Father James F. Scherer, a social worker with training in community action, has been appointed secretary of the Department of Social Services for the Archdiocese. The appointment was effective Tuesday.

Father Scherer replaces Father Walter Donovan, veteran missioner and pastor of Blessed Sacrament which he established in 1960. A native of Little Falls, N.Y., Father Donovan was ordained in 1944 after theological studies at Catholic University of America and St. Bernard’s at Rochester, N.Y.

Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan said that although busy with the pastor’s responsibilities in a new parish, Father Donovan accepted additional assignments as director of Catholic Charities, Latin American Resettlement and served as chaplain of the St. Martin’s Interracial Guild.

“The change is a bridge between the period of beginnings when ‘doubling up’ and resourcefulness were indispensable and the period coordination when personnel, resources, funds are focused toward the fulfillment of needs. Father Donovan has been for hundred of persons and families a figure of the care and compassion of the Church. Father Scherer can build now on a sound foundation.”

Father Scherer, in his new assignment, will coordinate priests, sisters, lay professionals and lay volunteers in social services. “The inner city with its three parishes, Immaculate Conception, Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Lourdes -- will of course be a primary area, but middle and suburban parishes, and especially cities and towns outside of Atlanta will assume a large place in the services offered,” the archbishop commented.

Father Scherer, ordained in Atlanta in 1964, served at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish and then enrolled at the University of Georgia, where he was elected president of the graduate student body.

Although he will take a years’ leave of absence from his studies to work on archdiocesan coordination, he will return in 1967 and complete studies toward a dual degree in social work and community planning.

“Under Father Scherer’s secretaryship, the archdiocese will follow the policy already effected by Father Donovan and earlier by Msgr. Cornelius Maloney, who died in 1961, in working closely with other community agencies, stressing cooperation and pooling of resources and avoiding duplication,” Archbishop Hallinan said.

He has also done considerable fieldwork in the Atlanta area with state, county, city and private personnel and will work with them in his new assignment.