Meet Parishioners John and Mary Wallin: Finding Home in Our Parish

We all go through seasons in our lives. Different personal, professional, and communal responsibilities call for our time and attention. So, it makes sense that how we can give back to the faith community will evolve as well.

“The parish is your home,” says Mary Wallin. “Just like your home, everyone has chores and responsibilities in relation to their ability. Everyone can do something and what they can do changes with time.”

Mary and John Wallin met through Central Arkansas Catholic Singles in the early 1990s. Mary had moved back to the area, and when she saw the group in the bulletin, she thought it would be a great way to meet people.

“It was just a fun group that had different social and religious activities,” John says. “We prayed and went to church together. The faith was always important for me and Mary. It was how we were brought up and how we formed our lives together.”

They were married in 1992, and in 1998 John and Mary joined Immaculate Conception, which had been Mary’s parish while she was growing up. They particularly wanted their children to attend Catholic school, and at first, they didn’t have much time to become involved in parish life.

“It took us a few years to be more involved because when we moved here, we had a toddler, one on the way, and then another on the way two years later,” Mary says. “We were both working full-time, and all that is a lot! And, when I wasn’t working, I wanted that time with the kids at home.”

When the youngest of their three children turned 2 years old, Mary remembers the parish sharing a need for lectors at the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass.

Immaculate Conception's John and Mary Wallin

“I’ll never forget as I started the first reading, our daughter called out, ‘That is Mommy!’” Mary says. “As our kids got more involved in school, we got more involved in helping at school. The school relies on your help, and then once people know who you are, you’re asked to do other things.”

John became a Cub Scout leader and still helps with the Scouts, even though their son is 25 years old now. Mary also helped with the Girl Scouts and Immaculate Conception's John and Mary Wallin was a co-leader with them for nine years. Over the years, they’ve served on the PTO, the School Board, and the Pastoral Council, as well as in other ministries and councils.

“If you want to start being involved, start small,” John says. “Find something that fits with your personality and start in some small way to help the church, school, and our community.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary and John greatly missed the faith community, particularly attending Mass together and participating in adoration.

“I missed all of the social things that become part of your life, like the Men’s Club and the fish fry,” John says. “You were part of this community, and then that was all gone.”

Today, Mary and John are caring for Mary’s mother and have not been involved in parish life to the extent that they used to be. They know this also gives new people the opportunity to come forward. “We started out small, then became super involved, and now have gone back to only being able to help on the weekends,” Mary says. “I still serve as a lector, and John is an usher and a Eucharistic Minister. We’re kind of back to where we were when we had young children because our duties at home have expanded.”

In thinking about the faith community at Immaculate Conception, Mary and John recall all the parishioners who have come before them to build this community and all the people who will carry the parish forward.

“Thank you to the generous and hardworking parishioners who contributed their resources to make a parish and school for us,” Mary says. “No individual can build community on their own. We’re not able to do as much now, and it is someone else’s turn. Thank you to the people carrying on!”

Gabe Wallin and John Wallin during the transition from Cub Scout to Boy Scout (2007) with Bill Wilde, head of the program at Immaculate Conception