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By Rita McInerney
St. Joseph’s Church, mother parish of several parishes in
Cobb County, has broken ground for a new church on the site of the present
church, the old Sugar Hill plantation.
Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, officiated at the groundbreaking
on Tuesday, Sept. 19. He spoke of the sense of obligation the faith community
has shown in deciding to build a new structure to enhance its worship of God.
The decision to build had its beginning in January, 1987, when
Father Robert E. Baker, SM, pastor, appointed a long-range planning committee
to study the feasibility of building. With Don Walsh, a parishioner for about
19 years, as chairman, the committee looked at growth predictions in
demographic studies. It also found that a large proportion of the newcomers
moving into Cobb are Catholics, according to Walsh.
In November, 1987, the long-range planners recommended that a
bigger church was needed for the growing parish. They began looking at property
for sale within the parish boundaries and quickly got “sticker
shock,” over prices asked, according to Walsh. Then they began taking a
long look at the seven-acre church property at what was formerly Sugar Hill
plantation.
In February 1988, the pastor and the parish council approved the
recommendation that a new church be built on the property and Father Baker
named Walsh chairman of the core committee for the building.
“We were a debt-free parish,” Walsh said, with a
starting sum of $300,000 in the bank for the new church. Fundraising began in
May, 1988, and the goal to obtain over one million dollars in pledges was
reached. Additional financing of one million dollars was to come from the
archdiocese.
With the growth in West Cobb, Walsh said, the congregation is
moving “from a very mature parish to a more youthful one of young families
with children,” who are attracted by the highly rated parish school. The
parish registration is 1,650 families.
During the closing years of the 19th century the small
village of Marietta was visited by priests for Mass during the months of good
weather. The Society of Mary agreed to administer the North Georgia mission
area and, by 1902, a building at 65 Atlanta St. was dedicated and called St.
Joseph’s Church. In 1929, a small white building was built at 257 Church
St., just north of Kennesaw Ave., and dedicated June 22 of that year.
Growth in the Marietta area accelerated around the time of World
War II and on June 25, 1952, the parish of St. Joseph was established and
Father Andrew Walls commissioned to acquire land and began building a parish.
Sugar Hill was purchased in August of that year and the antebellum plantation
home became the meeting center and rectory. First parish building to go up was
a school building, later enlarged. On Dec. 4, 1957 the third and present church
was dedicated.
The new church was designed with input from parishioners by
architect David Roberts of Broyles Roberts Collins Architects in Atlanta.
Father Richard S. Vosko, from the diocese of Albany, N.Y., was liturgical
consultant.
The new church is expected to be completed by the fall of 1990.
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