By Rita McInerney

Two years after the establishment of the first Catholic parish in Lithonia, the pastor and parishioners of Christ Our Hope will break ground for their new church on Sunday, June 22 at 12:30 p.m. with Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan presiding.

The multi-purpose building will be erected on a tract of land along Wellborn Road one half mile south of Redan. Grading and site preparation will begin after the groundbreaking and the pastor, Father John C. Kieran expects construction to begin in July.

The southeast area of DeKalb County where the new parish is located still clings to its rural character despite bulldozers and builders’ crews kudzu-wrapped woodlands. The Atlanta Regional Commission has predicted that the area will grow to a population of 54,487 within the next decade. Church statistics and information from the ARC indicate that Catholics will make up two percent of this population.

Father Kieran shares the confidence that the Catholic population will eventually justify the establishment of Christ Our Hope. The present number of households registered in the parish, 137, is not enough to carry the burden of a parish debt of $350,000 that the new parish must assume to build the church. To be viable, he said, about 500 households are required.

The structure will total 8,600 square feet. The main area, in the center of the building, will seat 300 for worship and will also be used for fellowship. Two movable walls will increase or decrease the size of the space as needed. One wing of the building will be used for administration and will also house a kitchen. The other wing will contain five classrooms for religious education. Ed Stembridge of Lithonia is the architect.

The congregation began forming in August, 1984, and at first celebrated the liturgy on Sunday morning at 8 at Lithonia Methodist Church. When this early hour proved unpopular, the Mass was moved to the auditorium of Lithonia High School at 10 a.m. There is a better turnout here, the pastor said, although the altar on the stage is “not conducive to liturgy.”

Weekday and Saturday vigil Masses are celebrated in the chapel of the rectory on Spencer Oaks Lane in the Great Oaks subdivision. Neighbors have been tolerant of the increased parking, Father Kieran said. Only one has complained and that was when the Easter Vigil Mass drew about 50 people to the rectory.

Fifty-three attended the organizational meeting for Christ Our Hope in September, 1984, the records kept by Cass Catroppa, parish secretary, show. The people had been gathered from the area through parish bulletin notices and by word-of-mouth. Several of the pioneer parishioners joined Father Kieran in home visitations, calling on all the Catholics “we knew of” in the Lithonia-Redan area.

The territory is home to a mix of families, many with children of school age, some retirees and longtime residents. Many new homes are being built in subdivisions with names ending in Trace or Trail and a brand new road leads to “32 beautiful lots” in the Bretton Woods development across from the site of the new church at 1770 Wellborn Road.

Along Wellborn Road, new houses are neighbors to handsome red brick ranch homes set in wide lawns or old farmhouses surrounded by meadows for grazing cows. The white-columned home of the Wellborn family commands a rising curve of the road a short distance from the church tract. Magnificent old trees grace lawns and fields.

Some of the newcomers have moved out from Atlanta for a better place to raise their children, others are transfers from distant states. The area, Father Kieran said, does not attract people as much as other sections around Atlanta. Yet developers appear optimistic that there will be buyers for the colonial and contemporary cul de sacs advertised along Wellborn Road and Covington Highway.

Seventy-four households in the new parish have come from Corpus Christi in Stone Mountain, 12 households have come from Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur and seven from St. Pius in Conyers.

“Families don’t move in en masse until you have a church building,” Father Kieran said. But he has the nucleus of a good Christian community right now, all “very eager” and supportive. “Our people are giving very generously, contributing over $10 per family per week.” To date, $27,000 of the $50,000 which the parish must have to build has been raised. The Archdiocese of Atlanta is lending Christ Our Hope $350,000 of the $400,000 needed to build and equip the multi-purpose building.

Recently, Archbishop Donnellan expanded the parish boundary to include the area north of Redan, making the church site more central, Father Kieran said. This took more of Corpus Christi territory because “the intent of this parish is to serve Catholics in this area currently going to Corpus Christi,” he said.

A few families, the pastor said, have told him they will “think about” joining. This he translates to “We’ll come after it’s done.” He senses a failure on the part of the Church to “send people forth in mission. Baptists volunteer to go with a new mission for a year or two while retaining membership in the parent church. We have to emphasize evangelism much more. We have to develop, or redevelop, a love of our own traditions.” Traditions, he cited were the Franciscans in early California and the missionaries in South America.

The religious education programs for the children and youth of the parish are held Saturday mornings in the education building at the Lithonia Methodist Church. “Our friends at the Methodist Church have been great, very supportive,” Father Kieran said. There are 54 children in the elementary program and 12 teenagers in the high school program.

There are sacramental preparation programs underway for baptism, first penance and first Eucharist, and the parish has a corps of lectors and special minister. The pastor is focusing on outreach and hopes to draw some of the many unchurched people in the area to the RCIA.

Father Kieran, ordained June 18, 1967 at All Hallows in Dublin, has served at St. Jude’s, St. Anthony’s, and Blessed Sacrament parishes and been pastor at St. Joseph’s in Dalton and St. Philip Benizi in Jonesboro. This first-time responsibility of starting a new parish is “a challenge, stepping in the dark all the time. You really have to do a lot of stepping in faith and prayer,” he remarked.

A scaled model of the multi-purpose building will be on display at the groundbreaking. It was hand crafted by Joe Cumbie, Sr., a retired member of the parish whose business career was in furniture design and sales. Mr. Cumbie will also supervise the mounting of the eight-by-four-foot stained glass cross that will hang behind the altar. This original artwork will be contributed by Ron Gauthier, a parishioner and artist who works in both oils and stained glass.

Mr. Gauthier said he will incorporate the five wounds of Christ into the design of the cross as Father Kieran has suggested. He plans to use chiefly red, white and gold and work in the other colors of the liturgical seasons.

The cross will be his gift to the new church in memory of his own family and that of his wife. Sales manager for a stained glass company, he is “thankful for the gifts that God gave me” and said the creation of the cross is one way to express his gratitude.

Father Kieran is thankful for the “great unanimity in all the work of the building committee” led by Ron Taylor, a building supervisor at Emory University. Already planned are the placement of future buildings on the tract. “We will sell this house as soon as possible and build a house on the site. This house is much too big,” the pastor said of the rectory, a four-bedroom dwelling.

He said it is planned to sell nine acres in the northern section of the property leaving 16 acres where the church complex will be situated. When plans for the multi-purpose building were made, space was allowed for parking 70 cars.

Taylor said the eight-member building committee wanted to involve all parishioners in the dedication. “So we are going to use a horse plow and have everyone pull it together. We don’t know of any other groundbreaking done like this in Atlanta.”

Building committee member Duane Hunter expects that the parishioners will be worshipping in their own building by early 1987. He would like to be in by Christmas but that would take a miracle.” He doesn’t discount that such a miracle is possible in view of the “unbelievable support” of all the parishioners.