By Thea Jarvis, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Hundreds of present and former parishioners packed Holy Cross Church May 27 to bid farewell to the Dominican Community that has ministered at the north Atlanta parish for the last two decades.

At an evening “Eucharist of Blessing and Sending” hold over Memorial Day weekend, the church rang with music and song, thanks and remembrance in celebration of the journey the order has shared with the parish.

The event was the second in a three-part process of transition that began with a May 19 “Remembering” service at which parish members and Dominican friars together reflected on their 20-year relationship. The third component of the transition, a “Receiving” ceremony held June 4, welcomed incoming pastor Father Paul Fogarty, whose assignment marks the parish’s return to archdiocesan leadership.

“Departures are always moments of faith, and also moments of birth,” said Father Alberto Rodriguez, O.P., former Holy Cross pastor and now prior provincial of the Southern Dominican Province. As presiding celebrant at the Mass, Father Rodriguez acknowledged the pain of the lasting bonds of friendship and opportunities for growth that had been created.

Because of a shared history, in which Dominican lives mingled with lives of parishioners, “we have become one,” said Father Rodriguez. “For many years to come, at the hint of a memory, Dominicans will actualize their presence at Holy Cross,” though their physical presence will be gone.

Father Rodriguez was joined on the altar by concelebrants Father Edward Everitt, O.P., the parish’s most recent Dominican pastor, and his associate, Father Cayet Mangiaracina, O.P., Deacons Frank Coughlin and Bill Jindrich assisted. Members of Holy Cross’s traditional, Celebration and Life Teen Choirs, led by Debby O’Donnell, combined voices and instruments for the farewell Mass.

“Departures are impossible” when people are part of each other’s lives, Father Rodriguez said, and Dominicans of the Southern Province are historically intertwined with Holy Cross.

The order has staffed the parish since 1976, when then-Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan sought assistance in ministering to North Georgia’s rapidly expanding Catholic population. Dominicans from the order’s newly-formed Southern Province helped meet the archdiocesan need.

Additionally, the order established a viable Catholic presence at Emory University, founding the Aquinas Center of Theology, where Catholic theology continues to be taught and studied. Dominicans also served as campus ministers for Emory’s Catholic students and provided spiritual leadership and liturgy for the university’s larger Catholic population.

As the order’s time in the archdiocese drew to a close, the visibly saddened congregation that lined the aisles and filled the pews at Holy Cross was consoled by Father Rodriquez’s words.

“Holy Cross was always referred to as the tough community,” he recalled with a smile, because parishioners were not afraid to challenge staff directives. “You knew when to question, when to dare and always, when to love,” he said.

The Dominican vocations of church members Jorge Presmanes and Michale O’Rourke “will always remind us of Holy Cross,” Father Rodriguez added.

Prayers of petition were offered for Father Presmanes, for transitional Deacon O’Rourke and for the many Dominicans who served at Holy Cross and in the archdiocese over the years. Each was remembered by name, including former Holy Cross pastors Fathers Mark Geary, John O’Brien, Daniel Shanahan and Father Rodriguez.

Father Geary was present at the Mass, as was a sizable representation of the 19 permanent deacons called from the Holy Cross community. Father John Boll, O.P., and Father Thanh Nguyen, M.S., who ministers to the parish’s large Vietnamese membership, were also in attendance.

Before the offertory, a liturgical dance was performed by seven young girls from the Vietnamese community dressed in traditional garb. Adult members of the Vietnamese community presented gifts at the altar.

Following Communion, the congregation imparted a blessing on their departing Dominican friends.

“We have prepared by this time,” said Luanne Bachner, liturgical coordinator for the transitional process. The parish had prayed and shared strength to ready itself for change, she said, “Now it is time for one last gesture.”

Led by Deacon Coughlin, the assembly raised their hands in blessing as the Dominican priests stood before them. Together they recited a traditional Benedictine blessing for travelers, praying that God would “guide their feet in the way of peace...their hearts in the way of love...Keep them safe as they pass from this place, knowing that our prayers go with them.

The friars then prayed over the people, returning the blessings before those gathered made their way to the parish hall for a buffet meal and continued fellowship.

“We have become better Dominicans because of you,” Father Rodriguez had earlier told the congregation in his homily. “We go with a deep sense of pride and joy.”