Sister Mary Doohan and Sister Irene Lanahan of the Baltimore Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame will arrive in Dahlonega Sept 15 to assist Father Gerald Peterson, a Glenmary Missioner and pastor of St. Luke Catholic Church.

In response to their role of advocacy by bearing witness to the Church’s concern for her people, the sisters will spend the first three months as contemplatives in a program of prayer and study. They will devote themselves principally to prayer, seeking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to discern how they can best serve the area.

At the conclusion of this initial phase the sisters, while retaining a contemplative approach, will begin to actively serve the most urgent and neglected needs made known to them during heir months of prayer and study.

Since their religious community is a teaching congregation, the sisters have formerly served the Church within the framework of a parochial school situation. Therefore, professional assistance for their new assignment was sought by Father Peterson and obtained from both a prominent theologian and an experienced sociologist.

Father Bernard Quinn, a Glenmary Missioner and Doctor of Missiology, as executive director of the town and country department of The Center for Applied Research in the apostolate (CARA), along with Father Norman Chaote, a member of the Congregation of the Resurrection, a sociologist and associate director of Town and Country share their professional skills in interpreting and guiding the perceptions of the sisters as related to their planning programs for future service in the area.