By Fr. Noel Burtenshaw

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan has announced the establishment of two new parishes in Roswell and Monroe. Both parishes have been missions for some years and are now receiving territory of their own and a resident pastor is being sent to each.

St. Thomas Aquinas Mission in Roswell, a mission of St. Jude’s Parish, now becomes a parish. The mission was served for many years from the Cathedral of Christ the King. After the establishment of St. Jude’s Parish in 1960, the area was assigned to St. Jude’s. For the last three years, Mass has been offered on Sundays in a Roswell public school by Fr. Noel Burtenshaw.

The new parish will take in all of North Fulton County from the Chattahoochee River to the county line. Included in the territory are the cities of Roswell and Alpharetta.

Great growth has been experienced in North Fulton in recent years. St. Thomas Aquinas now has 200 families attending Mass on Sundays. A school of religion was started two years ago and now has a full-time coordinator, Sr. Jean Marie Stross.

The pastor of the Roswell parish will be Fr. J. Douglas Edwards, formerly pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Carrollton.

St. Anna’s Mission in Monroe has been established as a new parish with an area of three counties as its territory. The counties are Walton, Morgan and Barrow.

St. Anna’s has been a mission of St. Joseph’s Parish in Athens. The church was completed in 1956 and dedicated in 1957 when Fr. Walter Donovan was pastor. The rectory was purchased in 1957. Since that time the people of these three counties have been served by the priests of St. Joseph’s in Athens.

Archbishop Donnellan has named Fr. Anthony Curran to be pastor. He has been assistant pastor at the Cathedral of Christ the King. His new parish will include St. James Mission in Madison and St. Matthew’s Mission in Winder.