Begun as a truly Ecumenical project in the Smyrna area, St. Thomas the Apostle Church will have the dedication of its own parish plant this coming Sunday evening in ceremonies presided over by the Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan, Archbishop of Atlanta.

The parish of St. Thomas was founded in June 1966, when the Rev. Richard A. Morrow was transferred as pastor of Carrolltown’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church to become the founding pastor of the new St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Smyrna.

Father Morrow offered Mass on Sunday mornings in the Belmont Hills Theatre; on Sunday evenings the congregation would move to use the facilities of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church; and religious instructions and Hoy Day Masses were offered at the First Methodist Church in Smyrna.

Construction began on the new parish complex in August of 1967, and the Catholic community began use of its new facility in April 1968 with a congregation of 300 families.

Dedication ceremonies will be followed at 7 p.m. Sunday evening with a Concelebrated Mass by Archbishop Donnellan, the Rev. John Mercer, S.M., pastor of the Church of St. Joseph in Marietta, and Father Morrow.

Following the Mass, a public reception will be held in the parish hall.