church history

 In 1915 Frank Skorcz and his family moved from Illinois to Grant County about ten miles south of Sheridan.  The Skorcz's were the first Catholic family in Grant County.  The closest Catholic Church was in Pine Bluff, which was a two day round trip.  A priest from St. Joseph's in Pine Bluff would come to Sheridan once or twice a year to celebrate Mass at the Skorcz home.  As roads and means of transportation improved, the Catholic families in Sheridan could go to Mass in Pine Bluff once a month.  A priest continued to come to Sheridan to celebrate Mass at Frank Skorcz's home until it burned down in 1944.  

In 1947 Martha Skorcz met a chaplain during a stay at St. Vincent's Infirmary in Little Rock.  She convinced the young chaplain, Fr. Jesse Chaney, that Sheridan needed his services and he agreed to travel here to celebrate Mass.  By February 1948 a permanent mission was opened in Grant County.  Twice a month mass was held in the home of Joseph Skorcz.

        In November 1948, after the fall harvest, an old-fashioned church raising began.  Men, women and children all helped as they could on weekends and evenings.  The land on West Vine Street had been purchased by Alex Skorcz who was building houses in the area.  Since most of the Skorcz's were carpenters, farmers, loggers or a combination of all three, they decided to build the church themselves.  They cut the timber from their own land, sawed the lumber and began construction.  On February 20, 1949, Holy Cross Catholic Church was dedicated by Bishop Albert Fletch, Bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock.

        By 1976 the Parish had outgrown the original building and construction began on an expansion that added a new Sanctuary, vestibule, and office.  Again, the parishioners did most of the work themselves, including some of the same ones who had worked on the original building.  The new facility was dedicated on May 21, 1977, by Bishop Andrew McDonald.  The original building was converted into a fellowship hall and classrooms for religious education classes.

        Over the years that followed there became a need for a separate classroom facility.  In December 2014, a building fund pledge campaign was undertaken, and construction began in July 2015.  The new education building was dedicated by Bishop Anthony Taylor on May 22, 2016.

        In January 2022, Mary Hale passed away very unexpectedly.  She was very dedicated to Holy Cross as our PRE director as well as teaching PRE classes for the past 35 years, ensuring that countless numbers of children had an opportunity to learn the Catholic faith starting at pre-K to First Communion/First Reconciliation through Confirmation.  Mary was integral in the Catholic education of countless numbers of children while serving in her roles and her dedication to her life's work will continue to shine on those children and their children for generations. Therefore because of her service, our education building was dedicated to her and is now called the Mary Hale Education Building.

Holy Cross Catholic Church is located at 921 W. Vine Street in Sheridan, AR   Mass is celebrated at 9:00 AM on Sunday with PRE classes after Mass.