St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Grapevine, TX, was established as a parish in 1949. We are a member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, which is home to over 700,000 Catholics. Our pastor is Rev. Sojan George.

The Church and administration facility, which is situated on 9.6 acres of land near Lake Grapevine, is a 39,000 sq. feet building with church seating for over 1,100, 10 classrooms, a meeting room, a conference room, office space, and a Parish Hall.  Stained glass windows from the original mission church were used in the parish hall to bring forward our past.

Fr. Baltasar Szarka, a native of Hungary affectionately called Fr. B, served as pastor of St. Francis from 1961-1997.  He was ordained in France in 1949. In 1952, Fr. B joined other Cistercians from Hungary who settled in Wisconsin. The group moved to Irving in 1956, and Fr. B began his ministry at St. Francis in 1961.

He was a wonderful listener and loved children. He was a loving pastor to the growing community at St. Francis. Fr. B retired as pastor in July of 1997 due to failing health and was honored with a special mass and reception. Fr. B died on April 1, 2000. Fr. B left us with a legacy of love of the Eucharist and a sense of community.

Fr. Ken Robinson, our next pastor, was born in Austria, the second of four children in an Air Force family. His father served several assignments in Europe before returning to Texas.

Fr. Ken was raised in a Protestant tradition, but as a teenager entered the Catholic Church. Fr. Ken has a rich educational and work background. He has a B.A. in secondary education with a specialization in history, English, and microbiology and a master’s degree in history. Before entering the seminary, he worked as a teacher and as a medical technologist. He completed his Master of Divinity degree at The Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio. He was ordained a priest on May 16, 1992, at his home parish of St. Rita in Fort Worth.

Fr. Ken served as associate pastor at St. Michael’s Church in Bedford and later as pastor of St. George’s Church in Fort Worth, before being named pastor of St. Francis in August 1997. Fr. Ken was assigned pastor of Sacred Heart in Muenster, TX, in January 1, 2007, and is now retired. 

Fr. Anh Tran, who followed Fr. Ken, was born and baptized in Saigon, Viet Nam in 1963. As a teenager, he moved with his parents and siblings to Fort Worth, Texas in 1975. He became a citizen of the United States of America in 1992.

He attended St. Rita Catholic School and Eastern Hills High School in East Fort Worth. He received a B.A. from Conception Seminary College in Missouri in 1985, a Master of Divinity from St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston in 1990, and Licentiate in Canon Law from Catholic University of America in 1996.

Fr. Anh was ordained by Bishop Joseph Delaney at St. Matthew Church in Arlington on May 26, 1990. His first assignment was at St. Michael’s Church in Bedford. In 1996, Fr. Anh was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Breckenridge, Texas with its four mission churches in Shackelford, Throckmorton and Palo Pinot counties. In 1999, Fr. Anh was appointed Diocesan Director for Vocations and served in that position until December 2006. Bishop Kevin Vann appointed Fr. Anh pastor of St Francis of Assisi church on May 1, 2007. 

Fr. James Flynn was assigned pastor of  St. Francis of Assisi parish on August 1, 2013, and served the community until February 2019. Fr. Flynn was raised in Arlington, Texas and graduated from Granbury High School in Granbury, Texas.  He spent 4 years on active duty the U.S. Army and was stationed in Kentucky, Germany, California and North Carolina.

After his service in the Army, he went to Texas A&M and received a degree in Engineering and played Rugby for Texas A&M. Upon graduation he worked in the commodities for Cargill Incorporated for three years and at the age of 29 started his seminary formation with the Dominican Friars in Denver and St. Louis.

In 2000, he was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Ft. Worth and finished his theology studies at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio. Fr Flynn was ordained to the priesthood on May 13, 2006. He served as an associate pastor at Immaculate Conception in Denton and St. John the Apostle in North Richland Hills before becoming the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas in Pilot Point and eventually the pastor at St. Francis of Assisi. 

Fr. Sojan George became pastor of St. Francis parish on February 14, 2019. Fr. Sojan (pronounced Soh-JUH-n) was born on May 20, 1975 in Kerala, India as the 4th of 5 children, with two brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers is a priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He joined the seminary in 1990 and was ordained a priest on Jan 01, 2000. Fr. Sojan has been serving in the diocese of Fort Worth since 2002. He served as the Parochial Vicar in three parishes from 2002 -2006. From 2006 -2011, he served as the pastor of the parishes in Decatur, Bridgeport and Jacksboro. In 2011, he was appointed as the pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Wichita Falls, then as the Rector of St. Patrick Cathedral in 2016, and eventually as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in 2019.