Staff Reports
When the parishioners at St. Bernard celebrate their Feast Day, they plan to welcome their neighbors. Beginning at noon on Saturday, Aug. 18, a two-day celebration is planned, with outdoor games for children and a French dinner of roasted pork, potatoes, green beans and peach Melba.
Many of the children's activities will be free, although a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and chips will be available for $2. There are also face painting, a cake walk and a dunk tank. Everyone is welcome, parish manager Russ Anzalone said.
After the 5 p.m. mass, there's a social hour at 6 and a sit-down dinner at 7 p.m., featuring Roti de porc caramelise au miel, accompagne de pommes et brins de romarin. Tickets for the dinner will be $12.50.
On Sunday, the dunk tank, the slip and slide and the bounce house will be open after mass.
Anzalone said it's been several years since the church celebrated the Feast Day of St. Bernard of Clairvaux which falls on Aug. 20.
The church was named for the French saint when it was formed in 1980. Fr. Bernard Malone wasn't French, Anzalone said. He was Irish. He was sent to Bella Vista by the Little Rock diocese to form a new church. At first, he celebrated mass in a home he rented on Duvall Drive, but the congregation grew quickly and moved to the Bella Vista Methodist Church on Saturday evenings. By 1982, a new church building was dedicated.
Before the church was built, Malone chose the name based on a quote attributed to St. Bernard, "I have no home and no place to bring my people."
According to the website, www.britannica.com, St. Bernard de Clairvaux was born in 1090 into a large, well-to-do family. He became a monk and eventually led a small group including some of his family, to establish a religious community at Clairvaux. Later in life, he was an adviser to several popes and a counselor for ecclesiastical councils. Long after his death, he was named a "Doctor of the Church," because of the importance of his teachings.
General News on 08/15/2018