St. Elizabeth

About St. Elizabeth Parish

St. Elizabeth Church is a small rural Catholic parish serving the unincorporated community of St. Elizabeth in Martin Township, Conway County, Arkansas, about eight miles south of Morrilton near Oppelo. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and sits in the River Valley Deanery. The parish is named for St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a 13th-century royal who gave her life to the poor and sick, and its congregation descends from German Catholic immigrant families who began settling the Arkansas River bottomlands in the 1870s. Today St. Elizabeth is attended from Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, with Mass on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.

History of the Parish

The community of St. Elizabeth was founded in 1874 by the Bahr family and reinforced four years later by the Joseph and Julia Hoyt family, who were among the first German Catholic settlers to homestead the Arkansas River bottomlands south of present-day Oppelo. Within a few years other families joined them, drawn by fertile farmland for cattle, dairy, cotton, vegetables, and timber. In the early 1880s the Little Rock–Fort Smith Railroad deeded a few acres to the diocese to anchor a Catholic settlement, and Father Felix Rumpf — pastor of St. Boniface in the nearby St. Boniface Colony (now New Dixie) — was assigned to take St. Elizabeth as a mission, celebrating Mass in local homes before a church building was opened (a separate local history dates the parish to 1885).

• 1874 — Bahr family founds the farming community of St. Elizabeth.
• c. 1878 — Joseph and Julia Hoyt family arrives; other German Catholic families follow.
• Early 1880s — Little Rock–Fort Smith Railroad donates land to the Catholic diocese for a church.
• 1885 (per local sources) — Parish formally established; Fr. Felix Rumpf serves the mission from St. Boniface.
• 1917 — A new church building is constructed on the parish grounds.
• 1923 — The original church building is absorbed into the parish school; a seven-room convent is built to house the Sisters of Mercy and boarding students.
• 1928 — A priest's rectory is added to the church grounds.
• 1929 — A larger two-room school building opens.
• 1948 — Sisters of Mercy withdraw from the school; a lay teacher keeps it open briefly.
• c. 1950 — Parish school closes; students are bused to Oppelo and Morrilton.
• 1950s — St. Elizabeth loses its resident priest and becomes a mission of St. Boniface, New Dixie.
• 1964 — The present church, designed by Fr. Lawrence Maus, is dedicated.
• c. 1974 — A parish hall is added to the church complex.

Clergy & Staff

St. Elizabeth is served by the pastor and associate pastor of nearby Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, along with a deacon and a small lay staff. Pastor Fr. Stephen Hart was ordained May 27, 2017, and is also noted for celebrating Mass in Spanish for the River Valley Deanery's Hispanic Catholic community. The mailing address for parish business is the St. Boniface rectory in Bigelow.

• Pastor — Fr. Stephen Hart (ordained May 27, 2017; birthday Aug. 16; also celebrates Mass in Spanish)
• Associate Pastor — Fr. Manoranjan de Silva
• Deacon — Dc. Gregory Donaldson
• Secretary — Ilene Gunther
• Choir Director — Jo Ellen Dunlap
• Sacristan — Dan Hartman

Connection to Sacred Heart, Morrilton & the Tri-Parish Family

St. Elizabeth is one of three linked parishes serving the German-heritage Catholic communities of the Arkansas River Valley. It is attended from Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, where the pastor and parish offices are based, and it shares a pastoral history with St. Boniface Church in New Dixie (Bigelow), which administered the mission through the mid-20th century. Together with Sacred Heart, St. Elizabeth forms part of a tri-parish arrangement that gives the small St. Elizabeth congregation access to Sacred Heart School (PreK3–12), faith formation, OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults), and bilingual (English/Spanish) Mass offerings through the Morrilton parish.

• Attended from Sacred Heart Church, 506 E. Broadway St., Morrilton, AR 72110 — (501) 354-4181
• Historically a mission of St. Boniface Church, New Dixie (Perry County).
• Parish mailing address goes through St. Boniface, 20 St. Boniface Dr., Bigelow, AR 72016.

Heritage & Community

St. Elizabeth has remained, for more than 140 years, a small farming community in the Arkansas River bottomlands. From the original Bahr and Hoyt homesteads to today's congregation of roughly 100 residents, the parish has served German Catholic families whose livelihoods came from cattle, dairy, cotton, vegetables, and timber. The community is bounded on the north by the Arkansas River and sits along State Highway 154 about eight miles south of Morrilton. The parish's patron, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, is celebrated each year on November 17.

• Patron: St. Elizabeth of Hungary (feast day November 17).
• Located in Martin Township, Conway County, Arkansas.
• Named for the 13th-century Hungarian saint who, despite her royal birth, dedicated her life to the poor and sick.

Visiting & Contact

The parish's physical address is 89 St. Elizabeth Road, Oppelo, AR 72110, although most parish business and mail is handled through the St. Boniface rectory at 20 St. Boniface Drive, Bigelow, AR 72016, phone (501) 759-2371. Because the parish is attended from Sacred Heart in Morrilton, that office — (501) 354-4181 — is often the best way to reach the pastor and parish staff.

• Address — 89 St. Elizabeth Rd., Oppelo, AR 72110
• Mailing Address — 20 St. Boniface Dr., Bigelow, AR 72016
• Parish Phone — (501) 759-2371 (St. Boniface / New Dixie line)
• Pastor's Office — Sacred Heart, Morrilton, (501) 354-4181