THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1963 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 3
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
St Joseph's Athens-A Parish Of Liturgical Progress
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P»ne 546-7383
1^8 T. Hancock Ave.
ATHUS, GEORGIA
Mass was said once a monu
In a wooden building which stooc
In the rear of the present Ch
urch. The building had formerly
housed the first Law School of
the University of Georgia. Pr
iests came from Atlanta, Macon
and Augusta to care for the
small flock of Catholics.
In July of 1910 the first re
sident priest came to Athens,
Fr* Harry Clark. He became the
first pastor of the newly crea
ted parish of St. Joseph. The
territory of the parish consis
ted of 23 counties or 11,500
square miles. Construction of
the present Church began on
November 17, 1912 and the first
Mass was said on March 30,
1913.
BESIDES caring for the Cat
holics in Athens, Father Clark
provided well for its mission
territory. Fr. Clarke was res
ponsible for the construction of
a Mission Chapel in Grif
fin which has since become a
thriving parish. He also purch
ased property in Gainsville
where the Church of St. Mic
hael now stands. Following
years pastors from Athens gui
ded construction of St, Peter’s
in LaGrange as well as in El-
berton, Hartwell and Monroe.
The struggles of those days
were always filled with a vision
of the future. When Msgr. James
King was appointed Pastor of
St. Joseph's the parish treas
ury rested on the mantle piece.
It consisted of 13 cents.
In 1949 under the direction of
Father Donovan, St, Joseph's
began a grade school in the first
floor of the rectory. It has 280
pupils. The faculty consists of
7 Missionary Sisters of the Sa
cred Heart and 2 lay teachers.
In 1950 Fr. Donovan negotiat
ed for the purchase of a build-
>.u £*
• •
THERE MAY BE GHOSTS, BUT PARISHIONERS MADE IT A PROJECT
. . .St. Joseph's renovated rectory
ing on Lumpkin Street, in the
heart of tie University Campus.
This bulling has become the
Catholic Student Center which
now cares or over 700 Catho
lic Students mder the direction
of Father Christian Malone.
PERHAPS tin greatest adva
nce of the Clurch came in
1938 when the Nissionary Sis
ters of the Sacrtd Heart came
to Athens to operae St. Mary's
Hospital. No one cm ever Judge
the walls of misuiderstanding
that have toppled because of
their kindness and thtir love for
the sick and poor. One non-
Catholic patient was so grate
ful to the sister that lad car
ed for her through a serious
illness that she invited *ister to
visit her home after sheleftthe
hospital and in all nievisty ad
ded: "And bring your husband
too".
No one likes to be different but
I am afraid that for a few ye
ars to come some will consider
St. Joseph's Church in Athens
to be "way out". Why? Radical
as it may seem, we say Mass
MRS. LILLY Freeman (left) oldest parishioner and sacristan shown
with Mrs. Mary Harris (right) housekeeper, who was born in
Athens, and is a convert of thirty years. Father John Mulroy,
pastor, discusses the lack of problems.
NEW PARISHIONERS say hello to Father John Mulroy, Pastor.
Dad on right is Billy McKinney, former football captain of the
University of Georgia.
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The site of the preient St.
Joseph's Church wa s -purch
ased in 1873. Until that tine pr
iests held services in the tomes
of the few Catholics livzvg in
Athens. Bishop Gross of Sava
nnah purchased the present site.
Dr. Bloomfield, an Episcopa
lian donated the first $10000
toward the purchase.
■ i'
l«to is» wtifcKE YOUR NEW SCHOOL GOES
. . .Rebecca Masters and Friend
facing the people. We removed
the Communion rail. Our people
sing during all Masses and they
receive Holy Communion st
anding. We have hymn book
racks in front of all the pews
and on the side walls there are
wooden placks indicating Hymn
numbers. All these changes
came step by step over the
last year. Looking back I can
honestly say that none of it was
planned. It Just happened.
The main cause of all this
change Is the very nature of
our parish. We are located in a
University town with a trans
ient population. In recent years
the number of Catholic students
has so increased that our stu
dent center is buldging at the
seams. The parish Church takes
care of the overflow. Tourists
also numerous, a Navy Sc
hool in the parish has a yearly
turn-over of two hundred per
cent while industrial and manu
facturing executives are con
stantly promoted to other parts
of the country as new ones take
their place. The resident pari-
shoners have out-done themsel
ves in warmth and kindness but
each new face soon vanishes to
be replaced by innumerably
more. After Mass many dash
to their cars with the speed of
a bullet saying hello, to noone
and giving noone a chance to say
hello to them.
In one year we have incre
ased from 3 to 6 Sunday Mas
ses. The dream of a united par
ish is constantly shattered. To
NEW PARISHIONERS say hello to each other. Baby is named
James after the late Father James Boyce, former pastor and chan
cellor.
like trying to hold quicksand in
your hand.
A DEFINATE change came
over us last year when our Ar
chbishop asked that our people
take their rightful role in the
worship of God. Responding In
Latin was difficult for. some. It
is true that the Church uses
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a foreign tongue, but despite that
distinction, it is still native to
none of us.Qur people did not
always understand what they
were saying but at least the
silence was broken. The invisi
ble unit)' of faith was becoming
visible and audible. Individual
ism gives way slowly to cor
porate unit)' but that exaggerat
ed isolationism was beginning to
melt.
The next step began at a farm
house six miles outside of Bet
ween, Georgia. You may have
difficulty- finding it on a map
After dinner the wife of the
house mentioned that the dialo
gue Mass was going so well at
St. Anna's Chapel, she thought
it would be wonderful if Mass
could be said facing the people.
To be truthful, I was shocked.
How could a good Catholic have
such a radical thought? As I
drove home to Athens those
twenty nine miles I kept think
ing of reasons for saying no.
I was a bit tired, but I could
not think of any. Then I thou
ght of die answer. Father Har-
rision comes to say Mass at
St. Anna's every Sunday. He is
much more sensible than L I
was sure he would know the re
asons for saying no. To my
surprised he was delighted
with the idea. He had said Mass
that way in the Catecombs.
All my defenses were gone.
When that happens to a pastor
the only solution is to present
the problem to the chief shep
herd, the Archbishop. How cle
arly I could see the wisdom
of Christ in appointing Bishops.
The Archbishop sat back in
his chair. He held his pipe in
his hand and his office was
filled with a few seconds of what
is labeled silent meditation.
Finally he smiled and said: 1
don't see why not, If It helps
to bring the people closer to
God. In those few words he see-
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med to summerized all liturgi
cal change.
BACK AT St. Anna's Chapel
we moved the altar away from
the back wall, the unvarnished
wood behind the altar was soon
glistening as if it had never
been hidden, and we began to
say Mass facing the congregat
ion. The Blessed Sacrament is
not reserved so we had no pro
blem concerning the tabernacle.
It was the beginning of January.
At the end of the month the
parishoners asked that Mass
facing the people be continued.
To my surprise this was asked
by all but one parishoner. It
gradually became clear to me
that the people were not so much
concerned with the change
as they were with deepening
their appreciation of the Mass.
Meanwhile back at the mother
parish people kept coming and
going. Outside of Church I not
iced that the number I was
welcoming was slightly more
than I was saying good-bye to.
Over many a cup of coffee the
more permanent parishoners
revealed that with so many Mas
ses and people, they hardly ever
saw familiar faces. Some had
even suggested we give up try
ing to reach all these new peo
ple. They were not here too long.
And many of them didn't seem
too interested in whatwas going
on the parish. One Sunday I
checked our Mass attendance
and was surprised to find that
over fifty percent of our congre
gation could be labeled transi
ent. How could we consider our
selves worthy of the title
Catholic unless we tried to re
ach them.
For months I dodged the issue
of saying Mass facing the con
gregation at the mother Church.
To be perfectly truthful I drea
ded the thought of upsetting peo
ple and a few did not like the
idea at all. I armed myself with
the assurance that the purpose
of the Church was to bring the
people closer to God. If this
would do it why could I be op
posed. The Archbishop ghve his
permission and we began the
construction of a new altar.
We decided to keep the altar on
which the tabernacle rested dis
tinct from die altar on which
Mass would be said. We began
the first Sunday of June. I told
my people that I would ask for
their honest opinion at the end
of the month. On the last Sun
day we asked what our people
thought. Did they personally
perfer Mass facing the congre
gation? Seventy six percent said
yes, twenty four percent said
no. Since then we say all Mas
ses facing the congregation. The
response to the dialogue Mass
has greatly increased.
THE TEMPORARY altar we
had set up was a bit awkward.
The priest had to stand on the
step in front of the altar of the
Blessed Sacrement. The al
tar was high, but the sanctu
ary was small. The solution
came from a priest who is a
pastor in Baton Rouge, La.
He stopped by to say Mass one
morning on his way to the Lit
urgical Conference in Phila-
delph. His solution couldn’t have
startled me more. "Remove the
Communion Rail?" I almost
chocked on the coffee I was
trying to drink. "But how can
the people go to Communion?"
"That’s easy. They stand". Be
fore I could protest he pointed
his fingure and said: "Don’t
you realize that you never kneel
when you recieve Holy Com
munion during Mass. If it isn’t
disrespectable for you why
should it be for your 'people?
"Besides, think of the tremen
dous effect this will have on
the people who attend Mass, It
will visibly portray the commu-
nial nature of Mass in a way
they can’t ignore."
When the Archbishop visited
Athens at the end of August he
gave his permission. That very
simply is the story' of why we
are different. It was a gradual
process that just happened.
For the people of St Joseph's
Mass is no longer a arama or
a pagent they are watching. It
is something in which they have
a vital part. With the realiza
tion of their role in the wor
ship of God there comes the re
alization of their part in the
mission of the Church which we
commonly refe^ to as Catholic
Action. The barrier? of exagge
rated individualism are begin
ning to crumple and a parish
which is so overwhelmingly tr
ansient is becoming more cons
cious that it is a family. Noone
likes to be different, noone li
kes to be the first to change.
We invoked the aid of our pat
ron St. Joseph who when he was
awoke in the middle of the night
had the courage to go immedi
ately to Egypt. It is much eas
ier to put it off until the morn
ing. It was not easy to take
these steps, but our people are
closer to God because of it. Ask
them the next time you meet
them.
RECEIVING THE EUCHARIST STANDING
. . .No more communion rail
-4then s d)(desl ^jhea/er dx tends
Cordial Jn vita (ion Oo ^4/lt en S Pari A oners
Do Sdee dJlie djreqt dar ^3or 64 llord
CJt. DrusJl
*W}otor Companu
Ail, eni, (jeoryia (
Pulashi At Proad
r£i 6-142/
CitaUiikod 1918
