutton Street, which was renamed Holy Family House, and a duplex at 346 Willow Avenue, Guardian Angel House, which were used by the school and for parish activities.
The Pastoral Council took a major step in December 1995 when it accepted a long-range plan calling for purchase of land and construction of a new church and fellowship hall. That plan was refined by the Core Team and a capital campaign was planned for Fall 1998. In May of 1998, Fr. Mark Wood was transferred on and the parish was administered by a pastoral team for the short term until the arrival of Fr. John K. Antony in August 1998. Having determined that it would be nearly impossible for the parish to support a two-campus complex, in February 1999 Father John Antony presented to the Parish Council a new proposal from the Core Team to build a combination worship center, parish hall, school, and parish offices with seating for one thousand at an estimated cost of $3 million. Hight-Jackson Associates were the architects for this phase. A campaign in the fall of 1999 under the direction of Kara Rago to raise $2 million in pledges toward the cost of construction of a Worship Center and Educational Center exceeded the goal by $43,000. Proceeds of the sale of the property on Lafayette will also go toward the project. Due to the cost, by canon law, this new facility required Vatican approval, which was acquired on May 8, 2001. The following day, Bishop Sartain signed the building contract with Nabholz Construction Corporation, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 5. The Worship Center and Educational Facility were completed in the summer of 2002. The Worship Center will serve as the church for the St. Joseph Community until, following a second capital campaign to raise the necessary funds, a sanctuary is constructed at the site.
The Educational Facility consists of 20 classrooms for St. Joseph School including classrooms for music, art, computer lab, and the library for grades kindergarten through seven, as well as a pre-kindergarten class for four-year-old children. Additional rooms will house the parish offices and provide space for parish activities.
Parish obligations in the area of social justice were a continuing concern. St. Joseph’s is well regarded in the Fayetteville community for its continuing financial support, volunteer hours, and regular food collections for various outreach programs. The parish has also increased its efforts to respond to the needs of mentally challenged members.
As large numbers of Hispanic people began moving to the area, the Northwest (Arkansas) Deanery took steps to serve the many Catholics among them. In 1994-1995 the Deanery arranged for Vincentian priests to move to Northwest Arkansas to minister to Hispanics. All parishes in the Deanery share in the expenses for this ministry. Vincentians who served include Father Rex Hays, Father Tom Stehlik, and Father Miles Heinen. St. Joseph has had a Mass in Spanish at 2 p.m. every Sunday since 1994. Bilingual Masses are held several times each year. The entire parish is invited to join in celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
Father Antony spent less than a year in Fayetteville, however, as Bishop Andrew J. McDonald sent him to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., to study canon law in May 1999. From May to July of that year Father Jose Thelekkatt, S.D.B., from India, served as priest-in-residence. Rev. Paul Worm, arrived in Fayetteville on July 5, 1999. A native of Arkansas, Father Worm was ordained on May 28, 1988, and previously served at St. Mary’s and St. Patrick’s in North Little Rock.
St. Joseph Church held its first Masses in the Worship Center on Starr Drive on the weekend of August 25, 2002, and on Thursday, September 26, celebrated the Rite of Blessing of the Worship Center and Educational Facility by Bishop Sartain.
The move to the new location after 130 years on the same ground was wrenching for some parishioners. Most, however, were grateful for the commodious worship space, the generous parking lot, and a school with space for all its programs.
* The following is an addendum to the official history “Faith and Fortitude” after 2002.
At the end of the 2005 school year, Mrs. Paula Thiessen returned to teaching in the public schools and Mr. Mark Holley was hired as principal for one year. Mrs. Ann Finch assumed the job of principal to begin the 2006-2007 school year.
In June 2006 Bishop Sartain was named Bishop of Joliet, Illinois, leaving the Diocese of Little Rock sede vacante, without a bishop. Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert was elected to serve as Diocesan Administrator until the appointment of a new bishop.
On August 18, 2006, Fr. Paul Worm concluded his service to St. Joseph Parish. Msgr. Hebert appointed Fr. Tom Marks on August 21, 2006, as Parish Administrator for one year. He served until Fr. Bradley Barber, a married priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, was appointed Parish Administrator. Fr. Barber arrived with his wife, Jody, and four children in June 2007. On June 5, 2008, Msgr. Hebert was finally able to return to retirement when the Most Rev. Anthony B. Taylor was ordained and installed as Bishop of Little Rock.
During Fr. Barber’s tenure, the parish continued to grow, the total number of families surpassing 1,500. The mortgage on the 2002 facility was satisfied in October 2007. The growth of the parish called for an expansion, and the Phase II Core Team launched in 2009 a plan for the Norm and Caroline DeBriyn Activity Center and Classroom Addition. Fr. Barber concluded his service to St. Joseph Parish in August 2009.
After a decade-long absence, Fr. John K. Antony was appointed pastor by Bishop Taylor in October 2009. During the Fall of 2009, and in October of 2010, St. Joseph had an associate pastor when Fr. Ravi Gudipalli, a priest of the Diocese of Nellore, India, was assigned to assist Fr. Antony. St. Joseph had not had an associate pastor in nearly two decades, the last being in 1991 when Fr. John Marconi came to assist Msgr. Rudolph Maus (due to health) . Fr. Ravi’s presence offered us the opportunity for a Sunday evening Youth Mass. Fr. Ravi Gudipalli became pastor at Booneville and Waldron as we wished him farewell on June 3, 2012.
In January 2011 we received diocesan approval on a scaled-down version of the original 2009 activity center plan. Construction of the $2,897,161 DeBriyn Family Life Center began in March 2011. Bishop Taylor dedicated the 20,870 square foot building, with full gymnasium and reception hall, concessions, conference room, office and 6 classrooms, on February 21, 2012. This addition has already enhanced the opportunities for ministry in the parish, which now has over 2,000 registered families. The 1:30 pm Mass in Spanish has become the second most attended of our five weekend Masses.
During the 2011-2012 school year, Mrs. Finch announced that middle school teacher Mark Wilburn would be taking on the role of Assistant Principal. At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, Mrs. Finch stepped down as principal, and Mrs. Marcia Diamond was hired.
Another blessing came in the Spring of 2012 when Fr. Larry Heimsoth, a retired priest from the Diocese of Austin, Texas, and his wife Beverly, moved to Fayetteville to be closer to family. Fr. Heimsoth assisted as able and visited the sick and infirm of the parish until his return to Texas in June 2016. Just as Father Barber had been an Episcopalian priest, Father Heimsoth had originally been a Lutheran minister and later became Catholic.
In April 2013 Fr. Les Farley came to St. Joseph as priest-in-residence. Around this time, Fr. John Antony asked Bishop Taylor to allow him to discern a calling to pursue the contemplative life with the Order of Discalced Carmelites. During his tenure, the DeBriyn Center was completed and nearly paid off, with just over $100,000 left on the mortgage. The parish debt on the DeBriyn Center was paid off in February of 2014, just two years after it was dedicated. Father Antony ultimately discerned that his calling is to the diocesan priesthood and returned to parish ministry in our diocese later in 2013.
As the 2013-2014 school year drew to a close, Mrs. Diamond announced she was moving that summer. Mr. Jason Pohlmeier was hired. Mr. Pohlmeier was principal of St. Edward School in Little Rock from 2009-2014 and served on the ANSAA accreditation team at St. Joseph in January 2014. In September 2014, St. Joseph School was named as a 2014 National Blue Ribbon Exemplary High Performing School by the U.S. Department of Education becoming the first non-public school in NWA to receive this highest award in American education.
On August 5, 2013, Fr. Shaun C. Wesley, formerly of Eureka Springs and Berryville, became pastor of St. Joseph, serving until November 2015. Fr. Les Farley became our official associate pastor in July 2014 and served at St. Joseph in that capacity until September 2015.
Father Jason Tyler arrived as pastor on December 1, 2015, less than two months after the October arrival of Father Elisée Noël Njompo, a native of Cameroon who had served extensively in France prior to coming to Arkansas. Father Eliseo brought a great passion for Eucharistic Adoration, helping the parish to establish Perpetual Adoration on November 1, 2016. Father Eliseo would remain at St. Joseph almost five years, moving to Hot Springs in September 2020.
Other associate pastors who have served at St. Joseph in recent years include: Father Alfhones Perikala (2018-19); Father Jayraj Sure (2019-21); Father Chandra Kodavatikanti (2020-2022); and Father Alex Smith (2021- present).
In addition to their responsibilities at St. Joseph, our priests also celebrate Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul in Lincoln. That community first began meeting in a storefront in downtown Lincoln and moved from Mass every other week to every weekend starting in August 2016. On June 29, 2017, Bishop Taylor officially established the “quasi-parish” (or mission) of Sts. Peter and Paul, giving that community official status in the diocese. By 2018, they had moved into a former pharmacy building at 113 Boyer Street. In November 2020, a Mass in English was added to the schedule at Sts. Peter and Paul.
The year 2020 started out normally enough, but the word “normal” soon left everyone’s vocabulary in March when changes started to result after the Covid-19 virus arrived. On March 11, Bishop Taylor announced that public celebration of Mass would be suspended starting the weekend of March 21-22, the first such suspension since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. The parish immediately began livestreaming Sunday Mass in English and Spanish for the weeks we were without a public Mass, including Holy Week and the Easter Triduum. Parishioners gathered around their computers or televisions rather than gathering in church. Public celebration of Mass resumed in mid-May but with restrictions: parishioners had to maintain six feet of distance between families through March 2021, and face coverings were required until May 2021. Many other parish fellowship activities were paused or modified during this time as well. In June 2022, Bishop Taylor allowed distribution of the Precious Blood at Mass to resume, thus ending the last of the liturgical restrictions that had come about with COVID.
The COVID pandemic paused but did not stop the parish’s progress on building a freestanding church. In January 2017, St. Joseph closed on 7.5 acres of land north of our parking lot. The debt on that purchase was fully paid off by Easter 2019. In the Fall of 2021, the parish launched a capital campaign for the purpose of building a freestanding church. This campaign followed years of preparation, including focus groups and surveys to understand the parish’s needs and wants. The campaign had a goal of $5.5 million. We exceeded that goal, receiving almost $7.2 million in pledges. As of this printing, the design process continues, and we hope to break ground on the new church in the year 2023.
St. Joseph Catholic Church strives to minister to the Fayetteville area. We do so as a community of over 2,100 families, one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Little Rock. We continue to look to God's will for our future and how we can bring the Kingdom of God to our part of Northwest Arkansas.