By Susan Stevenot Sullivan

Atlanta--In 1980 the Archdiocese of Atlanta had 72 parishes and missions serving 99,700 Catholics.

As 1995 began, 91 parishes and missions were serving more than 199,900 Catholics.

Many of the recently established missions continue to grow rapidly and new ones are on the horizon.

A new mission, to serve the South Lilburn/Mountain Park area of Gwinnett County, is being planned from St. John Neumann Church in Lilburn.

A few months ago St. John Neumann’s pastor, Father James Fennessy, celebrated the parish’s first mission. St. Margaret D’Youville, becoming a parish. On Sept. 17 he celebrated the new, and as yet unnamed, mission’s first Mass at 9 a.m. at Parkview High School on Cole Road. More than 320 people attended the Mass.

“We are back in the mission business,” Father Fennessy quipped, noting that the three priests at St. John Neumann, himself and Father Richard Meehan and Father Mark Lacey, will serve the mission along with the parish’s 3,800 households.

“There is tremendous growth in Gwinnett County,” he said. “I believe the reason missions are being formed is that we believe people can be better served in smaller communities. The more parishes you have the more opportunity people have to serve in ministries...also the priest has a better opportunity to know a larger percentage of the people.

“(Smaller parishes create) an opportunity for a closer community and better relationships between the priests and the people,” he continued. “We believe that’s a better choice than building one big church.”

South Cherokee County is the location of a new mission from St. Catherine of Siena in Kennesaw. The name of the mission is not yet decided, but the first Mass was celebrated Aug. 6 at the Woodstock Recreation Center, 7545 N. Main Street, Woodstock.

According to Father Terance Kane, pastor of St. Catherine and the mission, the mission was the result of a grassroots effort initiated about two years ago by Catholics living in the area.

Enthusiasm is so high for the much-anticipated mission that the first Sunday’s Masses (8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.) were attended by more than 600 people.

“That really shocked us,” said Father Kane. “We were told 29 people attended the first Mass at Transfiguration Mission in Marietta in 1977. The first Sunday blew our minds.”

Transfiguration Parish and daughter parish Catherine of Siena currently have nearly 6,000 registered households between them.

By the second weekend at the Woodstock mission, more than 264 households had registered, Father Kane said. Of that group, 60 had not registered before with any parish in the archdiocese.

By mid-September more than 506 households had registered and 200 children were on the rolls for religious education classes.

Many ministries are already in place, said Father Kane. Some simply appeared, beginning the first Sunday. “The donut people turn up in great numbers,” he said of the developing hospitality ministry. “We are going to have to watch our weight.”

Some unknown person has been draping a small table with lace and setting up a beautiful punch bowl for holy water in the greeting area, he added. More than 60 volunteers are on rosters for liturgical ministries, including two choirs and a nursery.

Father Conor Fitzgerald, parochial vicar at St. Catherine, is described by Father Kane as the parish’s “priest on the spot” and representative of the parish in the South Cherokee area, though all three of the parish priests are celebrating Mass in Woodstock.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Father Fitzgerald of the enthusiasm of the volunteers. “We’ve been overwhelmed by people wanting to get involved.”

“They want the church to go up as soon as possible,” he said. “People are already presenting us with reports on land and pictures of churches and pushing the idea of a Catholic school. Father Kane has been a tremendous help--reminding us we have to work in God’s time.”

The recreation facility space is rented for Sunday morning only. In addition to a name, the mission needs office space for confirmation class, organizational meetings, daily Mass and other weekday events. These are among many topics to be discussed at a mission meeting to be held between Masses on Sunday, Sept. 24, according to Father Kane.

“This gives us a real sense of community,” said Anna Pfeil, who was one of those instrumental in the creation of the new mission. “It is an opportunity to take care of community needs. We had been divided between four or five parishes.”

Two other missions, both located in Gwinnett County, have been growing since last year.

Mary Our Queen, serving the Peachtree Corners and Berkeley Lake areas of western Gwinnett County is a mission of All Saints, Dunwoody. The mission has grown to 254 registered families since November, 1994, and is located in the Nortech Office Park, 5875 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Suite 260.

The mission’s first religious education classes began in early September and include more than 160 children in Sunday sessions. The last weekend of August, Mary Our Queen added a third weekend Mass. The Mass schedule is now Saturdays at 5 p.m. with folk music, and Sundays at 8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. with a choir. Reconciliation is at 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Mary Our Queen Mission recently added two weekday masses, Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and Fridays at 9 a.m. Priest-in-charge Father Jack Druding said about 40 percent of the parishioners are involved in one of the ministries. Newer organizations include a Men’s Club, Women’s Guild, outreach to the sick and a St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The mission recently held a pool party and a potluck supper. A statue of Mary in the foyer was blessed in a special ceremony on the feast of the Assumption.

“We are starting our Stewardship Program at the mission,” Father Druding said. “We are striving for 100 percent participation. I will personally call those who don’t respond myself.”

Father Druding said that parish committees have sent a report on a possible permanent parish site to the archdiocese.

St. Monica Mission, serving Duluth City, Suwanee, northeast Fulton County and southeast Forsyth County, has also added a Mass to its schedule.

The mission, which meets at North Gwinnett High School Auditorium in Suwanee, added a 5:30 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturday to the current 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday Masses, both of which have choirs.

Since it was founded in the fall of 1994 the mission has grown to more than 250 families, according to mission vicar Father Stewart Wilber. Average monthly collections are more than $12,000.

St. Monica offered a partial year of religious education for children earlier in 1995. This fall it will offer a full year of such classes, including a lectionary-based adult education curriculum on Sunday mornings.

Nearly 50 percent of the parishioners are active in the mission’s ministries, which include Knights of Columbus and Women’s Guild. The music ministry is being expanded to include the new Mass.

St. Monica offers weekday Masses at the chapel in the Duluth Mission Office, 1925 Peachbluff Drive, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. The mission recently received permission to reserve the Eucharist in the mission chapel. This was done at a special Mass in July celebrated by Msgr. Terry Young, pastor of the mission’s mother parish, St. Benedict, Duluth.

Maps of St. Monica Mission’s Sunday and weekday Mass locations are available from the office at (770) 495-9201.

For information about Mary Our Queen Mission call (770) 416-0002. For information about the south Cherokee County mission call St. Catherine of Siena Parish at (770) 428-7139. For information about the new South Lilburn/Mountain Park mission all St. John Neumann Parish at (7970) 923-6633 and dial extension 111.