By Paula Day

The numbers tell the story.

Nine years ago Dorothy Cummins moved to Cartersville and registered in St. Francis of Assisi parish. At the time fewer than 100 households made up the parish.

Now 235 families are on the roster and each week new faces appear at the parish where she is director of religious education. To take care of the growing numbers, the parish just finished a new all-purpose center and Archbishop John F. Donoghue blessed its sanctuary Jan. 30.

The pastor, Father Joseph Aquino, MS, other LaSalette priests, Father Pete McKeown, Father Tom Carroll, Father Leo Cumming and Father Thomas Reilly, the provincial of the order, concelebrated the 2 p.m. liturgy. Brother Bob Russell, MS, assisted the archbishop, and Brother Bob Belliveau, MS, was master of ceremonies. The adult choir and guitar group joined voices to provide music for the Mass.

The John Kellers came from Indiana for the blessing ceremony. One of the original families in the parish, Keller’s son, only seven or eight at the time, “held the shovel” during the groundbreaking for St. Francis Family Center. Keller was now on hand to see the archbishop bless the center, donated stations of the cross and a crucifix and processional cross carved from walnut wood in his Indiana yard.

Special guests at the celebration included Mayor Alex Dent of Cartersville, and the Rev. Jim Strickland, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Cartersville. Strickland announced that when the parish is ready to landscape the grounds, his church will donate a tree or shrub to make the occasion.

Groundbreaking for the 12,000 square foot building was held on Palm Sunday, 1993 and construction began last April. The parish celebrated the Eucharist in the new sanctuary for the first time on Christmas Eve.

In addition to the sanctuary, which seats 300, the parish center also provides eight classrooms, a conference room, a day chapel, cry room, reconciliation room, and offices. An area set aside for a kitchen will be finished later. The sanctuary can be used for large parish activities by closing off the altar area.

After the liturgy, parishioners and guests greeted the archbishop at a reception.

Judy Borkowsky, Charles Spinner and Boyd Morris made up the planning committee for the new parish center. Mrs. Borkowsky and Diane Surcey were the interior decorators. The architect was Dennis Lolumber and the contractor was Lehmann Smith.

St. Francis of Assisi is the only Catholic church in Bartow County.