By Thea Jarvis

Change is not new to the two historic parishes slated to be served by the Capuchin Franciscans as of summer, 1992. Through the years, St. Anthony’s and Our Lady of Lourdes’ parishioners have witnessed growth, change, and the emergence of unique parish identities.

St. Anthony’s was begun through the efforts of Mrs. Joel Chandler Harris and her friends in the Catholic Ladies Aid Society of West End. The women met in 1902 to plan a parish closer to home than the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception four miles down the road.

Within a year, St. Anthony’s, with a membership of 20 families, was formally erected by Bishop Kelly of Savannah.

In 1911, ground was broken for a church and St. Anthony’s School opened in 1912, with two Sisters of Mercy teaching first and second graders. The Sisters of St. Joseph took over the school in 1917.

Today’s parishioners view the prospective changes with anticipation mixed with regret at their pastor’s leaving.

Retired educator Catherine Binns, whose children, now grown, attended St. Anthony’s said parishioners will feel the loss of their pastor, Father Bruce Wilkinson.

“He’s worked very hard and he’s worked alone,” she said, mentioning Father Wilkinson’s personal warmth and ease with young people. “They love him.”

The age of the parish plant, combined with an increasingly youthful congregation, however, has meant heavy financial burdens for the community of 300 families, she indicated. People have reacted quietly or not at all to news of staff changes, knowing the needs of the church and its limited resources.

“St. Anthony’s needs a facelift and that’s going to cost a lot of money,” Mrs. Binns said. An established religious community like the Franciscans, she thinks, may have the fiscal and administrative experience to grapple with such issues.

Lorraine Mincer, a St. Anthony’s parishioner of 10 years who has been active in liturgy and religious education, is concerned that women’s involvement may diminish as parish changes are implemented.

“It might curtail some of the forward movement” women have made at St. Anthony’s, she said, particularly in the areas of liturgy and service.

“Women are in the forefront” of the parish now, she said, and she hopes that will not change.

Alan Pinado, a member of the Archdiocesan Planning and Development Council and a St. Anthony’s parishioner for four years, is optimistic about the changes.

“We’ll miss Father Bruce a great deal,” he said. “It’s like losing a family friend.” But the parish’s continued growth has been a challenge. “It’s a lot for one priest to do. I welcome more staff.”

Pinado, director of the Real Estate Institute at Clark Atlanta University, said people come from all over the metro area to worship at St. Anthony’s.

“It’s a strong parish,” he said, adding that, despite change, the mission of the church will go on because it’s “not a matter of personalities.”

The history of Our Lady of Lourdes dates to 1911, when Father Ignatius Lissner, a member of the Society for African Missions, came through Atlanta and saw there was no Catholic church for black people in the city. He combined his order’s resources with those of Mother Katherine Drexel’s Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who ministered to blacks and native Americans, and founded the church in 1912.

The parish’s initial three-story structure included a first-floor church, a second-floor school and third-floor social hall.

In 1963, the archdiocese of Atlanta purchased the parish property from the Society for African Missions and Lourdes officially became part of the archdiocese. Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continued to teach at the parish school until 1974.

Our Lady of Lourdes is located in the historic “Sweet Auburn” district of Atlanta, across the street from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and near Dr. King’s boyhood home. According to one longtime parishioner, the young Dr. King used to shoot marbles in the church parking lot.

The reaction of Lourdes parishioners reflects their sense of history and their affection for their current pastor.

Jeanne Mosley, director of religious education at Our Lady of Lourdes parish and its school of 200 preschool through sixth grade children, said the church, like St. Anthony’s, draws folks from all over the city.

“Lourdes is not a geographical parish,” she said. Founded as the only black church for the area, it has a powerful tradition of nurturing the black community and a history that reflects the civil rights movement within and without the institutional church.

Parishioners wonder if the numbers will survive proposed staff changes, Mrs. Mosley said. “Are they going to stay or leave with Father Henry,” who has been a charismatic leader for the church.

“It will depend on what (the new staff’s) gifts are,” she believes. People are looking for leaders who make Christ the center of the community. “They should all have that gift.”

Jake Benjamin, a Grand Knight of St. Peter Claver who became a Catholic and a member of Lourdes in 1956, said many in the parish are hurt over Father Gracz’s leaving.

“He has done great things for us,” Benjamin said. “We hate to lose Father Henry. We love him.”

Father Gracz became pastor at Lourdes about two and a half years ago at a time of change and turmoil, he said. “We had just about given up.”

Now, chairs are added to stationary seating for Sunday Mass and blacks from the North who were “born Catholic” are swelling the numbers of Southern blacks, many of whom are converts, Benjamin said.

He understands that the decision to bring a religious order of priests to Lourdes and St. Anthony’s was made for the betterment of the archdiocese.

“The key is to have someone who wants you, to help you serve the Lord,” he said. “I think that’s what’s happening here.”

Addie Bailey remembers Father Gracz when he was newly ordained and working at the cathedral, where she was a housekeeper and hostess for many years.

“He was one of my favorites,” she said.

Ms. Bailey has seen many changes in the parish since she became a member of Lourdes in 1934. For years, she said, the parish wasn’t in the mainstream of church life.

“Father Gracz has shown us the way, taught us so much,” she said. “We’re doing things we haven’t done before.”

In the time he has been at Lourdes, Ms. Bailey said, Father Gracz has “healed all the wounds and brought everybody together.” Now, she said, parishioners work in a spirit of cooperation and support for the church and each other.

Like other parishioners, she is hopeful people won’t choose to leave because of Father Gracz’s absence.

“We’re a family now,” Ms. Bailey said. “That’s what (a parish) should be.”