The following story first appeared in the Autumn 2004 Glenmary Challenge.
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Called By Name
Instead of a pre-packaged Bible school, Father Neil Pezzulo depended on
friends from 1,200 miles away to help children in Glenmary's new
western Arkansas missions feel called by name by God.
By Malea Hargett

LUNCH TIME: Father Neil Pezzulo, recovering from shoulder surgery, passes out lunch at the summer Bible school in Danville, Ark.

For Catholic children in two counties in western Arkansas, school wasn’t completely out for the summer. And they were glad! Father Neil Pezzulo, the first resident Catholic priest in this area, made sure summer Bible school was in session—and that all children had an opportunity to attend.

Father Neil, who had been serving Glenmary’s missions in southeast Arkansas (Crossett and Hamburg) since his ordination in 1999, moved west when Glenmary took on this new mission territory in October 2003. He now pastors St. Jude Thaddeus in Waldron and St. Andrew in Danville (as well as a third community in Heavener, Okla.). Both Arkansas Catholic communities were previously missions of larger churches and never had a resident pastor.

This summer marked the first Bible school in Waldron in almost 40 years. And Father Neil believes it was the first Bible school ever in Danville. Over 90 Arkansas kids participated—plus six who came from Father Neil’s third mission in Heavener, Okla.

How could Father Neil pull off such an ambitious undertaking only a few months after arriving in a new mission area? The answer: teen and adult volunteers from Jesus the Good Shepherd Covenant Community in Owings, Md. This 1,200-family mega-parish in suburban Washington, D.C., is where Father Neil did his diaconate internship in 1999. The parish raised the money to pay for most of the volunteers’ travel, lodging, food and Bible-school materials.

“What a great gift to me,” Father Neil says. “I couldn’t have pulled it off myself. I haven’t been here long enough.”

But this isn’t the first time this Maryland parish has gifted Father Neil and the home missions. After he was first assigned to work in Crossett and Hamburg, he invited Good Shepherd’s youth minister, Julie Gartrell, to come for a visit.

“Can I bring some teens with me?” she asked. That visit resulted in the first summer Bible school in Hamburg in 2002. When the volunteers came back the next summer to continue the program, 40 children showed up the first day. By Friday, the attendance hit 100.

This year the Maryland volunteers followed Father Neil to Waldron and Danville. (Glenmary’s Crossett and Hamburg missions were returned to the Diocese of Little Rock in August 2003.)

“People at our parish have a lot to give,” Good Shepherd pastoral associate Judy Allison says. She was one of the Marylanders who made the trip this summer. “Because we knew Father Neil was a Glenmary, we knew he could use our help.”

On June 19 the Maryland group traveled by plane to Little Rock, rented five vans to transport 20 teens and six adults, and drove 130 miles west to Waldron.

The group organized a morning Bible school in Danville in the former Pentecostal church Father Neil had recently leased for use by the Danville mission. About 50 children, mostly Hispanic, attended. The group’s rented vans were used to pick up the children and deliver them back home each day.

Then the volunteers drove 45 miles back to Waldron to hold a similar event for 42 children beginning at 5 p.m. Each night the volunteers prayed and shared reflections from the day.

What might have been viewed as semi-organized chaos to the casual on-looker was actually the result of lots of planning and hard work.

Beginning in March the teens started to talk about the theme and related activities. This year’s theme, “I Have Called You Each by Name,” inspired the group to plan skits and crafts around Bible stories such as Jonah and the whale, the wedding feast at Cana and Noah’s ark.

“We tied it in to how we are all special,” Good Shepherd’s Judy Allison says. “We all have gifts to offer.

The week in Arkansas had a major impact on the volunteers as well as on the local children. “It’s the highlight of my job,” says Julie Gartrell. “The spiritual growth here is very strong.”

Heather Ruest, a Maryland 11th-grader, said she was amazed at the joy of the Arkansas children. “They are appreciative of everything you do for them,” she says. “It makes the summer so great if you spend just one week with them.”

Nick DeStefano, a 12th-grader who has come to Arkansas for the past three summers, says, “I love it more and more each time.” He says these trips have taught him to be more trusting of others and to be grateful for the blessings he has.

“Last year I visited a girl’s house about 30 miles out of town,” Nick recalls. “She lived in a plywood shack. Why do I complain about stuff that is stupid?”

Father Neil is optimistic that the week of Bible school plants seeds for families to get more involved with the local Catholic communities he is nurturing. “I am seeing some kids who I haven’t seen since First Communion,” he says. “All I want to do here is build relationships. I want to build a Church where everyone feels welcome to come.”

Abbie Baird of Waldron attended the sessions in Danville and Waldron with her cousins, Ruthie and Joseph Reyman. Abbie said she enjoyed the story of David and Goliath because Goliath was “stoned with water balloons and everyone got wet.”

What did she learn? “You always listen,” she said. “Do not do what the devil does. He turned his back on God.”

When the volunteers returned to Maryland, they immediately started thinking about how to make the 2005 Bible school bigger and better.

“We will be back next year if they will have us,” Julie Gartrell promises.

Malea Hargett is the editor of the Arkansas Catholic. This story is based on one she wrote for her July 17, 2004 issue.