By Rita McInerney

Father Henry Gracz didn’t hesitate when Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan asked him to serve the archdiocese of Atlanta 27 years ago.

Two years later, May 8, 1965, the archbishop welcomed him to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Christ the King. The new priest felt reassured during the ordination solemnities by the “real twinkle” in his bishop’s eye. Now he sees the same smile in Archbishop Eugene Marino’s eyes.

Father Gracz met Archbishop Hallinan during a weekend visit to Atlanta in 1963 while studying theology at St. John Vianney Seminary in East Aurora, N.Y. He came south after heeding theologian Bernhard Haring, speaking on the need for the church to share its resources. His diocese, Buffalo, “had priests coming out of every corner. There were only about 30 priest in Atlanta,” he said.

He stayed with Father John Stapleton at St. Jude’s in Sandy Springs and “was floored by the vibrancy in their faith” of the people he met. That was in 1963. The next year he served as transitional deacon at St. Joseph’s in Athens. He returned there for two years as assistant pastor after ordination, and as pastor from 1970 to 1972.

He began praying for “the loud voice of God” to show him the way to the priesthood while in high school but “it ended up as just a gentle push.” He entered the seminary after graduation from Canisius College, Buffalo, in 1961 with a degree in history.

Reflecting his invariable Christian cheerfulness, Father Gracz speaks of his seminary days as “delightful. There was a real spirit of community.”

It was in seminary that he came upon the spiritual writings of Charles de Foucauld. The French priest wrote of his spiritual quest in the Sahara Desert where he lived a life of poverty and self-denial before being murdered by nomads in 1916. His life and teachings inspired the foundations of the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of Jesus in the 1930’s.

“His spirituality has always been a draw for me; his oneness with the poor, how we reproduce Christ in our own life by our love for other people,” Father Gracz said.

In this spirit, Father Gracz and several other priests try to meet once a month, “usually at the monastery (Conyers) to share Scripture, reflect on our lives and our ministry and to celebrate the Eucharist together. We all need peer support and peer challenge,” he observed.

After ordination he found it exciting to be returning to the Athens parish. “Father John Mulroy was taking a strong stand on racial issues. They (the parish) had a summer camp that served both urban black and rural poor white children.”

St. Joseph’s had three missions then, Madison, Monroe and Winder. “It was like a feudal reality; town and gown, black, white and Filipino,” he recalled.

Father Al Jowdy was a teenager when he came under the influence of Father Gracz at St. Joseph’s. “Henry is one of the reasons why I’m a priest today,” he said. “He drew the young people into the life of the parish.”

He recalled one day the pastor stopped by his house with a list of people to visit in the hospital. Scared, the young Jowdy told him he didn’t know the people, what would he say to them? “Tell them you’re bringing them the love of the parish,” Father Gracz replied.

It was a powerful experience for him, Father Jowdy, now parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle in Alpharetta, remembers.

During his three years at Christ the King, Father Gracz “developed a good and lasting friendship with Jerry Hardy.” The two, with Medical Mission Sisters then staffing a hospital in the city, started the popular Sunday afternoon folk Mass at the cathedral.

After a brief stint at St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown and the Athens pastorate, Father Gracz was named pastor at the Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur in 1972. He remained until 1981.

“It was the beginning of the rainbow experience for me” he recalls of that challenging time in a neighborhood changing its racial face.

A supportive parishioner, Agnes Driskell, remembers those years well. “He wanted to see the parish work as an integrated one. He kept that in front of us constantly. He would have assemblies for us to express our hopes and fears. They were very spirit-filled and helpful.”

Larry French, now a permanent deacon, was assigned as community affairs coordinator “to let the neighborhood know that the Catholic community was there as a friend and helper,” she said.

The parish efforts, joined with those of neighborhood churches, to integrate peacefully brought approval in the form of a Ford Foundation grant. The ecumenical work was the forerunner for Metro Fair Housing.

Father Gracz brought in religious women to join the Sts. Peter and Paul Pastoral staff as well as a lay woman from Africa to act as liaison to the growing number of black families joining the parish. An African priest and a Jesuit studying anthropology at Emory resided at the rectory at various times and joined fully in the parish life, Mrs. Driskell said.

“The parish seemed so young. There was a challenge. Everyone caught the spirit. It was a growing time, it wasn’t all worry. We had a lot of fun, a lot of song and dancing.”

Jim and Mary Ellen Macke moved to Transfiguration parish in Marietta shortly before Father Gracz was named pastor in 1981. Jim had met while he was a Georgia Tech student. Father Gracz was chaplain for the Catholic Fraternity and Jim was a member.

They have worked closely with him over the years in Marriage Encounter where he is executive priest (for the third time).

One of the most important aspects of the Marriage Encounter Weekend, Mrs. Macke said, is to make the participating couples realize “what a stake the church has in the success of their marriage.”

With Father Gracz, she continued, the couples “experience his love of them as church. He seems to pick up quickly on the strength of their own relationships and challenges them to use these strengths for the church.”

Another Marriage Encounter leader who has worked often with him, Roseanne DiBenedetoo, of All Saints in Dunwoody, called his commitment to serve “untiring.” He is the priest, she added, who has worked the longest for the movement in the archdiocese. “He steps out of himself,” she finds, not only for me but for other ministries as well.

Father Gracz thinks renewal movements like Marriage Encounter, Cursillo and charismatics are vital to the church.

“Once a person is touched by renewal,” he believes, “the relationship with God and people can never be the same again.”

“What I love about Encounter is that it brings passion back into the couples’ relationship.” He likes also the number of “true conversions” coming out of the weekends, people returning to the faith and coming from other denominations.

A Transfiguration parishioner, Dan Parodi, said his former pastor has the grace “to continuously build you up in spirit, through his homilies, individual counseling and in the confessional.”

“We care, we share,” was his logo for the Catholic Christian community of Transfiguration, Parodi said. “He was always preaching the Beatitudes.”

At Transfiguration Father Gracz followed the pastoral team approach he began in Decatur, with a deacon, Religious sister and lay persons working with him.

When he was assigned to Lourdes last spring, Mrs. Macke said “A number of us went over to the rectory, about 30 or 40 people,” to spruce it up. They put down new carpeting throughout and painted the rooms. “The whole house needed a facelift,” she commented.

On April 29, his Lourdes family put on a festive celebration for his 25th anniversary, welcoming many of his friends from around the archdiocese. Twelve of his brother priests concelebrated the liturgy of thanksgiving, his sister Joan Evaniak, her husband John and their son Dean came from New York State to participate.

Afterward, an outdoor reception flowed over the back parking lot where a large tent had been raised. Colorful balloons were everywhere.

Janise Griffin, member of the Lourdes choir, likes the way the new pastor has come in and taken over. “He was just what we needed.”

His close work with the parish liturgy committee springs from concentration inspired by a “hero” priest in seminary, Father Chris Puehn, liturgist.

“It is the one thing that convenes the whole body of Christ,” the jubilarian insists. “When liturgy is well done, nothing surpasses it.”

Testament to his own dedication to enhancing liturgy is his association with both archdiocesan and national liturgical commissions. He has also presented workshops on pastoral liturgy in cities around the country.

Father Gracz brought strong commitment to his fellow priests to his long association with the priests’ personnel board.

“I wanted to represent the priests with a real sense of integrity of their needs,” he said. “Now, the priest shortage brings a whole different challenge…a way of calling forth new leadership in the church, women included “of course.”

His love of people is a great asset, Father Jowdy said. “He’s secure in that so that he’s able to love priests. It’s difficult sometimes for priests to reach out to other priests. There is a warmth and confidence in him that allows him to reach out to everybody.”

And how, the busy pastor is finally asked, has he kept his balance through 25 years as a priest?

“My greatest support have been lay people who live powerful lives of spirituality, forgiveness, healing, service and generosity.”