LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — September 28, 2025, is World Priesthood Sunday, a day set aside each year to recognize Catholic priests.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor, leader of the Catholic Church in Arkansas, is marking a milestone of his own this summer — 45 years as a priest. In an interview with 5NEWS, he reflected on his journey and the state of the church.

Taylor was ordained on Aug. 2, 1980, at St. Mary Parish in Ponca City, Oklahoma. He spent nearly three decades serving parishes in Oklahoma before Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Little Rock in April 2008.

“The beliefs are the same, but the social context has changed a lot over these years,” Taylor said. “Morality, marriage, gender identity, those kinds of things, same-sex relationships, those are all things that our world has changed

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