Springdale, Arkansas
December 1949 to June 2011*
In the fall of 1949,
Reverend L.H. Schaefer, pastor of St. Joseph Church, Tontitown, presided over a preliminary organizational meeting of area Catholics to plan formation of a Catholic parish in Springdale. Father Schaefer celebrated the
first Mass in Springdale at 9 AM, Sunday, December 4, 1949 in the Chapel of Callison-Sisco Funeral Home, on a cloth- draped ironing board.
Property at the corner of West Huntsville and North Shiloh streets was loaned to the new
Mission of St. Raphael by Ms. Josephine Braun. The small house on the property was redecorated by the women of the Mission and re-roofed by the men of the Mission and made into a chapel. In
February 1950 the
Springdale Mission was named St. Raphael Cenacle in memory of Mrs. Braun‘s son, Raphael, who was killed in action in World War ll.
The
first Mass in the four room Cenacle was
celebrated June 20, 1952; the celebrant was
Reverend Thomas Kennedy of St. Joseph Parish, Tontitown. The
first Altar boy was
Joe Taldo. In
March 1955,
St. Raphael Mission was dedicated by Archbishop William O‘Brien, President of the Catholic Extension Society. The Mission membership had grown from forty-five to seventy-eight persons.
In the early fifties, land at the corner of West Sunset (Highway 412) and South West End Street was purchased from the W.C. Rogers Family for $30,000. Through the excitement and direction of Pastor Jesse Cheney, three and one half years later, the dreams of the Mission members were fulfilled when
Albert L. Fletcher, Bishop of Little Rock, dedicated the new St. Raphael Catholic Church on the thirty –three acre tract of land.
On September 3, 1965, St. Raphael Mission became a true self-supporting Parish and Reverend Francis J. Janesko became the first resident pastor. Membership in that year surpassed one hundred persons.