By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

Father John McDonough had long looked forward to the summer of 1956. A lifetime dream was about to come true. The Dixie-Bostonia Father, stationed at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, was going to Ireland.

It would be a historic trip for the Cathedral’s assistant pastor.

“We had it well-planned,” remembers now Monsignor McDonough. “Father Mike Manning was going; he was stationed in Gainesville. So was Father John O’Shea, who was at the Federal Pen, and Monsignor Danny Bourke, pastor of St. Mary’s in Augusta. We were all priests of the same Diocese, of course, and we certainly did not know that during the trip all that would change.”

But change it did.

The trip to Ireland was memorable for Father John – a well known Irish songster. From Dublin, after a royal tour of the island, he and his compadres flew to Rome. On a boat trip down the Rhine, the foursome met some parishioners from St. Peter’s in LaGrange. “They told us that Father Don Kiernan had just been sent to their parish,” remembers Father John, “as temporary pastor.” “I was delighted to hear this because I was due for a parish and figured on my return, I would be assigned there as permanent pastor. It was really good news that the Mansours from LaGrange gave us.”

But more hectic news was to come.

The end of June saw the four Georgians in Orly Airport in Paris. “We were going to London to meet with Archbishop O’Hara, our own Bishop, who was also Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain. It was the last stop before returning home. The Paris Airport was packed but there was no mistaking Msgr. P.J. O’Connor in the crowd. And he had the big news.”

Monsignor Patrick J. O’Connor from Savannah was stationed at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and was also successfully recruiting Irish priests for Georgia. He was on his way from Rome to the U.S. This flying cleric, well known in some Vatican circles, had acquired the “red hot rumor” from a source in the Eternal City.

“Standing there in the airport, he told us the decision had been made. The State of Georgia, long-called the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta, would, within a few days, be named two dioceses, Savannah in the South and Atlanta in the north. We were very surprised and doubtful, but P.J. seemed to know.”

Before leaving the four tourists, Monsignor O’Connor warned them to be “dutifully surprised” when Archbishop O’Hara unfolded the news in London. “P.J. never gave us his source, but he was right on the money,” says Father John. “We met with the Archbishop in London and almost immediately he gave us the astonishing word. The Diocese of Atlanta had been created. The announcement would be made July 2. Three of us would be a part of the new diocese. Monsignor Bourke, stationed in Augusta, would stay with Savannah. And that’s the way we heard it.”

Over one hundred years earlier, in July 1850, the mother church of Georgia, the Diocese of Savannah, had been established. The importance of Atlanta as a Catholic settlement dawned over eighty years later when the state became the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta in January 1937. And now, as the month of July began in 1956, Atlanta, as a Catholic community, had come of age. It was not only the youngest church in the U.S., but, with a territory of 22,000 square miles, it was one of the target.

Father John McDonough returned to Atlanta with many things to say about his European trip. He also returned wondering if that first pastorate in LaGrange was still in the cards.

In September 1956, it so happened.