Mercedes Catalina Helms, who was recently hired as pastoral minister at the Catholic Community of Great Bend, is one of those people one almost expects, at any moment, to break into song.

And it’s no wonder.

"Mom said I started dancing on the first anniversary of my birth," said Helms, a native of Panama City, Panama, where her mother and brother still live. "Mother enrolled me in everything — acting school, ballet, modern dance, the school band …. I was so busy that I had to study while everybody else was sleeping. Mom said, "If you want to be in everything, you have to keep your grades up."

"My parents always believed in education," she added. "They didn’t give us money and wealth, but they made sure all their kids had the legacy of a good education and the necessary comfort to live as human beings with dignity in an environment of peace and respect among each other."

Helms came to Great Bend in 2001 while her husband Cody (originally from Larned) was living there. The two met when both were serving in Panama with the American military, she as a civilian. They have two children, Niki, 8, and Walter, 9.

When Father Reggie Urban, pastor, first offered her a position in the Catholic Community, she turned it down. When her present position was later offered, she said she decided to give it further thought, and found herself asking, "Why me?"

"I had a little conversation with God," Helms said. "He said, ‘Take it. I’ll do the rest.’ God puts everything in the order you have to have it. God put me in this position, probably because people need me. Sometimes we want to do things we like, and sometimes it may not be what we want, but what God wants."

The primary focus of Helms’ ministry will be to help the parish minister to Spanish-speaking people.

"I think the Hispanic community is very devoted and religious," Helms said. "It is a gift and a privilege to be a Catholic; this is why I feel honored to belong to this Catholic Community of Great Bend, which is full of caring people and a lot of diversity.

"The job is not easy," she admitted. "It’s a challenge for me. I need to change peoples’ attitudes. I have to make people believe, and to follow what they are saying. All are invited to church, but some don’t go. "

Despite the challenges, she said that working for Father Urban and the Catholic Community of Great Bend has been "the best experience of my life."

"I have to give credit to the people of Great Bend," she added. "They are very friendly and like to make you feel at home. They make you feel warm, welcome."

Though not a small town in relation to many Kansas towns, the atmosphere in Great Bend is a far cry from the rush of Panama City, something for which Helms is very thankful.

"Panama City is like any other city," she said. "Everything is in a rush. I don’t miss that. I do miss the beach, and Christmas, which is celebrated differently. In Panama, Christmas is celebrated when everybody gets together. It doesn’t matter who you are. It is 24 hours of celebration."

And she misses her mother, Juliana, a retired nurse originally of Saboga Island in Panama (one of the seven islands of the Pearl Islands), who stayed in Panama because of the weather (humid, but temperate) while Helms’ father works in New York as a security supervisor. Another of Helms’ brothers and two of her sisters also live in New York.

Helms, with a song in her heart and a dance in her step, still enjoys performing. She most recently wowed the crowds when portraying King Herod during "The Living Way of the Cross" in May in Great Bend.

"I like to combine good humor with work and get the positive side from the things I do," she said. "I don’t have time for negativity, because life is very short. As my mother always said, ‘There is more time than life – the reason why we must use life positively.’"