By Joanna Puddister King
GREENWOOD – With prayers in English and Spanish and a congregation answering the refrain “Rooted in faith, growing in grace,” St. Francis of Assisi Parish celebrated 75 years of a mission that has brought faith, education and a spirit of welcome to generations in the Mississippi Delta.
The church was filled with parishioners and guests for the anniversary celebration. After Mass, the gathering continued with a festive reception in the former St. Francis School cafeteria, where an abundant spread of food welcomed those celebrating the parish’s milestone.
Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz presided at the anniversary Mass Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The celebration also marked 25 years of Hispanic ministry at the parish, bringing together its African American heritage and the faith and traditions of its Latino parishioners.
The anniversary theme, “Rooted in Faith, Growing in Grace,” drawn from Colossians 2:6-7, connected the day’s remembrance of the parish’s beginnings with a call to continue its mission.
Jackie Lewis, former principal of St. Francis School and chairperson of the anniversary celebration, welcomed those gathered by honoring the founders, religious and parishioners whose prayers and service sustained the community. She invited the parish to give thanks for its history while looking forward with faith to what God would continue to accomplish through its members.
In his homily, Deacon Henry Fulmer, OFM, a provincial councilor of the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, made the anniversary theme a response shared by the congregation. One side answered, “Rooted in faith,” and the other, “Growing in grace.”

Fulmer connected the parish’s story to St. Francis’ encounter with a man with leprosy, explaining how the saint came to recognize Christ in someone he had once rejected.
“And in finding Christ in this leper, Francis found himself,” Fulmer said.
He traced that same call to recognize the dignity of others through the friars’ ministry among African Americans in Greenwood. They learned the community’s culture, shared its joys and sorrows and stood alongside people facing racism and exclusion.
Today, he said, that welcome embraces Latino families and all who enter the church. The community’s ability to worship together across racial and cultural differences offers a witness beyond its walls.
“You changed Greenwood,” Fulmer told the congregation.
That witness began decades before the anniversary gathering. According to the parish’s history, Franciscan friars from Wisconsin came to the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson in 1948 at Bishop R. O. Gerow’s invitation. Property for a church and school was purchased in Greenwood in 1950, and St. Francis was formally established as a parish Aug. 15, 1951.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis opened St. Francis School that September with kindergarten and two elementary grades. Classes began in a building formerly known as the Blue Moon, and the school expanded over time to serve generations of families.
The parish’s commitment to its neighbors also took shape through the Pax Christi Franciscans, founded in 1952. Their St. Francis Center offered classes, recreation and community services and became a hub of the Greenwood Movement during the civil rights era.
Father Nathaniel Machesky, OFM, helped lead that movement’s work for racial equality. In March 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. visited St. Francis School, just weeks before his assassination. The ministry endured threats and violence as it stood with the African American community.
The anniversary celebration was dedicated to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph and the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, honoring their work as educators, mentors and spiritual guides.
During a memorial led by Edith Spells, candles were lit in remembrance of deceased friars, sisters, Pax Christi members and parishioners. Their contributions were recalled through the children they taught, families they strengthened and neighbors they served.
Guest speaker John E. White returned to the parish where he grew up to reflect on that enduring influence. A former senior vice president at Sodexo and a longtime Catholic lay leader, White described how the parish shaped his faith during the 1970s and 1980s and gave him a sense of belonging that traveled with him throughout his life.
He acknowledged the sorrow of St. Francis School’s closure while emphasizing that its legacy continues in the people formed by its teachers and religious sisters. He urged the parish to carry that legacy forward through prayer, care for young people, service to neighbors and a continued commitment to justice and human dignity.
“Let us listen to our children and our young people, teach them, encourage them, make room for their gifts, and show how by our lives, that they have a home in this church,” White said.
Bishop Kopacz offered a closing reflection on the unity expressed throughout the celebration, recalling Pope Leo XIV’s motto, “In the One, we are one.”
“We have celebrated that here today,” the bishop said. “It was such a joy to be here and celebrate as one.”