Monsignor R. Donald Kiernan, P.A., was among 18 Scouting and Community leaders who received the prestigious Silver Beaver Award, February 14, 1984. The Monsignor’s latest recognition comes for his leadership as a board member of the Atlanta Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

The Silver Beaver Award is presented annually to selected volunteers working to bring Scouting to the 34,000 youth registered in the Atlanta Area Council. Monsignor Kiernan is the second priest in Georgia to receive this honor.

Monsignor Kiernan has been an active member of the Executive Board, Atlanta Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, since 1972. He is Pastor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Briarcliff Road, Northeast Atlanta.

Following studies at Providence College, Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary and Catholic University, he was ordained by Richard Cardinal Cushing for service in the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta in 1949. He has served Churches in Savannah, Monroe, Athens, LaGrange, Gainesville, Cedartown and Sandy Springs, Georgia.

For the past 20 years he has served as Chaplain of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. He also serves as Chaplain of the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the DeKald County Police Department. In 1982, he received the “Georgia Justice Award.”

Monsignor Kiernan is a member of the Rotary Club of West End; Board of Directors of the USO; Board of Directors of the “Friends of the Fulton County Jail”; and Metro Atlanta Boy’s Club.

Pope Paul VI named Monsignor Kiernan a Prelate of Honor with the title of Monsignor in 1969; and in 1978 he was named a Proto-notary Apostolic, which is the highest rank of a Monsignor, by Pope John Paul I.