Sixty people at a theology lecture in a large metro Atlanta parish would be considered a very good turnout. Sixty people at such a lecture in Dalton, Ga., where the parish only comprises 115 families, is nothing short of astounding. Yet it’s happening every week during the Dalton Lenten lecture series.

Such is the spirit of St. Joseph’s parish in Dalton that enthusiastic response to any parish project has become the norm, rather than the exception. Consider the evidence: All of 200 parishioners attended a recent penance service. Mass in private homes is celebrated twice each week. The daily Lenten Mass in church has been drawing about a dozen people. Every Tuesday morning the parish holds an interfaith prayer meeting for ladies.

Recently the rectory was turned into an Italian piazza through the use of fountains, flags and lights, and with the help of a strolling accordionist. After a spaghetti supper was served downstairs, there was dancing upstairs. 130 people attended.

Twice each year the parish holds a rummage sale. Many of the clothes have a new and hardly-used appearance. The last rummage sale netted the parish $800. But what is more important to the Dalton Catholics –at least 200 poor people left with suitable clothing at a nominal cost.

The weekly offering , too, reflects the spirit of the parishioners. It has risen sharply over the past year to an average level of $450 per week, a healthy average of $4 per family.

In their attitude and spirit, the parishioners of St. Joseph’s reflect the freshness, enthusiasm, and spontaneity of their pastor. Fr. Michael Woods, who at 29, is currently the youngest pastor in the archdiocese.

Fr. Woods has other duties besides those in Dalton. He serves on the archdiocesan marriage tribunal and the priests’ personnel board, duties which bring him to Atlanta at least once each week ( a round trip of 170 miles). He also administers a mission church in the mountains at Blue Ridge, where he celebrates Mass every Saturday evening (a round trip of 120 miles).

The Blue Ridge mission was opened by the previous pastor, Fr. Denis Dullea. Before the coming of Fr. Dullea, the people there had to travel into Tennessee to celebrate Sunday Mass. About 25 people regularly attend the mission church, but tourists swell the Sunday congregation in summer to about 60.

Throughout the large area which is his parish, Fr. Woods is attempting to foster an ecumenical spirit by making himself available as a speaker to Protestant church groups. At least five times over the past year he has made such appearances. He is also a member of the Dalton Ministerial Assn., before which he spoke last week about the turmoil and conflict in Northern Ireland. Fr. Woods is himself a native of Ireland, where his father Peter Woods, is an attorney.

A few years ago Fr. Woods’ sister, Madeline, came here to visit while he was then a curate at Holy Spirit Church. She attended a parish social where she met and fell in love with an eligible young FBI agent, Sean Hayes. Now Mrs. Hays, she is the second member of the Woods family to have settled within the archdiocese.

Fr. Wood is extremely pleased by the exuberant cooperation he has received from the Dalton people, most of whom are in some way connected with the carpet industry. (Dalton is called “the carpet capital of the world.”)

He is pleased, too, that his people are beginning to “think Atlanta,” even though Dalton is tucked away in the Northwest corner of the state, far away from Atlanta. He credits the ACCW ladies who held their annual conference in Dalton, the eight priests who assisted him in the penance service, the five priests who are coming to offer the Lenten lectures, the nuns who come for the purpose of religious education and the priest who personally contributed $200 to the parish paint fund –all of these from the Atlanta archdiocese – as impressing his people with the interest of the rest of the archdiocese in them.

A few words should be said about the rambling old rectory which is the scene of so much parish activity. Built 77 years ago, reputedly by Civil War veterans who fought on the side of the Union, it contains 15 rooms in its two stories and serves as a meeting hall, catechetical center, supper club and dance hall –as well as the pastor’s residence.

As many as five priests inhabited the rectory at one time in former years when the Redemptorist Fathers staffed the parish. The Redemptorists moved out in 1967 and archdiocesan priests took over.

Fr. Woods became pastor a year ago.

--JJM