BY SUSAN STEVENOT SULLIVAN

Staff Writer

LAGRANGE--For 60 years, as long as the parish has existed, Nannie Valeri has been a member of the congregation at St. Peter.

The parish's original brick church, now empty, still stands almost within sight of her home. For years she kept the church's key for visiting priests who ministered to the small congregation. For decades she grew flowers in her backyard and carried them to the church where she arranged them.

Nannie Valeri is 84 now and has retired from her church ministries, which also included embroidering altar cloths and vestments. She is the oldest original parishioner and just one of the members of St. Peter's whose lifetime of dedication has nurtured a parish whose 320 households have an increasing impact on the LaGrange community.

Just north of Callaway Gardens and too far from Atlanta for commuters, the southwestern-most parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta remains connected to the larger world. Six Olympic athletes-in-training currently attend weekly Mass at the parish.

Four parishioners, Michael Solomon, Emily and Chris Joseph and Adolfo Benavides, have been chosen to carry the Olympic torch during its trip to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Games.

Passing the torch of parish involvement from one generation to the next is a vital tradition at St. Peter. While the parish has grown slowly and is small compared to some, its parishioners have completed some ambitious building projects.

The most visible milestone was the effort of parishioners who organized the building of the current facilities, raising $1 million from inside and outside the parish to erect a new church in the late 1980s.

Property valued at $1 million was donated by industrialist Roger Milliken. The parishioners' fund-raising efforts were matched by a $1 million grant from the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation. The result: a multimillion dollar site and facility with no debt.

The beautifully-landscaped church property had been the location of a mill, the industry that is the source of both the Milliken and Callaway fortunes and the industrial backbone of the city. A huge old tree and the sound of freight trains passing the parking lot remind parishioners of the transformation which was completed while Father Joseph Ware was pastor.

The property is just blocks from the town square which features a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette. Named for Lafayette's home in France, the county seat honors the legacy of an individual whose dedication helped change the course of history on two continents. Dedication has also shaped the county's only Catholic community.

Nasor Mansour, Jr. spearheaded the construction phase of the building project full-time for a year. His brothers, Alfred Sr., and George helped as well.

"We love the Church," Mansour said in a break from business at the family's landmark department store. "We're of Lebanese descent. Our family has always loved the Church."

"Everyone in the parish worked real hard," Mansour said. "It was great to see it happen."

The Mansour family's multigenerational support of St. Peter's echoes that of many others in the parish. Chris Joseph, who was baptized in the parish and whose four children have been baptized there as well, was in charge of the fund-raising portion of the effort.

The former mayor of LaGrange, as well as former president of St. Peter's Pastoral Council, said the fund-raising took two years. The project's benefactors' list includes more than 740 families, corporations and individuals.

"We had over 100 people involved on six committees," Joseph recalled. "We had a good cross-section of support before we got started. We were overwhelmed with it. We had no earthly idea how it would end up. We were worried about what we'd have to cut -- we didn't end up cutting anything that affected the integrity of the project."

The tradition of devoting family time, talent and treasure to the parish began in the earliest days of Troup County's Catholic community.

The parish was founded in 1936 at the urging of Father James E. King, pastor of St. Joseph in Athens and of the Northeast Georgia Missions, a responsibility that stretched from North Carolina to Alabama. The parish was to serve the Catholics of Troup, Meriwether and Heard counties.

An anonymous donor gave Father King $10,000 to start the church, stipulating only that it was to be named in honor of St. Peter.

The first Catholic church in the city of LaGrange and in Troup County was completed in April 1936 on Church Street. The brick structure included a bell tower and seating for 100. The first pastor was Father George T. Daly, who shepherded a flock that had longed for a permanent location since Mass began to be occasionally celebrated in the homes of local Catholics after the turn of the century.

The parish was passed from diocesan to Redemptorist administration repeatedly in the '40s and '50s. St. Peter's did not consistently have a priest in the rectory during this time. In 1956, with 55 families registered, it was transferred back to the Archdiocese of Atlanta for the final time.

A parish hall was added in 1962 and a major renovation and expansion of the original church was completed in 1969, doubling the seating. The current facility, which includes church, rectory, offices, parish activity center and classrooms was completed in 1988.

A mission was added to the parish community in the early years. Named St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Mission in 1975, the community includes Manchester/Warm Springs. Its 40 households will break ground on a multipurpose facility of their own later this year.

Though Catholics make up a small percentage of the population in the tri-county area (1.6 percent in Troup County, 0.3 percent in Meriwether County and 0.1 percent in Heard County), their presence is being felt in the larger community. This is due at least in part to St. Peter's pastor Father John Kieran.

Father Kieran has set an example of community involvement and encouraged parishioners to serve the various organizations he supports.

St. Peter's pastor is a founding member of the LaGrange Ministerial Association. He serves as a director on the boards of the United Way of West Georgia, the battered women's shelter, Troup County Habitat for Humanity, Troup County Clean and Beautiful and is a member of the Coordinating Committee for the LaGrange International Fellowship Exchange. He is also the first Catholic chaplain at West Georgia Medical Center.

"The challenge here was helping to move the parish forward," Father Kieran said. Arriving five years ago fresh from the task of starting a parish from scratch, Christ Our Hope in Lithonia, Father Kieran found that building with construction materials would no longer be his focus.

"This beautiful facility was already completed," he said. "It was time to develop programs."

Father Kieran revitalized the Pastoral Council and Finance Committees, started an RCIA program and encouraged the development of other ministries. The challenge continues with current Pastoral Council planning priorities involving everything from music at Mass to youth ministry.

Newcomers to the parish are welcomed by a committee, attend a monthly breakfast, receive an extensive involvement packet, view a special video of the parish and meet with the pastor personally. Perhaps this helps explain why many quickly become involved.

Judy Van Norman, current Pastoral Council president, and her husband Tracy, chairman of the parish finance council, have been parishioners since 1992.

"We have added a social action standing committee," Mrs. Van Norman said of the Pastoral Council's recent innovations. "This includes our St. Vincent de Paul, Habitat for Humanity and the interdenominational Pregnancy Care Center."

The new evangelization committee will focus both on evangelization within the parish and outside the parish, Mrs. Van Norman added. The need to keep parish youth involved after confirmation was the unanimous first priority of parishioners during a recent poll -- thus the search for a part-time youth minister.

"There are 135 children in the religious ed program and 13 in the confirmation class," said the part-time director of religious education, Marianne Ogilvie.

"We are trying to help the children get together as a Catholic community," Mrs. Ogilvie said. "We want them to recognize each other outside of their church community as well as inside it and have a camaraderie. We are a minority in this area."

Despite the small numbers, she said, members of the parish, adults and children, are mentioned often in the local paper for their achievements. A special series of bulletin boards, called The Net, in the hallway displays dozens of such articles and awards.

The idea of a small but dedicated group taking on large tasks is also visible in the parish's Knights of Columbus Council No. 9515. Each year the group hosts a St. Nicholas breakfast, a Celtic Ceilie including dinner and dancing as well as a public safety appreciation breakfast for all police and firefighters serving LaGrange. The appreciation breakfast is served to 70 hungry guests in shifts that reflect their schedules, from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The St. Vincent de Paul effort in the parish results in the distribution of $1,000 a month to needy individuals by St. Peter's, according to Father Kieran. The Women's Council in the parish holds a yard sale annually to increase St. Vincent de Paul resources as well as raise funds for other outreaches, such as to new mothers, the sick and the grieving.

Both the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Women's Council help support Project Love, a shelter for battered women in LaGrange. According to parishioner Patricia Rogers, the shelter is the only resource for abused women and their children between Columbus and Atlanta, and it is constantly full.

A parish vocations committee of 10 prays, writes letters to seminarians and hosts an annual vocations seminar among other activities. Several parishioners are planning a trip to Ireland to attend the ordination of former parish pastoral associate and seminarian Rev. Mr. Paul Burke on May 24.

Seminarian Hoa Trung Tran is finishing a pastoral year in the parish, the first small Catholic community he has experienced.

"The people are very warm and welcoming," said Tran, who has a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech. "I've certainly enjoyed my stay here."

Tran, who speaks fluent Italian because of his studies in Rome, has been known to pass the time with Nannie Valeri after Mass in the language of her childhood, to the delight of parishioners.

Building up the parish and the LaGrange community can involve individuals with hammers and nails as well as prayer and fellowship.

Bill Lee, who has been a parishioner for less than a year, is president of Troup County Habitat for Humanity. The parish is the site of the ecumenical group's meetings. St. Peter parishioners are active in fund-raising and in construction help for the group.

The non-profit corporation has built 10 houses since the group was started in 1990.

During his two-year term, Lee said he would like to see the parish co-sponsor a house for the first time. He thinks the lump-sum seed money necessary for such sponsorship could be raised by the parish.

"This is probably the most friendly parish I've been in," said Lee, a transplant from California who has belonged to five parishes in the last 25 years. "A lot of people here are willing to give of their time."

There seems to be a ministry for everyone who wants to give. Anne and Angus McLean host a senior's lunch after the noon Mass every First Friday. The lunch is attended by 30 to 40 guests.

Jane Dunn, parish secretary and financial administrator, is convinced that the fruit of the effort of the small community is testimony to the parish character.

"One of the unique things about St. Peter's is the personal ownership the Catholic community takes of their church," Mrs. Dunn said.

An embodiment of that ownership is glimpsed in the diminutive, energetic personage of Rosalie Joseph, who is alleged by a chorus of parishioners to "know everyone and everything going on."

Miss Joseph, Chris Joseph's aunt, has been sacristan of St. Peter's for 52 years and housekeeper for 25. She also does the rectory cooking and laundry.

Her smile is wide, her memory long and her sense of humor dry. Asked about a few of the 23 priests she's served (she had to stop and count them up), she said of one, "Oh, he didn't last the year. We gave him an ulcer and sent him off in an ambulance."

New parish folklore will no doubt be generated by the parish's involvement in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Athletes from more than 19 countries are, or will be, training in LaGrange. The parish is also helping with Atlanta Host, making homes available for athletes' families attending the Games.

The entire LaGrange community will be invited to the parish's 60th anniversary open house May 11. The celebration will include displays detailing the history of the parish and the activities of parishioners.

The 60th anniversary event committee, co-chaired by Judy Van Norman and Peggy McCauley, decided on the slogan: "We Remember, We Celebrate, We Give Thanks."

On Sunday, May 19, the parish will have a single morning Mass at 11 a.m., which will be concelebrated by priests who have been a part of the parish. A catered anniversary dinner will follow, along with games and a petting zoo organized by the Knights of Columbus. Former clergy, seminarians and parishioners are expected to share the festivities.

The occasion has inspired Father Kieran to assemble a lengthy parish/archdiocese/Catholic Church trivia quiz which will be printed on the placemats used for the dinner. He plans to award prizes in three categories.

"It's just something to try and keep these people busy," he said with a grin.