BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--On March 17 many took time to remember the work of St. Patrick, who survived slavery and exile from Ireland to later return there and preach the Gospel message of peace and freedom through Christ.

Approximately 500 people gathered for the 115th annual St. Patrick's Day Mass in Atlanta held this year at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Wearing kelly and light green blazers, ties and caps, leprechauns, shamrocks and pins reading "Honorary Irishman" and "Irish by Marriage," they honored the patron saint of Ireland and celebrated their ancestry.

Msgr. Thomas Kenny, cathedral rector and a native of Ireland, celebrated the morning Mass, assisted by 16 archdiocesan priests. The Mass was sponsored by the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta, the city's oldest civic society serving the Irish community, and was organized by Hibernian Rose Begley.

Standing by the green, white and orange Irish flag, Cathedral music director Ham Smith led the congregation in "Hail Glorious St. Patrick" and other traditional Irish hymns with Timothy Wissler on organ, Debra Peterson on flute and Irish harp, and James Donegan as cantor.

Frank McGing gave the first reading while Father Hugh Marren, also a native of Ireland and the pastor of St. Anthony's Church, Atlanta, proclaimed the Gospel.

Wearing green embroidered vestments, Msgr. Kenny described how Patrick was enslaved as a teenager and, after praying 100 times a day, eventually escaped to freedom. The saint, who lived from 389 to 461 A.D., returned from exile to Ireland where he worked for 30 years to convert the people to Christianity and establish the church.

Msgr. Kenny said that the culture of the Irish people was rich before St. Patrick's work and that the missionary "won over their allegiance to the faith by interpreting Christianity in terms of their own culture, in terms that they could understand...This was the Christ that the native Irish could relate to and to whom they could turn over their lives."

"Laws--which in the days of Patrick were christianized by him--became the basis of a Christian code of law that served the nation well up to the 12th century. The sacrifice of the Mass became a very welcome replacement for the human sacrifices of the Druids and the forgiveness and mercy (he brought) were virtues that brought peace and prosperity for them in war and conflict after that," Msgr. Kenny said.

"The spirit of Patrick lurks behind every great missionary endeavor of this past century and all centuries," he said. "The secret of Patrick's peace was not in...(escaping) slavery but in the forgiveness of love which he returned to the island of his enslavement, bringing to all the freedom and peace of God's children that is within. Without that peace we never can be free."

Msgr. Louis Naughton, judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal, read a message from Ireland's President Mary McAleese, expressing support for the efforts being made to end violence in Northern Ireland.

"The Irish experience throughout the world has been one of tolerance and integration with others, as Patrick himself would have wished," she wrote. "In his name we renew our commitment to bringing deep-rooted peace to this beautiful island of Ireland and offer our heartfelt support to all those working so hard to end the suffering and make that peace a reality."

Offering the petitions, Josephine Hadelman prayed that St. Patrick would inspire and guide believers and that he would intercede for Irish immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity in America.

People at the Mass later expressed their love of the saint and their Irish roots.

Irish-born Larry Burke, a parishioner at St. Jude the Apostle Church, Atlanta, wore the country's national tie, which is green and depicts a harp, a symbol of hospitality. He attends the St. Patrick's Day Mass annually and said, "It's a celebration of the conversion of Ireland to Christ by St. Patrick. It's something that's different than how it's celebrated in the American culture as an alcohol-centered event. No other country has a person who is so revered as bringing Christianity to the country."

"The church is putting back an emphasis on him, the right emphasis," Burke said.

Corpus Christi parishioner Robert Toomey, whose Irish mother arrived in the U.S. in 1926 at the age of 16, said with tears, "I'm very grateful and very proud of where I came from, especially today. This Mass is dedicated in memory of my mother and father."

Dorothy Mears, a parishioner at St. Thomas More Church in Decatur, is third-generation Irish and served on the board of directors for the Ulster Project for Protestant and Catholic teens from Northern Ireland.

"I think that (the Mass) ties the Irish community together and I particularly like the idea that it focuses on the concept of peace--with the continuing promise of peace in Northern Ireland for the Irish people," said Mears.

A breakfast after the Mass in the Hyland Center included a table, accented with shamrock plants, of Irish soda bread, scones and trifle. Irish step dancing was performed by youth of the Drake School of Irish Dance and the Mulligan School of Irish Dance.

The Hibernian Society also recently sponsored the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and a play at Holy Spirit Church, Atlanta, relating the story of an Irish family's journey to Georgia.

IRISH DANCERS -- (Left to right) Haley Tonner of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Coleen Hock, Jacquie Berger, Brittany Berger and Apryl Hughes of the Mulligan School of Irish Dance, and Andrew Tonner of the Cathedral of Christ the King perform a traditional Irish reel during a reception at the Hyland Center following the St. Patrick’s Day Mass. Photos by Michael Alexander

PRESENTATION OF GIFTS -- Collen Hock of Holy Family Parish, Marietta, and Ryan Evans of Transfiguration Parish, Marietta, bring bread and wine to Msgr. Tom Kenny, main celebrant for the St. Patrick’s Day Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Waiting is Father John Walsh, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, Peachtree City.

IRISH GATHERING -- Tom McSorley of All Saints Parish, Dunwoody, pals around with Irish-American two-year-olds John McDonough of All Saints, left and Bobby George of the Church of St. Benedict.