By Gretchen Keiser

A parish picnic that included a boat blessing on Lake Lanier marked the beginning of summer in the Buford parish of Prince of Peace, a parish community that is growing in numbers at the northern edge of Gwinnett County, but still holding on to its family and rural character.

The picnic was held June 14 at the home of Louis and Sue Maloof on the lake and while kids frolicked in the pool and most people gathered around a string of tables loaded with a potluck supper, the more intrepid brought boats around to the dock for a blessing by the pastor, Father Richard Morrow.

Catholics in Buford, numbered about 13 families when the first Mass was celebrated at Prince of Peace Church on Christmas Eve, 1975. Now the parish has about 140 families and is sharing in the booming growth affecting Gwinnett County, Father Morrow said.

However, all of the original families are still a part of the parish and "somehow we manage to keep that small, family feeling," said Gloria Whidby, whose daughter, Monica, was the first baby baptized in the new church 12 years ago. Mrs. Whidby now heads up a new parish youth group for teens 13 and up, one of the signs of vitality mentioned by people who talked about the parish as they enjoyed the beautiful Sunday weather and the friendly gathering.

"The first thing that attracted us (to the parish) is how friendly the people are," said John Simone, who moved to the area with his wife, Frances, about five years ago. Coming from a 3,000 family parish in Cleveland, Ohio, to the Buford area, Simone especially likes the crossover within the parish between young families and older, retired people. Many families end up with "adopted" grandparents, people said. Simone, who was seriously ill in June, credited the parish and his pastor with turning his crisis around.

"For the last several weeks I've been on the prayer list," he said. "The prayers of the people and the priest. I think that's what saved me."

"People are praying me better," he said, adding that he had been touched to get a number of cards from his friends in the parish, too.

Active evangelization in the last year has increased the size of the parish. Fourteen people, mostly adults, were baptized or received into full Communion with the Catholic Church this Easter as the result of an effort by parishioners to seek out people in their neighborhoods or at work and invite them to church. The effort also brought back inactive Catholics.

Jackie Lemmon, who joined the Church in the last year and is an assistant coordinator of religious education for children, said that 94 children were taking CCD classes, a 70 percent increase from the previous year.

The parish began, according to its history, because of the striking example of an early Catholic family, the Leo Lawlors. The 10-acre site for the church was donated as part of the estate of Bona Allen, in recognition of the long and faithful service given by Leo Lawlor, an Allen employee of long standing and a Catholic. The 1951 donation was made with the stipulation that the site be developed within 25 years and the pioneer families recall that the Christmas Eve 1975 Mass was celebrated in simplicity, without chairs or carpets, to meet the deadline. The rustic cedar church designed by architect Louis Maloof, was dedicated by Archbishop Thomas Donnellan July 10, 1977, but Prince of Peace remained a mission for six more years.

Now the increase in numbers is prompting the families attending the Saturday evening vigil to plan occasionally to come to the Sunday 10 a.m. Mass and serve breakfast to their fellow parishioners, Mrs. Lemmon said. "It's kind of a fun thing we wanted to do in order to keep the closeness" in the parish.

A new rectory was dedicated last year and a fund raising campaign is underway for a new church structure to accommodate more people.

In a 1977 news article, Father Alan Dillmann, then the pastor of Prince of Peace, said the name was chosen out of sensitivity to the many non-Catholics in the area who would find the name more meaningful than a saint's name. The title "Prince of Peace" also reflected the parish beginning at Christmas time, and the parish still retains the spirit of its chosen name.