DIOCESE OF LITTLE ROCK - Key Persons

Alma Beltran

ab..@dolr.org

Job Titles:

Receptionist
Secretary

Amanda Crawford

ac..@dolr.org

Job Titles:

Judge and Moderator

Amparo Patterson

ap..@dolr.org

Job Titles:

Administrative Assistant / School of Spiritual Direction

Bishop Albert L. Fletcher

Job Titles:

Bishop
First Bishop Born in Arkansas

He was the first Arkansan raised to the Roman Catholic hierarchy and remains the only native son to serve as Little Rock's bishop. Bishop Fletcher was a descendent of distinguished Arkansans. A distant relative, John Gould Fletcher, settled Lawrence County in 1800. Another relative, John Gould Fletcher Jr., earned the Pulitzer prize in poetry. As a young man, he attended Little Rock College and St. John Home Missions Seminary, leading to his ordination June 4, 1920. Father Fletcher taught chemistry and biology at Little Rock College, which he served as president in 1923. The tall, scholarly priest also earned a master of science degree from the University of Chicago. Later, he was a professor of theology and canon law at St. John seminary, where his students labeled him a "born professor." His installation as auxiliary bishop on April 24, 1940, marked the first episcopal consecration to take place in Arkansas. He was installed as bishop on Feb. 11, 1947. After several years of relative calm, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in 1954, prompting Bishop Fletcher to issue a pastoral letter stating that the Catholic Church never made distinctions based on race but had provided separate churches and schools for blacks owing to laws and customs. He rebuked the Arkansas governor for acting to block the desegregation of Central High School in 1957. Bishop Fletcher participated in the four fall sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and announced the change in language of the liturgy from Latin to English (in America), effective with the first Sunday of Advent in 1964. The bishop declined to establish a role for permanent deacons as Vatican II suggested. He also found himself at odds with the younger priests teaching at St. John seminary - a group more liberal on social and theological questions. After the state's largest newspaper in the spring of 1967 printed a series of articles by seminary priest that differed with the Catholic Church views on birth control and questioned papal infallibility, Bishop Fletcher announced that the seminary would close. In 1971, Bishop Fletcher declined to vote for a resolution by the American Catholic Bishops calling for an end to the Vietnam War. Fervently anti-communist, the bishop didn't support amnesty for war resisters and draft dodgers. He turned 75 (retirement age for bishops) on Oct. 28, 1971, and eventually stepped down in July 1972. He died Dec. 6, 1979, in Little Rock after attending a funeral Mass for a friend. For more information, read these articles in Arkansas Catholic. Bishop Fletcher wrote this booklet in 1960, which includes 72 questions and answers. It was designed for all parishes to study and discuss during Lent. Time magazine, among others, wrote about the catechism. In it the bishop wrote, "Segregation as we know it in Arkansas is immoral. ... The Church condemns racism as contrary to its teachings that all men are inherently and naturally equal."

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

Job Titles:

Bishop
Seventh Bishop of Little Rock

As the chief shepherd for his diocese, each bishop is entrusted with the tasks of teaching, sanctifying and governing the people of God, so as to bring them closer to Christ and to each other. In the Diocese of Little Rock, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor - with the assistance of his priests and deacons - shepherds the entire people of God throughout the state of Arkansas. Although his ministry is largely devoted to Catholics, Bishop Taylor also has a responsibility to care for all Christian faithful in need of pastoral guidance, for those who may have drifted from the faith, and for those who are the weakest and most vulnerable in our society.