About Sts. Peter and Paul · Lincoln, Arkansas
Sts. Peter and Paul Church is a bilingual Catholic mission in the small rural town of Lincoln, Arkansas (Washington County), belonging to the Diocese of Little Rock and the West Ozark Deanery. The community is primarily Hispanic and worships at 122 North Main Street in a former Presbyterian church that was purchased and renovated for Catholic use. The mission is attended by priests from St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville and serves a growing faithful with weekend Mass in English and Spanish, weekday Spanish Mass, adoration, and faith formation for grades 1 through Confirmation.
- Established
- 2017
- Patron
- Saints Peter and Paul
- Rector
- Fr. Jason Tyler, STL
- Diocese
- Diocese of Little Rock (West Ozark Deanery)
Why belong here
Sts. Peter and Paul offers a tight-knit, bilingual Catholic home in rural Washington County where families can worship together in English or Spanish, receive the sacraments, and walk with their neighbors from First Communion through Confirmation. Parishioners enjoy weekly Eucharistic Adoration each Thursday, a worship space that is genuinely their own (consecrated in 2024 in a former Presbyterian sanctuary), and on-site classrooms that make religious education for the parish's many children safe and orderly. As a mission attended by the priests of St. Joseph in Fayetteville, it carries the strength of a larger sister parish while remaining a small, family-scaled community where everyone knows each other.
Mass times at Sts. Peter and Paul
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Thursday 5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. (before the 6 p.m. Spanish Mass)
- By appointment
Adoration times
- Thursday 6:00 a.m. – midnight
History of Sts. Peter and Paul, Lincoln
The mission originated as an outreach of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville. After gathering in a downtown Lincoln storefront and moving from bi-weekly to weekly weekend Mass in August 2016, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor formally established Sts. Peter and Paul as a quasi-parish (mission) of the Diocese of Little Rock on June 29, 2017 — the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. By 2018 the community had settled into a former pharmacy at 113 Boyer Street while continuing to dream of a permanent home.
The 2024 Consecration and Move to the Town Square
In 2024 the Lincoln Presbyterians offered to sell their decommissioned 83-year-old church on the town square to a Christian buyer for $90,000. After the Diocese of Little Rock examined the property, the deal closed and parishioners converted the building into a proper Catholic worship space, installing central heating and air, an altar, tabernacle and seven classrooms. The local Presbyterians added an extra $20,000 to retire debt and fund renovations, and on October 10, 2024 Bishop Taylor consecrated the new home in a bilingual Mass.
- Purchase price: $90,000 (Diocese of Little Rock loan)
- Additional gift: $20,000 from local Presbyterian members
- Bilingual Mass of Consecration: October 10, 2024
- Anointing with chrism at four points — north, south, east, west — representing the four Gospels
Leadership and Staff
The mission is led today by Fr. Jason Tyler, STL, pastor of the supporting St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville. Associate pastors Fr. Joji Reddy Allam and Fr. Martin Dara also serve the mission, with Deacon Marcelino Vázquez serving as parish administrator and Director of Religious Education Amaranta Salto coordinating faith formation and safe-environment compliance.
- Fr. Jason Tyler, STL — Pastor
- Fr. Joji Reddy Allam — Associate Pastor
- Fr. Martin Dara — Associate Pastor
- Dc. Marcelino Vázquez — Deacon / Parish Administrator
- Amaranta Salto — Director of Religious Education (DRE)
Faith Formation and Religious Education
Religious education classes — known in the diocese as PRE (Parish Religious Education) — run from 1st grade through Confirmation, matching exactly the seven classrooms built into the new church building. Where children previously had to be escorted across a busy street to a rented bingo hall for class, they now learn on-site in dedicated, safe spaces. The DRE also oversees the parish's safe-environment program to protect the many children in formation.
- First Communion preparation
- Confirmation preparation (continuing through high-school age)
- Seven dedicated classrooms in the church building
- Safe environment compliance (DRE Amaranta Salto)
Ministries and Community Life
Beyond the sacraments, the small mission runs bilingual liturgical and social ministries — particularly important given its primarily Hispanic character — and serves as a gathering place for the wider Lincoln community. The original storefront chapel remains parish property for meetings and is rented to community organizations for fundraisers and events.
- Hispanic ministry and bilingual liturgy
- Hospitality after Mass (coffee and donuts)
- Renovation and fundraising committees supporting remaining work (new roof, bathrooms, sacristy, confessional, bell tower)
- Use of former pharmacy storefront for community rentals
One Church 2024–2025 Partnership
Bishop Taylor chose Sts. Peter and Paul as the Diocese of Little Rock's 'One Church' partner for September 2024 through August 2025. Since 2018 this annual program has channeled second collections and donations from across the diocese to a single rural or mission parish needing a one-time financial boost. For Sts. Peter and Paul, the gifts go toward retiring the loan on the new church and continuing the remaining renovations.
- Beneficiary parish for the diocesan One Church appeal (2024–2025)
- Funds retire loan and finance renovations: new roof, bathrooms, sacristy, confessional, bell tower
- Donations accepted via dolr.org/one-church
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father Martin SieboldJuly 2023 – (subsequent)
Arrived July 2023 as pastor. Initiated the search for a permanent home, led the community's discernment, negotiated the 2024 purchase of the former First Presbyterian Church, and received the building keys from Bishop Taylor at the consecration Mass on Oct. 10, 2024.
- Fr. Jason Tyler, STLListed as current pastor on the diocesan parish page
Pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville, from which Sts. Peter and Paul is attended.