St. Mary of the Angels is the OFR community in Little Rock, Arkansas. The primary ministries of St. Mary include staffing and serving the San Damiano parish and serving the homeless of our city.
Sr. Nan Plummer is the Guardian at St. Mary. Contact us at
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or 501.613.7878.
Meet the St. Mary community
Sr. Sarah Maria Ball, ofr, has been a member of the San Damiano parish since its inception in 2006. She became a professed Franciscan in the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans in 2008 and then answered the call to help the OFR get started within the Ecumenical Catholic Communion by signing on during the founding Chapter of 2010. Sarah is active in the work of the San Damiano parish, serving as a Eucharistic Minister and acolyte for services regularly. Her Franciscan vocation involves several diverse areas in addition to this work. With three teenagers still at home, she is deeply involved in ensuring there are local and national ministry opportunities for youth in serving the poor. She is expanding the work of San Damiano with an ecumenical focus by inviting other parishes of the local Episcopal diocese to participate in another youth trip to serve the poor of South St. Louis in the spring of 2011. Sarah also works with the local Homeless Coalition in Little Rock on projects and legislative initiatives focused on improving services for the poor of this area. Sarah works for Acxiom Corporation, a technology firm based in Little Rock, Arkansas, as an Account Manager for a large bank. She is married to Fr. Fred Ball, ofr, and helps him keep track of everything from four children, the parish, and our "tent-making" job duties, to fostering the growth and development of this most beloved vocation in the little way of our brother, Francis.
Sr. Ellen Annette (Nan) Plummer, n/ofr, is the Guardian of St. Mary of the Angels. She has been a member of the San Damiano parish since 2009. She is active on the parish council and in music ministry. She began her Franciscan journey that same year, became an OFR novice at the founding chapter meeting in St. Louis in October 2010, and made her simple profession at the General Chapter in Chicago in 2011. A former art museum director, Nan is a senior devlopment officer at Arkansas Children's Hospital and teaches nonprofit management part-time at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She volunteers for the local public radio station and at St. Vincent Infirmary and keeps up with her husband Jim Spencer; two demanding shih-tzus; and three adult children, two grandchildren, and an aging mother, who live in four different Northern states. She loves to sing at Mass and with the UALR Community Chorus.
Fr. Fred Ball, ofr currently serves as the Minister General of the Franciscans of Reconciliation. He began his Franciscan journey in 1989 with the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans. He was first ordained in 1979 and became a priest with the ECC in 2007. Fr. Fred and his wife, Sarah, started what became San Damiano parish in their home in Lent 2006. He holds a Ph.D. in liturgical theology, with his research specifically focused on the Eucharist, and is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy. He also enjoys giving retreats and quiet days, doing spiritual direction, leading tour groups, horseback riding, and flyfishing. Fr. Fred and Sarah, have four children — Wesley, Katie, Mary Clare, and Hannah.
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