Georgia Governor George Busbee has appointed Monsignor R. Donald Kiernan, pastor of Atlanta’s Church of St. Jude, to membership on the State Crime Commission.

The commission, which oversees grants made to various agencies of the criminal justice system, is headed by the president of Clayton Junior College, Dr. Harry Downs, and has on its membership judges, sheriffs, mayors, police chiefs and departmental commissioners of many of the state agencies. The State Crime Commission disperses and administers block grants given by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA).

Monsignor Kiernan presently serves as chaplain to the State Department of Public Safety, which includes the State Patrol and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

Five times chaplain of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, an organization which includes over 8,000 members in 75 countries of the free world, Monsignor Kiernan presently is also chaplain to the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, a post which he has filled for the past 15 years.

Active also in civic affairs, Monsignor Kiernan is a member of the Rotary Club of West End; a member of the Board of Directors of the North Fulton Child Development Association, third Vice President of the John H. Harland Boy’s Club; and a member of the executive board of the Atlanta Area Boy Scouts of America.

A native of Taunton, Massachusetts, Monsignor Kiernan was ordained May 4, 1949 by the late Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, for service in the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta. His assignments included assistant pastor of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta, and St. Joseph’s Church in Athens. First pastor of St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown, this assignment was followed by pastorates at St. Michael’s in Gainesville, St. Anthony’s in Atlanta and his present assignment as pastor of St. Jude’s in Sandy Springs.

In 1969, his Holiness Pope Paul VI honored the Georgia priest by naming him a Prelate of Honor with the title of Reverend Monsignor. Miami Florida’s Biscayne College honored Monsignor Kiernan on the occasion of his 25^th anniversary to the priesthood by conferring on him a degree of Doctor of Public Administration.

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta Monsignor Kiernan had served for a number of years as editor of The Georgia Bulletin, and presently he is chairman of the retirement board of the archdiocese and a member of the archdiocesan board of consultors.

Elected the first vice president when the senate of priests was organized after Vatican II, Monsignor Kiernan held that post for two years and was elected as the third president. He returned to that post as president, when elected, one year ago.

The State Crime Commission was appointed to comply with the provision of the Crime Control Act of 1976. Its purpose is also to make recommendations on how the criminal justice system can most effectively increase the levels of performance and effectiveness with all phases of criminal justice.