The new parish in Gwinnett County has been named after St. Patrick by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan.

The announcement came Saturday at a celebration for the installation of the new pastor, Father Daniel McCormick, formerly pastor of St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown.

The name chosen was one of several submitted by parishioners for the 100-year-old church which was purchased from the Methodists in 1968 and established as a mission of Holy Cross Parish.

It was dedicated as a church in April of 1969 and it has a mission in Lawrenceville. The parish boundaries are the county boundaries also and some 200 families are included therein.

Sisters Janet Ryan and Priscilla Klatt, IHM, live next to the church and are engaged in general parish work. Fr. McCormick will reside at Holy Cross, which formerly served the territory, until a rectory is built.

“Bless, Father, the whole life of this new parish under the patronage of St. Patrick, with the fire and vigor of your love so that the whole community of Gwinnett County might be enriched by the presence of this Catholic Community in its midst,” Archbishop Donnellan said at the installation. “We ask many blessings but we do so in recognition of our total dependence upon you as our Father.”