By Fabvienen Taylor
ROBINSONVILLE — A sunny but sub-freezing day greeted parishioners and guests on Sunday, Jan. 10 at Good Shepherd Church.
“What a beautiful day the Lord has given us, in spite of the weather, to dedicate this church,” said Bishop Joseph Latino of the Diocese of Jackson.
Pews were packed as natural light shone through windows looking out over the flat, vast land surrounding the seven and a half acres where the church building and parking lot sit at 1329 Casino Center Drive.
“This is not just a church of brick and mortor,” Bishop Latino said, “but one of faith. As magnificent as this building is, the most important, the most necessary part of it must be the vibrant and vital expression of its faith-filled community. Without that, it is just a museum.”
The new church and its parishioners resulted from the combination of two churches impacted by the on-going nationwide priest shortage – religious and diocesan — in the Jackson diocese.
The shortage has necessitated, over the years, the shuttering or combining of some mission churches with a parish.
Several years ago, Father Dermot Twomey, deceased Sacred Heart (SCJ) pastor of Walls Sacred Heart Church and Tunica St. Anthony Mission, alerted his parishioners to the possibility of combining the two small congregations into one parish to guarantee the continued availability of the Sunday Eucharist to the four parishes in the area served by the Sacred Heart priests.
“We certainly understood, with the shortage of priests, the need to combine so we would be able to celebrate the Eucharist on a regular basis,” said Loretta Hussey, a former Sacred Heart parishioner active in ministries from eucharistic minister to team leader of Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA).
“We knew it would better serve the Catholic community in this area if we combined both churches,” she said.
She admitted the process hasn’t always been an easy one. “St. Anthony has a great group of people and we have done things together over the years. We just all have to find our place again and determine what (ministries) we will be doing at our new parish. Each church has a distinctive personality. It’s like blending two families together.”
For Hussey, who lives in Horn Lake, the commute to Good Shepherd is 15 minutes longer than to her old parish. And both Southaven Christ the King and Hernando Holy Spirit parishes are closer commutes.
“I know I have two other options but the people at Good Shepherd are the ones I’ve gone to church with for so long. It would not be the same. We have a really strong church family, a really strong connection. Church is not the building. Church is those you worship with,” she said.
Father Edward Zemlik, a member of the SCJ pastoral team serving Good Shepherd, said the two churches are “coming together nicely. They are becoming a new church family here at Good Shepherd,” he said. “It is like a work-in-progress.”
The new church will seat 450 people, ample room for the nearly 100 registered families. There is room too for the tourists visiting the casinos scattered along the Mississippi River, located a short distance from the church.
Priest celebrants for the weekend Masses at Good Shepherd rotate among Fathers Zemlik, Tim Gray and Bob Tucker, pastoral administrator. They are based in offices at Southaven Christ the King Church.
The three priests serve four parishes — Good Shepherd, Hernando Holy Spirit, Senatobia St. Gregory the Great and Southaven Christ the King.
Three religious sisters serve in various pastoral/formational/educational ministries in the parishes as members of the pastoral team. They are Sister of Mercy Emily Morgan and Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., Bonnie Bachle and Susan Newland.
Father Zemlik said each of the four parishes has a Hispanic presence. “The greatest number is at Christ the King where 800-1,000 people attend the Spanish Mass on the weekend.”
Good Shepherd Church cost $2.2 million to build. The land for the church was donated by the Shea Leatherman family, who are parishioners.
Support was also given by Sacred Heart Southern Missions (SHSM), Sacred Heart priests, benefactors, parishioners and visitors.
“We are hoping to grow the parish even more,” said Father Zemlik.
“The most important thing for us at Good Shepherd was for this new church to be a welcoming place and we think we accomplished that. It is a very, very attractive building with a lot of natural light. You can feel the warm presence of the people here.’
