Father Francis Ruff, a member of the Glenmary Home Missioners who has served in North Georgia for the past eight years, is leaving here and will be replaced by Father Robert Berson.

Father Ruff has been appointed National Director of Promotion for the Glenmary Community, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Father Ruff, 35, has been assistant pastor of Saint Luke's Church in Dahlonega, as well as priest-in-charge of its mission in Cleveland. He has also been a Newman chaplain at North Georgia College.

On the national level, he has been a field representative to the Southern Baptist Convention for the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and also a consultant to the Bishops' Committee on the Permanent Diaconate.

For three years, he held the elective position of chairman of "Ninth District Opportunity," a 16-county agency of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

In his new position, Father Ruff will be responsible for Glenmary's public relations, fundraising and vocational recruiting.

Father Berson is being assigned here with the title of "Regional Worker in the Deep South," a position which will take him into several dioceses in this region from his base in North Georgia.

From 1965 until this June, Father Berson served as president of the 100-member Glenmary Society, which dedicates its apostolic efforts to priest-scarce areas of the United States.

Father Berson, 47, has been a priest for 22 years and is a native of Cincinnati. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bersenbruegge, still reside in that city.