By Thea Jarvis

When Father Christopher Starr takes up residence at Christ the King rectory at the beginning of the new year, he will be, in a sense, coming home.

The 32-year-old Atlanta native, who was recently appointed vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Atlanta by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, grew up in the cathedral parish and still counts many of its parishioners among his own friends and relatives.

The fifth of eight children – all boys except for one sister – Father Starr received the sacraments of baptism, penance, eucharist and confirmation at Christ the King. He was ordained there by Archbishop Donnellan on June 7, 1980.

“It’s like coming full circle,” Father Starr said shortly after his appointment became official.

His new duties as vice-chancellor involve assisting the archbishop and chancellor Father Peter Ludden in carrying out the administrative work of the archdiocese. Father Starr is looking forward to learning more about the Church in north Georgia and the far-reaching network of parishes that is its lifeblood.

“I’m happy about this vote of confidence and feel challenged by the job,” he said, adding that, as a servant of the Church, he wants to do anything he can to help in the development and care of the archdiocese.

“Basically, it’s something decidedly different from what I thought I’d be doing. But I’m anxious to see the total picture – how everything fits together,” he said.

Father Starr is currently assistant pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Atlanta. He has served as archdiocesan Director of Vocations since 1982 and has also headed the archdiocesan Forum on the Catechumenate (RCIA). He will continue in both these positions when he assumes the post of vice-chancellor, with an office at the Catholic Center in Atlanta, on January 6, 1984.

Father Starr attended Christ the King elementary school and graduated from W.F. Dykes High School in Atlanta. He studied for two years at Georgia State University before entering St. Mary’s Seminary College in Baltimore, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy upon graduation in 1975.

At St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, Father Starr received a master of divinity degree in 1980 and, after ordination that June, was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in downtown Atlanta. He served there for two years before a transfer to IHM in 1982.

Father Starr’s brothers and sister are now spread out around the country, although his mother, father and one brother are still Atlanta residents. The vice-chancellor elect has himself moved around a bit since his early days at Christ the King.

Between the years of 1972-80, before his ordination to the priesthood, Father Starr worked at a number of Catholic newspapers, including the Catholic Review of Baltimore, the Miami Voice, the Catholic Virginian in Richmond and the Catholic Explorer in Joliet, Illinois.

He also worked for a time on north Georgia’s own archdiocesan newspaper, The Georgia Bulletin, and for the National Catholic News Service headquartered in Washington, D.C.

As he starts on this new direction in his career, however, it is the “coming home” aspect of the assignment that reassures and encourages him. Where better to begin a new year – and a new job – than the place where you first started out?