NEWS BRIEFS

Rector is retiring

due to concussion

Lowell Grisham, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, is retiring early to heal after he got a concussion in May, according to an email statement sent to the church’s parishioners on Tuesday.

Plans are underway with Episcopal Bishop of Arkansas Larry Benfield to appoint an interim rector to see the church through the transition period until a permanent rector is chosen.

Grisham — who has been rector of St. Paul’s since 1997 and had a planned retirement set for next June — said he was setting a bucket of water on the floor of the laundry room in his home in May, and in standing up hit his head on the corner of “an overhanging cabinet,” resulting in symptoms including fatigue, headaches and “mental processing challenges” that were later diagnosed as a concussion.

“I’ve had a terrific 37 years of ordained ministry, and the best 20 years of service here at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville,” Grisham, 65, said. “I’m the luckiest priest in the whole [Episcopal] church.”

According to Grisham, the news comes as St. Paul’s accepts this week its first resident into Magdalene Serenity House, a sanctuary for women who have survived trauma, abuse, trafficking and incarceration.

Among his other roles at St. Paul’s, Grisham served on the board of Seven Hills Homeless Center for about 13 years.

Despite active involvement with the church’s ministries, Grisham said his role at the church remained small.

“I tell people the only thing I’ve done at St. Paul’s is make announcements and try to enable other people’s ministries,” he said. “My job is to unblock roadblocks.”

Grisham said he hopes that his legacy is having left St. Paul’s “a community where people are growing spiritually and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth … where people are claiming their ministries and being powered to do what God calls them to do. And a community — an inclusive community — where we act out Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves.”

St. Paul’s declined to comment for this article.

First state church

named for martyr

The first congregation to bear the name of Blessed Stanley Rother — the first male U.S.-born martyr, who was beatified Sept. 23 — is Beato Padre Stanley Rother Church in Decatur, according to Anthony Taylor, bishop of the Little Rock diocese, which heads the Catholic church in Arkansas.

Taylor said the church had been meeting as a chapel — the precursor to an organized congregation — as a mission under the parish of Siloam Springs.

Lety Bautista, secretary of St. Mary Catholic Church in Siloam Springs, said the group of about 80 parishioners began meeting two Saturdays a month in community buildings in Decatur in 2014.

In February the congregation — formerly called The Annunciation of Mary — accepted a request by the Little Rock diocese to take on Rother’s name upon becoming an official congregation on Sunday, when Taylor dedicated the church.

Beato, which is Spanish for “blessed,” refers to Rother’s new title as a beatified person.

According to Bautista, the entirely Spanish-speaking congregation now has a Mass every Saturday at 6 p.m., and is led by the Rev. Salvador Marquez-Munoz — also the pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Siloam Springs.

The congregation is currently renting space at 758 Hill Ave. in Decatur, and plans to find a permanent location for the church once the funds are raised.

— Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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