Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 12, 1987
Pickens County Catholics
(Continued from page 1)
The church is located several miles outside Jasper at
Highway 108 and Refuge Road. A small church with an in
viting appearance, it sits atop a hill which slopes to a valley
in back of the building. The new sanctuary, with fellowship
space on the lower level, was added to an existing small
farmhouse purchased with 36 acres of land for the mission.
PARISH BABY — Andy Scheffler, seven
months, was at the church dedication with his
mother Tricia.
The roof and exterior walls of the house, which serves as
rectory, were covered with the same low maintenance syn
thetic stucco material used in the new building.
Gene Barrington, architect with the Atlanta firm of
Barker and Cunningham, said, “We made the house and the
new building look like they belong together.” The building,
he said, was designed to be easily added on to.
Inside, two large windows on either side of the altar area
frame a view of mountains, trees and sky and enhance the
serene simplicity of the rural mountain church. The effect
is what the architect sought, “a comfortable feeling, of fit
ting in with its surroundings. It is just formal enough to fit
the Liturgy,” he added.
The altar, formerly used for Mass in the rectory, has been
refinished in the same dark oak as the ceiling beams and
pews. The wooden ceiling is stained with a light chestnut
finish. Pews and kneelers are cushioned in a dark brown
fabric, “a good excuse,” Father Nolan said, “to give them
longer sermons.” Carpeting is in a dark green.
The wooden lectern was made by Andy Dell, a
parishioner, and the cross behind the altar was the gift of
Stan Adams, Jasper builder whose firm constructed the
church. A handsome quilted wall hanging of Our Lady
standing on mountain peaks was the handwork of
parishioners Fran Muzzey and Marilyn Kraul.
The dedication celebration continued after Mass in the
large fellowship room downstairs. Here, around tables
spread with a large array of meats, casseroles, salads and
desserts brought by parishioners, people were talking of the
beauty of the dedication liturgy and what had been ac
complished in three years.
One of the catalysts, Joe Gonzalez, president of the parish
council, member of the finance committee, and the
planning and building committee, spoke of the successful
drive which raised $86,000 in 32 months. “The archdiocese
wanted us to build an all-purpose building. We said ‘no,’
most of us are retired and would never see a church," he
said. A retiree from New York, he and his wife Helen mov
ed to the area in 1981 and live in the Bent Tree resort
development.
Money for the new church was raised through pledges,
the Christmas bazaar the women held each year and yard
sales. And the men’s group added money raised through a
pizza booth at the annual Marble Fair, according to
Patricia Champion, co-secretary with Helen Gonzalez of
the parish council and a member of the planning and
building committee.
Resident for 27 years, and the widow of a Navy career of
ficer who was born in Pickens County, Mrs. Champion said
the area is growing rapidly. About half the parishioners are
retirees, many from other states, but more and more
families with children are discovering the area, some mov
ing up from Atlanta and commuting to work.
Because theirs is such a small parish, everyone gets in
volved, she said. Many of the parishioners live year round
in the Big Canoe and Bent Tree resort developments while
others spend six months in the area and six months in
Florida.
Ken Pint, chairman of the planning and building commit
tee, is head of Cryogenic Services in Cherokee County
which employs over 100 people. He said cost of the new
building came to about $325,000. An unexpected $15,000 ex
pense came about when the state Department of Transpor
tation required that an all-concrete access to Highway 108
be constructed.
Father Nolan, who claims the distinction of being the first
resident priest in both Cherokee and Pickens counties (he
was appointed first resident priest at the Canton mission in
1979) is well-known to townsfolk in Jasper. One parishioner
spoke of having non-Catholics tell her frequently “they
know Father Nolan,” and of their fondness for him.
As the dedication liturgy concluded. Father Nolan thank
ed several local clergymen and their wives who were pre
sent. The Rev. Max Caylor, the Methodist minister who
meets for a weekly dinner with the priest, responded, “We
are pleased to work with you so that His kingdom may
come.”
To reciprocate the kindness of the people in town, the new
church was open Sunday afternoon to the public. Tours of
the building were given and refreshments served to an
estimated 100 friends and neighbors of Our Lady of the
Mountains.
Father Nolan said it is believed that the legendary Father
Thomas O’Reilly, the Civil War priest who is credited with
saving the churches of Atlanta from Sherman’s torch,
ministered to the few Catholics in Pickens County. As
pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Atlanta from
1861 until 1872, he also served “all surrounding missions” as
a circuit riding pastor.
This was in the early years of the Diocese of Savannah
which covered all of Georgia. The Savannah diocese was
established in 1850 from the Diocese of Charleston which
then included North and South Carolina, Georgia, and some
parts of Florida.
Later in the 19th century a church for Catholics, mostly
Italians, working in the marble industry at Tate and Marble
Hill was built near Marble Hill, according to a history of the
county written by Luke Tate in 1935. His history says this
church was closed before 1900 because of lack of support.
The new church of Our Lady of the Mountains in Jasper is
the first Catholic church in the county since that ill-fated
church, Father Nolan said.
It was more than half a century before Mass was regular
ly celebrated in Pickens County, the history goes on to say.
About 1957, a Father Kolb, C.SS.R., came from the Dalton
parish to say Mass at the home of Joe Butler in Jasper.
There were several Catholic families who spent the sum
mer at Tate Mountain Estates; so as to accommodate
everyone, the building which is now the Art Center was
rented during the summer months. This arrangement con
tinued for several years, but by 1961 the Art Center building
was being used every Sunday of the year.
Later in the 1960s the mission was served by Marist
priests from the school in Atlanta. In the summer of 1960 the
Jasper mission was closed and Catholics in the county
began attending Mass in Canton, Cherokee County, which
by that time had become a mission of the Cartersville
parish.
The mission church of Our Lady of LaSalette in Canton
was dedicated April 24, 1977. Father Nolan served the mis
sion church from 1979 until 1984 when he was named
pastoral administrator of the new mission in Jasper.
First Mass in Jasper was held at the rectory on Oct. 13,
1984 with a large group present. Soon the new mission of
Our Lady of the Mountains had outgrown the rectory and
the Catholics of Pickens County returned to the Art Center
for Sunday Mass after an absence of 16 years. The Saturday
Vigil Mass was celebrated in the rectory.
HEAPS OF FOOD
— Parishioners had a
wide variety of dishes
to choose from at the
reception in the
fellowship room of
the new church.
McINEKNEY PHOTOS
CO-WORKERS — It was a happy day for Joe
Gonzalez, parish council president, and Father
Joseph Nolan, M.S., administrator shown in
photo above. Building committee chairman
Ken Pint is shown in photo below with Patricia
Champion, a member of the committee.