Page 7 - OnThePath.June2016

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church dates back to 1858
By Randal Curtman
Managing Editor
The history of the Catholic church in Union County dates back to the first Catholic settler in Union County — Edmond Mahoney — who arrived in 1858, but it wasn’t until 1923 that Holy Redeemer Church was dedicated in El Dorado.
Parishioner Richard Trinca has attended Holy Redeemer for 82 years, and he has seen a lot of the church’s history first hand.
“I remember my first communion at age seven or eight years,” Trinca recalls. “I have many memories of being an altar boy from age nine until finishing high school.”
One of the biggest changes Trinca recalls during his lifetime was the change from the Latin Mass to cele- brating the liturgy in English.
“In the 1960s the language of the Mass, for the first time, could be spken in English. I had only know Mass in Latin. This was a big change for the Catholic Church,” Trinca said. “Until the last few years only boys could be altar servers. Now many girls serve, too.”
Gerry Granade Tomlinson has attended Holy Redeemer all of her 60 years, and her earliest mem- ories of the church are of attending Mass with
her grandparents.
“I recall sitting/kneeling in the pew, behind my
maternal grandparents, looking over my grand- mother’s shoulder as she read from her prayer book,” Tomlinson said.
“It was fascinating to me because it was in an Arabic dialect, she read from the back of the prayer book coming forward, and from right to left on each page. My little prayer book was about the size of Jiddah’s (Grandmother’s), but was in English.”
Asked about what changes Tomlinson has seen, she replies, “The Catholic Church is nearly 2,000 years old, Catholicism does not change, only some of the secular and visible aspects of the church.”
She notes that the language of the worldwide church is Latin, and that has not changed.
“However, the use of the vernacular is allowed at Mass, such as French in France, English in the United States, etc.”
Another change in the past 60 years has been for some of the religious, monks, priests and nuns, their dress code has been relaxed.
“Some wear secular attire and blend in with every- day folks,” Tomlinson said. “But it depends on their community, some still wear habits.”
By 1908, the Catholic population in Union County began to grow, and Mass was celebrated regularly in the
homes of Patrick Egan and C.A. McCarthy,according to a church history prepared by Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.
In 1909, they were allowed to put a permanent chap- el in the Armory.
In 1921, with the discovery of oil in Union County, El Dorado became a beehive of activity. It was no longer possible to have Mass in the little chapel, so a new chapel was built on property owned by W.P. Goodwin. El Dorado was not yet a parish with a resident pastor, but the congregation was rapidly growing.
On June 24, 1923, the site of the new church was blessed and ground broken on West Main Street. Holy Redeemer Church was dedicated on Sunday, Nov. 23, 1923, by the Right Reverend John B. Morris, Bishop of Little Rock. Later, a rectory was built behind the church, as well as a school and a convent for the Sisters. The school was opened in 1925 by the Sisters of Mercy.
In June 2001, construction began on a new addition to the church. While still preserving the church’s orig- inal Spanish Mission style, this new wing, completed in September 2002, includes a chapel, library, nursery, parish hall and office space. Parisioners may now
See CATHOLIC, Page 9
First Assembly of God offers family, faith to members
By Randal Curtman
Managing Editor
“A church is more than just a building, it’s the people,” says Brenda Murphree, “and when the people are one, then the church is strong.”
First Assembly of God in El Dorado is one of those strong churches, where congregants young and old gather every week to worship and share fellowship with one another.
“This church is, after my love for Jesus and my immediate family, my extended family,” Murphree said. And after more than 55 years of attending the First Assembly of God Church, Murphree knows her extended family very well.
“My church family is here, they’ve cel-
ebrated all the important moments of my life with me,” Murphree says. “They have been there for the good times, and they have been there when I’ve grieved, and they have helped me through it all.”
Jim Mullins, a 50-year member of the church, says the longevity of the First Assembly of God springs from the out- standing members he has known and looked up to for over half a century.
“These were people whose faith ener- gized you,” Mullins said. “They were really saints, that’s what they were. Their lives on Sunday were no different than their lives on any other day of the week.”
The First Assembly of God in El Dorado had its initial beginning in 1918 when Brother Will Mack held a six-
week tent revival meeting at Wesson.
A church was built and later became the Assembly of God in Wesson. The El Dorado area had seen other Christian revival meetings of various denomina- tions but this one differed in that the evangelist brought to the meeting a relatively new teaching, along with the more common elements of evangeli-
calism.
This “new” teaching was termed
“Pentecostal” after the Day of Pentecost as mentioned in the Book of Acts.
A lot was purchased on Spring Street and Ross Avenue in El Dorado. Several of the members of the Wesson church were instrumental in forming El Dorado church, which began in 1921 as the Full Gospel Mission, which was housed in
small building at 1217 Ross Ave.
In 1924, the Full Gospel Mission in El Dorado affiliated with the Arkansas District Assemblies of God in Little Rock and the 10-year-old General Council of the Assemblies of God, whose head- quarters were in Springfield, Mo. The church name changed at that time to
First Assembly of God.
First Assembly has gone through
many stages during the church’s 95-year history, including a small building, an open-air tabernacle, a basement, and three sanctuaries.
The present sanctuary at 2225 W. Hillsboro was completed in 1992. The
See ASSEMBLY, Page 8
El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Saturday, July 30, 2016 – 7
Sunday School--------------------- 10:00 a.m. Sunday AM Worship -------------- 11:00 a.m. Wednesday Prayer----------------- 5:00 p.m.
“I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Psalm 122:1.
• HUDSON •
900 Green St. El Dorado ,AR 863-7393
SENIOR CENTER
4167
WE NEED VOLUNTEERS
LUNCH SERVED 11:15 A.M. EVERYDAY
2591