About St. Augustine · Dardanelle, Arkansas
St. Augustine Church is a bilingual Catholic parish serving the small Arkansas River Valley town of Dardanelle in Yell County, Arkansas. It belongs to the Diocese of Little Rock (River Valley Deanery) and is clustered with St. Andrew Church in nearby Danville, with one pastor traditionally serving both communities. The parish has long roots among the area's Czech/Bohemian immigrant families, and in recent decades has grown into a vibrant bilingual (English/Spanish) faith community in the River Valley.
- Patron
- St. Augustine (of Hippo)
- Rector
- Fr. Omar Galván
- Diocese
- Diocese of Little Rock (River Valley Deanery)
Why belong here
St. Augustine is one of the few parishes in the Arkansas River Valley that celebrates the Mass fully in both English and Spanish every week, making it a natural spiritual home for bilingual families and the area's growing Hispanic Catholic community. The parish is small enough that members know one another, yet it maintains a steady weekly rhythm of weekday bilingual Masses, Saturday Vigil and Sunday Masses, regular Confession, and Eucharistic Adoration. As a clustered parish sharing its pastor with St. Andrew in Danville, it also reaches Catholics across rural Yell County.
Mass times at St. Augustine
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Tuesday 6:00 p.m.
- Saturday 4:15 – 4:45 p.m.
- Also by appointment
Adoration times
- Wednesday 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
- First Friday of the month: Eucharistic Adoration begins Friday 3:00 p.m. and continues through Saturday 9:00 a.m.
Parish Identity & Diocese
St. Augustine Church is a Catholic parish of the Diocese of Little Rock (DOLR.org), located in the River Valley Deanery in Yell County, Arkansas. The parish serves Dardanelle and the surrounding rural River Valley, sharing its pastor with St. Andrew Church in Danville as part of a clustered assignment.
- Diocese: Little Rock
- Deanery: River Valley
- County: Yell County, Arkansas
- Cluster parish: St. Andrew Church, Danville
History
St. Augustine grew out of the Czech/Bohemian Catholic immigration that settled the Arkansas River Valley. In 1947 Father Rudolph Maus — then resident pastor for both Dardanelle and Russellville — founded St. Augustine Catholic School, recruiting Benedictine Sisters from Fort Smith to staff it. By the mid-1950s enrollment had outgrown the Dardanelle campus, and under Father Thomas Reynolds and Bishop Albert L. Fletcher the school was relocated and renamed St. John Catholic School (Russellville) in 1956.
- Founding pastor for the school: Fr. Rudolph Maus (1947)
- First teachers: Sister Francis Teresa Adams, Sister Jeanette Yaeger, Sister Pierre Vorster (Benedictine Sisters, St. Scholastica Convent, Fort Smith)
- Pastor who led the move: Fr. Thomas Reynolds
- Diocesan decision-maker: Bishop Albert L. Fletcher
- School relocated & renamed St. John Catholic School, fall 1956
Clergy & Staff
The parish is served by a pastor, a deacon, and lay staff who keep the office open weekdays. The current pastor also shepherds the clustered parish of St. Andrew in Danville.
- Pastor: Fr. Omar Galván
- Deacon: Dc. José Morales
- Secretary / Bookkeeper: Jennifer Calvario
- Director of Religious Education (DRE): Esmeralda Piña
Faith Formation & Religious Education
Faith formation is coordinated by the parish Director of Religious Education, Esmeralda Piña. As a bilingual parish with weekday and weekend Masses, St. Augustine's religious education program serves both English- and Spanish-speaking families of Dardanelle and the surrounding River Valley.
- DRE: Esmeralda Piña
- Bilingual catechesis for parish families
- Sacramental preparation coordinated through the DRE
Clustered Parish: St. Andrew, Danville
St. Augustine is clustered with St. Andrew Church in Danville, Arkansas, sharing its pastor. This is a common arrangement in rural areas of the Diocese of Little Rock, allowing one priest to serve multiple small Catholic communities across a county.
- Pastor Fr. Omar Galván serves both parishes
- St. Andrew Church, Danville, AR
Visit, Contact & Location
Parishioners and visitors can reach St. Augustine by phone or email during weekday office hours. The parish sits on N. 2nd Street in Dardanelle, with a Dardanelle PO Box mailing address.
- Address: 1001 N. 2nd St., Dardanelle, AR 72834
- Mailing: P.O. Box 460, Dardanelle, AR 72834
- Phone: (479) 229-3972
- Email: [email protected]
- Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Website: dolr.org/parishes/st-augustine-church-dardanelle
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Fr. Rudolph (Rudolph E.) Mausmid-20th c. (founded school 1947)
Resident pastor for Dardanelle and Russellville; in 1947 founded St. Augustine Catholic School, recruited Benedictine Sisters from Fort Smith, and transported pupils himself. Later became Monsignor.
- Fr. Thomas Reynoldsearly-to-mid 1950s
Pastor of both St. John (Russellville) and St. Augustine (Dardanelle); proposed moving the school to Russellville; met with Bishop Albert L. Fletcher.
- Fr. James Melnick
Pastor of St. Augustine, Dardanelle, and St. Andrew, Danville (per Arkansas Catholic, 2014).
- Fr. Omar Galvánpresent
Current pastor; also serves St. Andrew Church, Danville.