By Rita McInerney

The threat of a large shadow has begun to be felt at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home on Washington Street just outside downtown Atlanta.

In this haven of devoted care for the terminally ill, the 1996 promise of the Olympics stirs concern. The Washington Street location, where the Hawthorne Dominicans have devoted their lives since 1939 to caring for people stricken with incurable illness, is separated by a sprawl of parking lots from the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. It is on those parking lots that the Atlanta Organizing Committee plans to build the new 85,000-seat stadium for the games.

In this situation, as in every other affecting the home, Sister M. Regis, OP, superior at the home, is confident. "We put it in God's hands," she says. "We always do. He takes care of everything."

Reluctant to talk about the situation, Sister Regis says that whatever develops "has to be tolerable for our patients." She is concerned that the noise and excitement of Olympic competition could disturb the peace and comfort of the 35 to 40 patients in the two-story building, and that the massive bulk of the stadium might blot out the mellow sunshine that filters through the trees into cheerful patient rooms.

Bob Brennan, who handles media relations for the Atlanta Organizing Committee, says member of the committee have met at the home with the sisters and "talked in general about the plan" for the area south of the existing stadium.

He recognizes the concern of the Hawthorne Dominicans for their unique environment but says "it is much too soon to describe in any detail" how the new stadium "is going to fit."

Like the foundress of the order, Mother Alphonsa (Rose Hawthorne), Sister Regis is firm in her conviction that whatever happens will be God's will for the home.

Within the past year, she relates, the 10 sisters staffing the home had reason to be thankful when a windstorm that damaged a vacant motel directly opposite the home on Washington Street left the house unscathed.

The force of the wind tore off the exterior facing on the motel and blew it onto the front lawn of Perpetual Help. The same winds also struck down several trees on the lawn. Fortunately, Sister Regis says, no one was hurt. "It was a miracle."

Undamaged by the windstorm was the grotto at the Love Street end of the lawn. Here, a statue of Mary and two stained glass windows from the first home are placed. The first home, in a former Hebrew orphanage, served the terminally ill from 1939 until 1973 when they moved into the present building.

Earlier, in the 1970s, while Sister Regis was serving her first assignment in Atlanta, the city took the sidewalk space on Washington Street to make the road two-way.

The building has four wards of four beds and two rooms with two beds on each of its two floors. The chapel, offices, beauty parlor, lounge and large screened-in porch are on the first floor. In the rear garden, a massive black oak tree is a reminder of a long bygone era. It has been approved for listing in a publication of the state forestry commission, "Georgia and National Tree Champions."