The continued growth in the number of Catholic families in an area north of metropolitan Atlanta, makes it appropriate to elevate to full parish status a community that has until now been a mission. The Church of the Good Shepherd in Cumming has been serving the Catholic faithful, first in small numbers since its opening in January 1975. Both the numerical size and the active presence of the church in the Cumming area have increased markedly since that time.

Opening on a site purchased in late 1974, the Cumming mission was first led by Father Thomas Kenny as pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Gainesville, the mother parish which Catholics of the area had attended for so many years. On May 13, 1975, Father Alan Dillmann was named priest-in-charge of the Cumming mission and its sister community in nearby Buford where the Church of the Prince of Peace was also recently dedicated. In July 1975, four Adrian Dominican sisters began work in the area as an outreach service of Catholic Social Services.

In view of these factors, the appropriate consultations with neighboring parishes were completed and a recommendation was made by the Archdiocesan Board of Consultors that the mission in Cumming, known as the Church of the Good Shepherd, become a full parish with Father Alan Dillmann as pastor, retaining the Buford mission of Prince of Peace.

Having had the benefit of these deliberations regarding the spiritual good of the area, I hereby decree that the Cumming mission is, by virtue of this document, established as the parish of Church of the Good Shepherd. The effective date of this decree is August 1, 1977.

The boundaries of the parish area are as follows:

Eastern boundary: I-85 from the Gwinnett-Barrow line to Old Peachtree Road;

Southern boundary: Old Peachtree Road from I-85 to Scales Road to the Chattahoochee River;

Northern boundary: Friendship Road from Lake Lanier to I-85;

Western boundary: Includes all of Forsyth County.

Those members of the faithful living within this area are members of the parish of the Good Shepherd. They face the challenge of continuing to work to complete their already substantial beginnings and impressive accomplishments, giving the Church in this area an increasingly more visible and viable presence as the servant of all of God’s people. To them I extend my congratulations, best wishes, and prayers that the Lord will continue to bless what together with them, He has begun.

Given this 1^st day of August 1977.

Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan

Archbishop of Atlanta