By Rita McInerney

Just three years and seven months after the parish was established, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Douglasville was dedicated by Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J., on Monday, Feb. 27.

“The dedication of this church is a sign and a testimony to your faith and sacrifice,” the archbishop told a capacity congregation of parishioners and guests. Concelebrating the liturgy with the archbishop were Father Edward O’Connor, pastor, and several priests from around the archdiocese. Father Dan Stack was master of ceremonies.

“I congratulate you and I encourage you,” the archbishop told the parishioners. “God’s goodness is manifested here in this church this evening. Even the high ceiling serves as a reminder that we should look up to the heavens where He abides.”

He went on to list some of the reasons why the parishioners and the pastor sacrificed to bring the church building to reality.

“This is the place where our lives as Roman Catholic Christians come together as a focus and the place wherein they draw their meaning. Those reasons, those meanings include:

“The fact that God’s Word is proclaimed authoritatively and with power within these walls, offering us the presence of Christ.

“Likewise it is here that we come around the table of the Lord, to witness the central mystery of our faith. It is here Jesus is made present in all His power to nourish us and to be answer to all our perplexing problems, to help us endure and understand pain and suffering, to help us continue the journey of our lives.”

“We come here to this beautiful church first and foremost to celebrate the mysteries of faith. We come for our children’s entry into the Christian life through baptism, we come here for the forgiveness of our sins, couples come to have their union blessed, and we come here at the end of our lives when death calls.” And all of the reasons, the archbishop concluded, “are a reminder, too, of God’s faithfulness to us.”

The keys to the church and the church plans were presented to the archbishop by Frank Moran, chairman of the building committee, and David Roberts, architect. Other symbolic gifts were presented by members of church ministries and groups.

In a brief telephone interview with The Georgia Bulletin, Moran commented that “There is a good element of pride among the parishioners that we have been able to establish our roots in Douglasville in such a short time.” He said the parish, which now numbers 395 families, has contributed $270,000, or 28 percent, of the $960,000 expected to be the final figure for the cost of the church. The building fund drive is ongoing, he said, and is taken up on the third Sunday of each month.

The church is about 99 percent complete, Moran said. The stained glass window designed and now being created at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, is scheduled for installation soon after Easter.

Moran, a member since the beginning, said he wrote the initial letter to Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan in May, 1985, requesting a new parish. The archbishop responded by suggesting they talk to Father William E. Calhoun, then pastor of St. John Vianney in Lithia Springs where those seeking a new church closer to their homes worshipped. Soon after, they began knocking on doors and asking for signatures on their petition for a new parish.

Archbishop Donnellan established the Catholic Church of Douglasville on Aug. 8, 1985 and Father O’Connor as founding past. At the time he was pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Gainesville.

For Father O’Connor it was the first time he had been named to start a parish. He found it “exciting to be in on the ground floor” and said the members of the young parish are “super” in their support and enthusiasm.

Attendance at weekend Masses has grown from 450 to 630 people, he said, since the parish began worshipping in the new church Feb. 4. Five or six families have been registering each week.

There is still a long way to go, the pastor added, before the parish complex is completed. Plans call for an addition doubling the seating capacity of the church, a parish activities center and a religious education building. Father O’Connor surmised that the religious education building will be next underway.

The parish ladies guild was responsible for the reception in the lower level fellowship area after the dedication. During the socializing someone told Archbishop Marino that parishioner Alice Strebel was celebrating her 73^rd birthday that day. With the archbishop and Father O’Connor as songleaders, everyone sang “Happy Birthday.” She admitted later that never before had so many people sung birthday greetings to her.

Mrs. Strebel, an active parishioner, represented the parish family in bringing up the gifts during the liturgy. She takes care of the envelope posting each week. Her daughter, Mary Beth, is on the finance committee and sings in the choir. “We go and do whatever we can do and I dearly love it,” she said.

Dick and Dianne Vots, whose daughter, Julia, 12, had her foot cast autographed by Archbishop Marino during the reception, are among those who worked to establish the need for the Douglasville parish. Dick Vots credited the building of the church to the ongoing building fund and “a lot of prayer and a lot of faith.” Both the financial support and the spiritual support are tremendous, he commented.