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September 19, 1954 - With the dedication of a new rectory on that day 53 years ago,
St Theresa Mission became St. Theresa Church. The parish celebrated its 50 th anniversary in 2004 with a wonderful dinner/dance on Friday September 17th
and an Anniversary Mass on Sunday, September 19th with Bishop Sartain as the main celebrant. Even though
the parish has celebrated its 50th anniversary,
its history goes back to the year 1947. In September of that year the founding members of the parish met with then Bishop
Fletcher to discuss the possibility of establishing a Catholic Mission church in the Geyer Springs area of Little Rock. After
a couple of meetings, ground donated by Mr. & Mrs. Paul DeLeuil was accepted by the bishop. Soon the founding members
were busy raising funds to build their first Church at the newly designed St. Andrew Mission. Those founding members worked
very hard for several years to raise the funds necessary to build the Church. In October 1950 ground was broken for the new
Church which was dedicated in April of 1951. Fund raising drives continued because the Mission Church also needed a rectory,
parish hall & school. At the time, the children were still attending St. Andrew’s school. The naming of the mission
as St. Theresa is an interesting aspect of its history. Father Burke, mission chaplain during its early years and also its
first pastor, tells of how while he was saying Mass for the Carmelite Sisters, he mentioned to the Mother Superior that the
name of the new mission would probably be St. Henry since a large donation was made by a man named Henry. Mother simply said
the only acceptable name would be St. Theresa. End of story! The big day of course was Sunday, September 19, 1954 when Bishop
Fletcher dedicated the new rectory and renamed the mission St. Theresa Church with Father William Burke as its first pastor.
By the mid 60’s the parish was thriving. The parish now had a church, rectory, parish hall, and a school. The number
of parishioners continued to increase from the original 14 families to nearly 100 families. The 60’s were a time of
rapid growth for the parish. Under the leadership of Father Rudolph Maus, its third pastor, the parish continued to work together
to meet it’s ever demanding needs. Mass was moved to the Parish Hall to house the growing congregation. A convent was
built to house the Benedictine Sisters who came to staff the school in 1959. He pulled the people together to continue to
work for the common good of this ever growing parish. This beloved pastor who spent 15 years at St. Theresa from 1960 to 1975
was responsible for the building of the present church building. Dedicated in 1973, its original cost of $500,000 was completely
paid off before he was transferred in 1975. The parish grew in the 1980’s to about 600 families. During these years,
the school was expanded to accommodate the ever increasing enrollment. Father Leo Riedmueller and Father Tom Keller followed
in Father Maus’ footsteps to meet the demands of this Southwest Little Rock community. In the 90’s, the school
addition was completed to allow 2 classes for every grade. The Church was remodeled and rededicated in 1996. The parish grew
to about 750 families with 2000 members.
The latest addition to St. Theresa Parish was a new Parish Center completed in 2001. It has
been a blessing to its members and especially to our young visiting basketball teams who no longer have to worry about meeting
a wall at the end of the court. It is one of those additions that make you wonder how you did without it for so many years.
In 2004 the Men’s Club began work on our pavilion behind the school. It is a work in progress and continues to be a
great place for our annual picnic. On September 19, 2004, we celebrated our 50 th anniversary. The Theme of this anniversary year was"We’ve just
begun to bloom" featuring a rose significant to our patron saint.
In many ways this is true. What started as a little country mission 57 years ago located in the Geyer Springs area of Little
Rock has never stopped blooming. It is now home to many people of different cultures and backgrounds still working together
for the good of the Church. The history of St. Theresa Church is a rich one; rooted in the hearts of its founding members
and in basic belief that with hard work anything can be accomplished. Hundreds of fundraisers later, 9 pastors, 10 associates,
3 vocations to the priesthood and thousands of members, we thank the Lord for the blessings of the past 50 years. Of the original
45 founding members we are fortunate to still have 3 living members; Casper Volpert and John & Edna Mattingly. We also
have 24 members who have been with the parish for 50 years. For the past 13 years, Father John Connell has served as pastor.
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