Fifty-five years of Catholic elementary education in one school will draw a to a close in June when the Sacred Heart School is closed. The school has served Atlanta’s Catholics since the fall of 1909 when the pastor of Sacred Heart (Father John E. Gunn, S.M.) engaged the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet to serve as the teaching staff.

Full provision for the 143 children attending Sacred Heart is being made, according to Right Reverend Monsignor Patrick J. O’Connor, in adjacent Catholic schools. It is expected that the larger number will transfer to Immaculate Conception (register April 25), and Saint Thomas More (register April 26), or to other convenient schools.

“There are two basic reasons for the move,” stated Archbishop Hallinan in a letter to the members of Sacred Heart parish to be read at all the Masses, Sunday, April 19. “Primarily, it is being done to insure the most competent and efficient apportionment of our teaching and administrative staff, classroom space, educational facilities, etc. The combination of pupils in certain schools permits this more effectively than the dispersal into a number of institutions.”

“Secondly, the plans for providing our laity, clergy and sisters with a convenient center for archdiocesan activities call for using the land where the old Marist School now stands. During this past year, a temporary arrangement permitted the use of part of this old building for the Sacred Heart pupils. This, however, because of the safety restrictions, was on a strictly temporary basis.”

In concluding his letter to the parishioners of Sacred Heart, the archbishop stressed that the educational and physical well-being of the children were the main cause for the move. “It is always difficult,” he added, “to see beloved landmarks pass, particularly when they remind us so poignantly of the treasures of our faith, the sacrifices of the priests, sisters and laity who taught in this school, and the generations of Atlantans who received their education there. But the future’s demands - in our archdiocese, growing in numbers, vigor and effectiveness - are even greater than our ties with the past. These decisions, then, become part of a bishop’s role, and their acceptance by our people is the strongest evidence of the depth and firmness of the faith in our Catholic population.”