By Gretchen Keiser

For the first time in 10 years, the archdiocese is being served by a new vicar general.

As of Oct. 20, Father Edward J. Dillon, the pastor of Holy Spirit parish, Atlanta, and the Officialis of the provincial marriage Court of Appeals, assumed the post of serving as the archbishop's close advisor and in his place as the archbishop designates.

Father Dillon succeeds Monsignor John F. McDonough, who was vicar general for Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan since 1978. Monsignor McDonough then served as administrator of the archdiocese for nine months, during the illness of Archbishop Donnellan and after his death, until the installation of Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, and has continued as his vicar general until October.

In announcing the appointment, the archbishop noted Monsignor McDonough's "devoted service in this capacity."

The archbishop said that in selecting Father Dillon, who is 45 years old and who has been a priest for 21 years, he was taking a step in faith and also recognizing his potential to serve the archdiocese in this way.

"I think I will be able to work very closely with him," the archbishop said, describing Father Dillon as a "very energetic and resourceful person."

The title of "vicar" means one who acts in the place of the bishop in a certain sphere, he said, for example, as vicar for Hispanics.

The vicar general would have the bishop's authority in a general way.

Under canon law, the vicar general is appointed "to assist the diocesan bishop in the governance of the entire diocese:" and shares in the bishop's administrative authority except for those acts which the bishop reserves to himself or which can only be carried out by the bishop under Church law.

He said that at this time he wants Father Dillon to continue to serve as pastor of Holy Spirit and to maintain his other roles of service, including the post on the marriage Court of Appeals and as director of the Pro-Life Office and the Office of Family Concerns.

Having served the archdiocese in administrative ways for many years, Father Dillon only recently has been given the opportunity to develop his pastoral style and gifts, the archbishop said. "I think he has really blossomed in the one year he has had as a pastor," the archbishop said, adding that he was "reluctant to deprive the parish of his gifts" as pastor.

In the future, he said, he might be open to "restructuring his service to the archdiocese" but at the moment he wished Father Dillon to retain his other posts.

A native of Ireland, Father Dillon was ordained at St. Patrick's College, Carlow, in 1967 for the archdiocese of Atlanta, and serves the archdiocese as director of Irish vocations currently.

Since 1968 he has been serving in posts connected with the metropolitan Tribunal, which is the archdiocesan department that examines and determines marriage nullity cases for the archdiocese and also serves as a Court of Appeals for marriage nullity cases for Georgia, North and South Carolina.

In graduate studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, he received his licentiate and his doctorate in canon law or Church law.

His dissertation for his licentiate was on divorce legislation in the church during the first 10- centuries; his doctoral dissertation was on matrimonial impediments in secular and ecclesiastical laws in the U.S. He was appointed Officialis of the Tribunal in 1972 and held that post until 1983 when the revised code of Canon Law facilitated the establishment of the Court of Appeals for the province of Atlanta. Since then he has served as Officialis of the provincial Court of Appeals. A former president of the Canon Law Society of America, he is a member of the Council of Priests for the archdiocese and the College of Consultors.

Father Dillon said that his new post would call him to serve as the archbishop's "closest advisor," to be available when the archbishop himself is not available, and to assist the archbishop in the area of broad planning and policy development in the archdiocese.

Two possible areas of such policy development he mentioned were policies in regard to marriage preparation for the guidance of all those involved at the parish level; and the possible development of a diocesan handbook of policies and guidelines on a broad range of topics so that priests and parishes would know "the mind of the archbishop on a variety of matters" and have suggested procedures for dealing with them.

In the area of his other archdiocesan responsibilities, Father Dillon noted that the lay staff of the Pro-Life Office carry out the day-to-day operations and that Mary Ellen Hughes directs the Family Concerns Office with his assistance in general oversight and direction.

Sister Marie Breitenbeck, OP, who was awarded a doctorate in canon law from Catholic University in 1987, and works full-time for the Tribunal has assumed the day-to-day operation of the Court of Appeals, he said. Sister Breitenbeck has been involved in Tribunal work since 1975 and has worked full-time in Atlanta since 1986.