By Virginia M. Meehan

Despite their disappointment that Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, was unable to attend their celebration, the parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in West Georgia had a gala 30-year jubilee celebration on May 2.

Celebrant of the 5 p.m. Mass was Father Richard B. Morrow, pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Cumming, who was the first pastor at OLPH after its dedication in 1962. Concelebrants were Monsignor Michael Regan, who attended Bishop Francis Hyland at the 1962 dedication and who has been pastor at OLPH since 1972, and Father Joseph A. Fahy, C.P., a member of the missionary team of the Hispanic Apostolate of the archdiocese, who celebrates Mass monthly for the Hispanic congregation at the church. They were assisted by Deacon George Angelich who has come from Atlanta weekly for 12 years to assist Monsignor Regan.

The altar servers at the Mass were also present at the 1962 dedication. Jim Shadrix is the great-grandson of Jacob and Mary Estavanko, who were among the founding members of the church at Nitra, Haralson County, in the last decade of the nineteenth century. At that time Haralson County was the only county in the state with only one church and that church Catholic. Bill Maddox’s parents were members of the mission in Bremen which preceded the first Catholic church building in Carrollton; the latter was the beginning of OLPH as a mission in 1954. Bill Maddox and Jim Shadrix both served as altar boys in that first little church.

The gifts of the congregation were offered by five others with a long-time association with the church: Mr. and Mrs. Peter Shaddrix, Mr. and Mrs. Reilly Brooks, and Mr. Matthew Irvin. Mary Shadrix and Helen Brooks are granddaughters of the Estavankos and Matthew Irvin’s wife Margaret (who was unable to attend) is the sister of Eaton Chakley, who with his wife, Susan Hayward, donated the land on which the church is built as well as some money for the building.

Father Morrow’s homily centered on his memories and developed the theme of the Mass on the Presence of Jesus in our lives.

The pot-luck dinner which followed was accompanied by a mariachi band, which has become a traditional accompaniment for the annual international dinners at the church. A short program touched on memories and the future by Father Morrow, Father Fay, Parish Council Leader, Pat Hodgson and Monsignor Regan.

(Virginia Meehan is a member of OLPH parish in Carrollton.)