By Bill Hall

In late may, 1972, Fr. Bill Hoffman, pastor of St. John Vianney Church in Austell, will leave for a new assignment that has taken ten years to become a reality. His new parish will be in Peru, South America, a country with over 14 million people of whom 95 percent are Catholic.

After completing a four-month language and cultural course at Lima, the capital city, Fr. Hoffman will be assigned to parish work somewhere within the 496,222 square miles of Peruvian soil, an area once inhabited by the ancient Inca Empire.

“The missionary program is run by the St. James Society,” said Fr. Hoffman, “with headquarters in Boston, Mass. The program originated in the late 1950s when Cardinal Cushing, at the request of the pope, asked American bishops to release parish priests for work in South America.

“The Society furnishes priests for three South American countries,” continued Fr. Hoffman. “They provide a total of 75 priests for the counties of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, with about eight of these going to Ecuador, 15 to Bolivia, and the rest to Peru.”

“I first heard of the missionary program in 1961,” declared Fr. Hoffman. “I became more interested in the work and finally in 1966 I asked Archbishop Hallinan about it, but he said no. In April, 1971, I visited the Society in Boston and decided to try again. So I wrote Archbishop Donnellan and he approved. I could have left last summer, but we had a nun assigned to the parish (Sr. Lynne Nault) and I felt that we needed a year overlap to get her started in parish work.”

This spring Fr. Hoffman has had a special problem to consider. In April, 1968, the parish bought 30 acres of land for a new church facility to accommodate the growth of the Catholic community. The plan was to use the existing church building for another five years, but it needed some renovation. Two weeks before the renovation was completed, the Georgia Power Company made an offer for the old church property that was too attractive to refuse; so the land was sold. Now Fr. Hoffman has to sell or remove the church building from the property by early May, locate temporary church facilities, and start construction of the new church building immediately. To help finance the new church, 20 acres of the new property were sold.

“I wrestled the problem again,” said Fr. Hoffman, “but decided that the new church would be built anyway. So, I am going ahead with plans to join the mission in South America.”

“We plan to break ground for the new church around the first of June, and it should be ready for occupancy by Christmas.” The property is located at the corner of Skyview Drive and Mt. Vernon Road near Lithia Springs.

Fr. Hoffman came to St. John Vianney, a parish of about 250 families, in August, 1968. One significant accomplishment during his pastorate has been the initiation of a program involving a somewhat new approach to youth activity. Called “The Club” the organization devotes two meetings each month to instruction, one to recreation, and another to practical application.

Fr. Hoffman pays “The Club” for cleaning the church each week. From these funds, the young people finance their recreation activity which includes such things as skating, bowling and occasionally a trip. On one of their trips, they went to Callaway Gardens; another time they went on a ski expedition to Sapphire Valley, N.C. Every summer, they have a one-week camp retreat at Rock Creek Lake above Dahlonega.

For the last three Easters, “The Club” has financed and conducted a picnic on the church grounds. This activity includes a variety of games, a kite flying contest and the traditional Easter egg hunt.

Fr. Hoffman, a native of Gainesville, Ga., attended Georgia Tech and St. Bernard College in Cullman, Ala. He is a graduate of the American College in Rome, Italy and was ordained there in St. Peter’s Basilica.

He has had a varied apostolate within the archdiocese; assistant pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, director of Camp Hallinan in Athens, principal of Drexel High School (now defunct) and Newman chaplain at Emory University.

He expects to be in Peru for at least five years.