By Rita McInerney

The Second Vatican Council called Catholics to claim their roles as People of God, serving the Church in ways not possible to their parents and grandparents.

Eucharistic minister, lectors, pastoral assistants, religious education directors are new ministries. So are involvement in peace and justice efforts, lay persons serving in professional ministries, and people postponing or bypassing lucrative careers to work with and for the poor.

These are new roles for new times in an ancient Church. Yet, the ministry of service has always been obligatory to faithful Catholics.

In most families, the responsibility to serve the Church to the best of one's ability was, like the china, silver and walnut cupboard, inherited. A contemporary example of continuing service is typified by one of the four people who will represent the archdiocese of Atlanta at he consultation on the laity to be held in March at San Antonio, Texas.

Anita Willoughby traces her Catholic heritage in Atlanta back to the dark days when General Sherman's forces were threatening to burn public buildings and churches. Her grandfather's grandfather, a Major Mecaslin, was treasurer of the city and a member of the Immaculate Conception parish whose pastor, Father Thomas O'Reilly, is credited with persuading the Union general not to destroy these buildings.

John M. Harrison is someone she remembers as a loving grandfather, not just a name on the family tree. She was 11 years old when he died, but her memories and those of her mother, Anne Harrison Gegan, are clear on the contributions of this Georgia Catholic to his Church.

A member of St. Anthony's parish and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he was on of 12 Atlantans among the founding members of the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia.

With the sanction of Bishop Joseph Keiley, Bishop of Savannah, a group of "prominent laymen from various parts of Georgia met in Macon on Sunday, Sept. 24, 1916." These Catholic men were moved to band together, "aroused by the vile, vicious and incessant attacks upon their Church and incensed by the outrageous insults against our priests and the good sisters serving in our schools and hospital."

At this initial meeting, John Harrison was elected temporary recording secretary, according to an article in St. Anthony's Catholic News of March, 1941, several months after the association celebrated its silver jubilee at a Mass in Savannah.

When the association was organized in 1916, Georgia was considered "to be by far the most anti-Catholic state in the Union." Catholics numbered less than 20,000 among a population of three million.

With nothing to guide them, these concerned laymen began by trying to educate the public about their religion. An information bureau was established and advertisements inserted in newspapers offering to answer inquiries about Catholic doctrine and practice.

The association motto was "to bring about a friendlier feeling among Georgians irrespective of creed." It supplied "information seasoned with charity" and it answered intolerance "with respect and courtesy."

A paper, "The Bulletin," was a forerunner in the 1920s to The Georgia Bulletin of today, which began publication for the Archdiocese of Atlanta with the first issue of January, 1963. The original "Bulletin" furnished Catholic news and information which helped its readers explain doctrine to non-Catholics. Every editor in the state received a free copy of each issue.

Members of the publicity department of the association kept busy answering letters of inquiry and responding to editors of the secular press whenever an uncomplimentary reference to Catholics appeared in print.

Over the years, through persistent effort, the association helped to dispel the anti-Catholic climate in the press and among Georgians. As part of its program, the group maintained a circulating library, placed sets of Catholic encyclopedias in colleges, universities, and public libraries in the larger cities.

The association sponsored yearly retreats for men and women and many of its members played active roles in commendable civic movements.

While serious business was conducted at the annual convention, held each year in one of the larger cities in the state, these gatherings had a social side. Entire families attended. Mrs. Willoughby said her mother remembers going each year. "They wanted their kids to know other members' kids," Mrs. Willoughby said. This was important as a way to bring about marriages in the faith.

Grandfather Harrison was an altar boy at Immaculate Conception and "when the Marists came to Atlanta he was among those meeting them at the train station," Mrs. Willoughby said. He was a member of the first graduating class at Marist College.

"K.T." (Katherine Teresa) Harrison, Mrs. Willoughby's grandmother, was involved with the Altar Society at Sacred heart Church after the family moved to that parish from St. Anthony's. An active deanery member, she never missed the meetings and annual convention. Going to the Cancer Home to make dressings was an important duty and Mass a daily habit.

"She started a Catholic book discussion group that met every month. There wasn't any adult education going on then. She loved Catholic books," Mrs. Willoughby remembered. "We would get books about Father Junipero Serra (and other Catholic figures) for our birthdays."

Her mother, a single parent, raised five children while continuing the family tradition of service. She was a secretary at Sacred Heart Church, worked at Marist School for a while, and at Ignatius House in the 1960s, an exciting time of change for the Church.

Today, as a member of another generation, Anita Willoughby, prepares for the consultation on the laity she can draw strength by thinking back to the challenge assumed in faith by her grandfather and other concerned Catholics. And she can pray that through the hearings people "will have a better appreciation of their work as Christians in the world."

A new era, different words but the mission is one Grandfather Harrison would support.