By Rita McInerney

“It can only be to God’s glory, then, for you to treat each other in the same friendly way as Christ treated you.” (Romans 15:7, Second Sunday of Advent)

It was the outpouring of friendliness from the parish family at St. Paul’s that decided Donna and Peter Galbiati on settling in the Cleveland area of the north Georgia mountains in 1981.

“We used to vacation in Dahlonega and Helen every year. We camped out and loved it,” Donna Galbiati said of their decision to move from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “In April, 1981, we spent Easter Sunday at St. Paul’s and met the pastor, Father Bob Poandl. He put his arms around us and welcomed us to his church. The whole parish was like that.”

Both husband and wife admit it was hard to leave their parish in Fort Lauderdale, St. Maurice’s, more familiarly known as the “family in the stable” since the church building had originally been a horse barn. It was growing, vital parish actually 25 miles from their home. They made sacrifices to attend there because of the warmth of the Christian community, the same outpouring of Christian love they found at St. Paul’s. Son, Peter, now 13, made his First Communion, and their first daughter, Gina Marie, now six, was baptized at St. Maurice’s.

Parish life was rich, but other aspects of life in Fort Lauderdale were frightening to these parents of young children. “It was really turning into a jungle,” Donna said, because of the ever-increasing crime, drugs, and apathy. She was afraid to let young Peter play in his own front yard and walked with him every day to school, even though it was just a block and a half away.

Adam Walsh, the missing boy whose parents have crusaded so intensively in behalf of missing children, had lived in the same neighborhood.

Along with their fears over the quality of life in Fort Lauderdale, where Donna had lived most of her life, and Peter for 17 years, other events forced them to look long and hard at their life. In 1978 Donna lost her oldest brother in an auto accident, two weeks before his wedding day. He was 34 years old. Then, in 1980, Peter was in a serious accident.

Her brother’s death had “knocked some sense” into them, Donna said. Then when “we almost lost Peter,” it brought all the sorrow of her brother’s death back to them. They talked about how quickly life can be over, and how they could change their own lives. Thinking about a change called them back to the mountains where they had enjoyed summer camping.

“We drew a triangle on the map – Helen, Dahlonega, Cleveland. We wanted to live somewhere in that area.” Then they made their Easter weekend trip to the mountains and found themselves at St. Paul’s. At that time the congregation was still worshipping in a small bungalow that had been converted into a church. Anyone who visited there soon found that what this small building lacked in ecclesiastical adornment it more than compensated for in the wealth of love and faith expressed at Sunday liturgy.

This welcoming love was exactly what they needed. “With a prayer,” they put a contract on a house in Peaceful Valley, went back to Florida and put their house up for sale, praying all the while that they wouldn’t have to carry two mortgages. Their prayer was answered affirmatively. They sold their Florida house on July 15.

Donna gave up her job teaching hotel career management in the vocational education department at a Fort Lauderdale high school and Peter gave up his home-building business. They made their move to north Georgia.

“That first week they (St. Paul’s parishioners) invited us to a covered dish supper and welcomed us like we had been there forever,” Donna recalled. They were never strangers in a new land. Five years later, their roots are firmly established, their life happy. There is a new addition to the family, a second daughter, little Donna Jean, “D.J.,” whose birth was a joyful Advent event for them last Dec. 3.

This Advent season she is a secure little toddler, full of curiosity, and wanderlust. A few weeks ago at Sunday Mass the congregation was startled to hear a few “beeps” coming from the organ while Anne Moore was giving the first reading. Before Father Bob Poandl read the Gospel he announced that D.J., a baptized member of the parish in good standing, had decided that today she would help Clare Brick, the regular organist. Everyone appreciated the good-humored episode.

“When something like this happens, I just make sure I thank the parents for bringing their children,” he said later. To the pastor, who won’t have a cry room, children are a very important part of the family spirit at St. Paul’s and need to find church a comfortable, happy experience. He has even preached on the subject in a homily, “Let the Children Free.”

There are about 87 families registered at St. Paul’s, among them numerous people of grandparent age who enjoy the enthusiasm and energy young families bring to the parish family. The Galbiatis give both in good measure. They have taught CCD and were in charge of the young group for four years, until Donna became pregnant with D.J. Now she assists with CCD as needed.

Sisters Toni Kivlahan and Ruth Fagan, the Franciscan sisters who serve the parish, said they “are very much involved, very supportive” of everything that goes on at the parish.

Young Peter is an altar server and will make his Confirmation next April. On the business side he runs the “panning for gold” venture which attracts tourists to the family’s “claim” alongside their office on Highway 75 about a mile north of the church. He shares a fondness for sports with his father, who coaches him.

Gina Marie and her mother “mine” gem stones on the same claim. Their prize find to date is a large rock containing a sizable amethyst stone. Gina Marie, a bright and active first grader, astonished Sister Toni during religion class when she sang the “Our Father” all the way through perfectly. Just recently Sister was impressed with how “other oriented” she had become since the birth of her little sister. When Sister Toni asked her “what she was looking forward to?” Gina Marie replied “D.J.’s first birthday.”

The Galbiatis encountered their pastor in a new way when they made a Marriage Encounter about two years ago. He was the priest for the weekend, during the course of which he shared himself fully. “I thought we really knew him,” Peter said, “but he was not afraid to tell you how he is growing and learning in his priesthood.” Such faith sharing, with its companion friendship and love, is returned in full measure by the family who came to the mountains in 1981.