Holy Family Parish will have a new priest June 19. Pastor Brian Bebak will come to Marion from El Dorado, where he has been at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church since 2007.
Bebak was ordained in May 1986 and has served many roles in the Wichita diocese. Other pastorates were in Wichita, Winfield, Oxford, Hutchinson, and Colwich.
Pastor Darrin May will preside over his last weekend Mass for Holy Family Parish on June 17. He came to Marion in June 2012 and is taking a sabbatical to serve the homeless in Lincoln, Nebraska.
According to parish secretary Rose Davidson, May said his inspiration to do this came from Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to serving “the poorest of the poor” and was canonized as St. Teresa of Calcutta in 2016.
Pauline Holub of Marion said she wished Father May would stay.
“I really liked him,” she said. “He will be missed. He was a personable type. He talked directly to you, even getting down on his knees to talk directly to kids.
“He’s been good for the parish. He has offered a lot of opportunities for people to increase their faith.”