By Paula Day

The new Grant Park Catholic Center in southeast Atlanta opened its doors November 1 for the celebration of Mass, aided by a $29,800 grant the archdiocese received from a foundation.

The facility will also house health and human services programs for newly arrived Hispanic migrant workers and immigrants to the Atlanta area. The foundation making the grant wished to remain anonymous, according to Jane Enniss of the archdiocesan Development Office.

Funds will be used to pay the rent for one year and make minor renovations to the 2,700 square-foot Center, which is less than a mile from the Grant Park Apartments.

Many Mexican families find their first home in these apartments when coming to this country. The foundation grant will also be used to buy furniture and equipment, liturgical supplies, and materials for religious education and youth ministries.

Located at 402 McDonough Boulevard, the building has been renovated to create a space for assembly and the celebration of Mass. Formerly an office building, it is centrally heated and air conditioned and has seven classrooms that will be used for religious education, sacramental preparation, English as a second language classes and other services. The lease carries an option for the archdiocese to purchase the building at the end of the second year.

The total operations budget for the Grant Park Center in the fiscal year 1992-1993 is $62,859. The archdiocese contributes $33,059. The archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry office, under director Gonzalo Saldaña, is responsible for the Center's fiscal management.

Father Jorge Christancho ministers fulltime to the estimated 3,000 Hispanics who live in the southeast Atlanta area. In addition to serving their sacramental and religious education needs, he helps families in their search for work, assists them with immigration and serves as a liaison between those who need services and the agencies providing the services.

The new Center is on the extreme southern end of the Grant Park community. Families live within the boundaries of McDonough Boulevard on the south, Atlanta Avenue on the north, Moreland and Capitol avenues on the east and west respectively.

For the past five years Catholic Hispanics in the area have assembled in a two-bedroom unit at Grant Park Apartments for Mass and religious instruction. The apartment was the center of all social and religious activities. It housed a food bank and clothes closet, and room was found for needed classes in English and drivers' education. Franciscan sisters from Mexico assisted in pastoral ministry in Grant Park.

Weather permitting, each Sunday Mass was said outdoors under a tree. On bad weather days Father Christancho would say Mass on the stairs in the apartment. A microphone carried his voice upstairs and down so people could hear the prayers of the liturgy. With no room to move, the sacramental bread and wine was passed from person to person at Communion time.

"The bishop is the force behind this project," Farther Christancho said. "The people were really moved when I told them a couple of weeks ago that we had received the money. When the Franciscan sisters came five years ago they could see that the Church is here and here for good, not just passing through. The people have a strong sense of involvement."

October 31, the congregation met at the Grant Park Apartments. Carrying lighted candles, the cross of evangelization commemorating the quincentennial anniversary of Columbus' voyage and the Blessed Sacrament, they processed the eleven blocks to the recently renovated Catholic Center. There they participated in the Vespers of All Saints. Mass on Sunday was accompanied by Ls Diamante, a mariachi band.

Father Christancho plans a celebration inaugurating the new facility on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. Then it will receive its official name. The priest said Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, favors naming the Center for a saint of the Americas and the priest is considering Juan Diego, the Indian whose visions of Mary led to devotion to the Mother of God under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe.