By Chris Starr

Nestled in the southeast corner of the archdiocese is the small town of Thomson, Ga.

Although the Catholic church there only has the status of a mission, with its 51 families it is more than double the size of its mother parish in Washington, 25 miles to the north. The pastor of the entire area, Father Edward Randall, actually resides in Thomson, while his assistant is based in Washington.

Although Thomson has never had a crime wave, any would-be criminal there would have to be wary of a unique crime-prevention factor in Thomson: the Queen of Angels Karate Club. Not only are the members quite active in the martial arts, this year they were named state karate champions, Father Randall is the chaplain (or chop-lain?) of the club.

Besides an interest in karate, Father Randall also has a talent for painting. When he arrived as pastor in 1970, he met a parishioner who owned an Italian restaurant and wanted to have some murals to decorate his walls. Father Randall offered his talents, and today many Thomson residents speak with pride of the restaurant scenes of Genoa and Venice that were painted by the Catholic priest.

As far as anyone can remember, Mass was first celebrated in Thomson during the 1930’s by a missionary priest from Tennessee, Father Carpenter.

He was followed by a certain Father Barr, who came to town with more regularity. In 1939 the town had seven Catholic families. Local non-Catholic merchants helped in many material ways to get the parish going. Thomson residents take great pride in their willingness to cross religious lines to help each other out as good neighbors.

An Italian missionary order, the Verona Fathers, arrived in Thomson in 1955 to begin a 15-year associate with the community. During their stay the parish flourished and the present church and hall were constructed.

Best remembered by the parishioners is Father Larry Enrizi, an energetic young priest who served Queen of Angels until he lost his life in an auto accident on a nearby country road. The parish hall is named in his memory.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate took over the parish in 1970 and sent in Father Randall as their first representative.

Queen of Angels has an active parish council that meets monthly. Clarence Pilgrim opened the recent meeting by saying that he might not get his hay out of the field before the expected rain, and that he needed some help. The council responded by adopting a resolution that they would pray that it not rain until Clarence got his hay out of the field.

As in many other small towns, the men of Thomson like to gather in a local café for a long conversational breakfast in the early morning. On a recent morning the topic of conversation concerned a former altar boy at Queen of Angels who was now a member of the morning coffee klatch. It seemed that as a server he used to fall asleep at the altar. Often he would hold the cruets between his knees when serving alone. He became something of a spectacle one morning when someone painted “Help” on the bottom of his shoes.