By Richard Beckman

A baptism of fire is vivid in the memory of the Rev. John J. O’Shea, pastor of St. John the Evangelist, who with more than 12 years at the south-side parish currently is the pastor with the longest years of service at any one parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

As he reminisced on his years in the parish and as a priest, he noted that he arrived in January 1960, following the sudden death of the parish’s founder and first pastor, the Rev. George T. Daly.

Fr. O’Shea said he performed the first baptism in March and that when he got too near a candle during the ceremony, his surplice caught on fire!

During his 12 years two new parishes, Blessed Sacrament and St. Philip Benizi, have been established, taking away many families from St. John the Evangelist. Even so, Fr. O’Shea pointed out, the parish is larger and collections are higher.

When asked to identify problems, he was quick to reply that “school financing is the major problem” today and that he sees federal help as the only solution to maintaining parochial schools.

“I don’t see how we can continue,” Fr. O’Shea said, citing to continuing increase in salaries resulting in the continuing increase in tuition, making it more and more difficult for parents to send children to a Catholic school.

When asked what “bugged” him the most as a pastor, Fr. O’Shea listed finances in general but was quick to add “meetings” –which would not surprise those who know him well.

He said he saw a definite value in the establishments of the various parish boards and committees – school board, finance committee, etc.,– but there were just too many meetings and some of those held monthly could be set on a quarterly basis. However, Fr. O’Shea also noted that the structured boards and committees in the parish were not entirely new since they merely replaced the pastor’s summons to various members of the parish upon whom he could count to get things done.

And it was the “cooperation by many of the people” that Fr. O’Shea listed as what he like best. Noting that his assignments in Atlanta as a priest has been spent entirely on the south-side, four and one-half years at St. Anthony’s as an assistant pastor and the 12-plus years at St. John’s – he said he had worked with a fine group of people through the years.

Generally, he said the Catholic priest is more accepted in the south today than when he was ordained 31 years old. In the past, he said, a priest would not have been asked to come to a public school. He recalled one of his early assignments as a pastor in South Georgia where one of his parishioners, a student in a public school, told him about a teacher who said that Catholics worshipped statues. Fr. O’Shea said he went to the school and talked with the principal who, in turn, straightened out the teacher.

Fr. O’Shea’s initial assignment was as an assistant at St. Joseph’s Parish in Athens. In addition to assignments at St. Anthony’s and St. John’s, he also has served as pastor of St. Augustine in Thomasville and St. John the Evangelist in Valdosta. Prior to his assignment at St. John’s he served as chaplain for three and one-half years at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

Next week, Fr. O’Shea leaves St. John’s to take up new duties as pastor of St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown.

The active parish council, which Fr. O’Shea established, met last fall to discuss the problem of unification within St. John’s parish. The members found their problem to be two-fold.

First, many felt that the parish was divided between those families whose children attended the parish school and those who children came to the school of religion on Sunday. But even more divisive was the parish area itself, cutting across two counties, Fulton and Clayton, and a number of cities – Atlanta, East Point, College Park, Hapeville, Forest Park, Morrow and Riverdale.

The answer agreed upon was a series of parish suppers, but with a somewhat new twist. Beginning in January with members of the parish council serving as hosts, the first 25 families on the parish list were invited to the Sunday night supper. The invitation simply told them “that many people in large parishes such as our own find it very difficult even to get acquainted with their fellow-parishioners, much less develop close ties with them.”

The invitation also told them they were invited and to bring their family and no food. This would be furnished by the parish council members. But the invitation also noted that the families accepting an invitation would be expected to serve as hosts and thus furnish the food at the next supper when the next 25 families would be invited.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Alex Sechelski, who represents the Christian Family Movement on the parish council, the suppers generally have been held twice a month.

Although the initial turnout was not as large as expected, the suppers have grown in attendance primarily because of reports about the wonderful food that has been available. Now, if a family receives their invitation for a specific Sunday and cannot attend, they are asking that they be called again on a specific weekend to attend a supper. Then they take their turn at the food preparation at the next scheduled supper. Each family participating brings enough food for their own family and enough for a guest family. Refreshments, coffee and punch, are furnished by the parish.

Members of the parish council are urged to attend as often as possible. In addition, the pastor and the assistant pastors are invited to attend each of the suppers as are members of the community of nuns serving the parish school and the school of religion.

An evaluation to date would be that the suppers have been a unifying factor and are growing as a successful venture.