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BY ERIKA ANDERSON
Staff Writer
DECATUR--Located in a city with a changing population, St. Thomas More
Church has adapted to the needs of incoming young Catholic families while
remaining a strong foundation of faith for its older parishioners for nearly 60
years.
Founded in 1941, the first Mass was celebrated by Msgr. Joseph E. Moyland,
then pastor of Christ the King on March 31. On Easter Sunday, Bishop Gerald P.
O'Hara announced that the parish would be named St. Thomas More, in honor of
the English saint who had been canonized just six years earlier, and Father
Thomas L. Finn was named first pastor.
Up until the Second World War, Masses were held at the Decatur Women's Club
Hall. Shortly after the war, under the direction of Father Thomas Sheehan, the
church's second pastor, construction was completed on a church building,
convent for the Sisters of Notre Dame and school. The entire project cost
approximately $350,000-400,000.
The school has fluctuated in enrollment throughout the years and at one time
had over 900 students. Today, there are 461 students in grades kindergarten
through eight.
The school has thrived from the dedication and hard work of the Sisters of
Notre Dame de Namur, two of whom, Sister Grace O'Connor, SND, and Sister Rita
Adele Comber, SND, still teach at the school. Three other retired sisters still
live at the convent located on the parish grounds and serve the church in its
many ministries.
STM is a member of the Decatur Cooperative Ministry, a group of churches who
work together in shelters and community outreach.
The church, led by pastor Father Patrick Mulhern, also has various other
outreach ministries, such as an AIDS ministry, with parishioners who deliver
meals every Thursday to 14 patients with AIDS, and a parish St. Vincent de Paul
Society that works closely with Bosnian refugees, picking them up for church
and finding them jobs and places to live. Eighteen Bosnian families have been
given aid by the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, led by parishioners Frank
Shoemaker and Dr. Cynthia Fordyce.
St. Thomas More also has an active religious education program. There are
215 children enrolled and 12 people were brought into the church this Easter
through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA).
A group called "A Place at the Table," is a ministry that started
two years ago and is designed for Catholics who have been away from and are
returning to the church. The program is held from November through Holy
Thursday.
Marie Trujillo, director of religious education, said that the programs are
much like the OCIA classes, but focus on the needs and questions of returning
Catholics.
"Hopefully they realize that things haven't changed that much and that
they are still very much able to be part of the church," she said.
The church also has a youth group, led by Tom Kropewnicki, with 15 to 20
active teens involved. A group called "Evergreen," made up of
approximately 40 young married couples, meets once a month and holds an annual
Valentine's Day party with the senior citizens of the parish.
Ann Dugan, pastoral assistant, said that the various ministries bring life
into the church.
"All of our ministries may seem like they are isolated, but they really
work together for the good of the parish," she said.
Dugan, who has been a parishioner since 1964, taught at the school for 16
years, and has been the pastoral assistant for nine years, said she has seen
the church grow in leadership by the parishioners.
"I have seen the church change in that it has really become the church
of the people," she said. "We are really involved in the church
ministry as lay people...We have wonderful leadership in this parish."
Another aspect of the parish that Dugan has seen change has been the
diversity of the parishioners.
"Our population doesn't grow demographically," she said. "But
the entire face of the church has changed."
Father Mulhern, who has been the pastor of the 1,000-family church since
1987, said that the change has been gradual and that the diversity of the
parish is what makes it so unique.
"The archdiocese has so many new communities, new churches," he
said. "We have something of an old history and we have the great charism
of the faith of the old-timers. You don't have that in some of these new
churches that are opening tomorrow."
"The younger families have added their charism," he said.
"They bring youth, enthusiasm and vitality. It gives the older
parishioners so much pleasure to see these young people."
Frank Shoemaker, who has been a parishioner of since 1946, also runs the
church gift shop, which is open after all the Masses on Sunday. His wife, Mary,
has been the school secretary for 30 years and for 47 years he had children or
grandchildren enrolled there. He remembers a time when the parish was full of
older parishioners and young people were rarely seen.
"I've seen it come from the young to the old and now it's coming back
to the young again. I love to see this," he said. "There was a time,
in the 1970s, that I barely sold a rosary. Now there are young people saying
the rosary. There has really been a kind of awakening."
Paul and Vanessa Burks have been parishioners since 1976.
"This church in the mid-70s had a lot of older families and very few
young people. STM has changed because Decatur has changed," Paul said.
"It really has a lot more younger families," his wife added.
"It's really grown. It's wonderful."
George and Mary Ellen Davis have been parishioners as long as the Burks
family. Mary Ellen said that the younger people coming in have given the parish
more to offer.
"It's made it much more active," she said. "There is a wider
variety of activities."
She also said that STM is fortunate to have a diverse population and an
involved pastor.
"We have the older people and the younger people and we have Father
Pat," she said. "He came when things were just starting to change.
Without his leadership, we wouldn't be where we are today."
Father Mulhern said that aside from the diversity in ages, there are several
groups of parishioners.
"We have an economic, educational and ethnic diversity," he said.
"We have people that don't have to worry about their next meal and some
that don't have a next meal. It's an amazing diversity."
In 1991, STM built Mulhern Hall, an activity center and church hall named
after their pastor. There is now a $2.5 million project planned to update the
buildings and build a new multipurpose activity room to be used by students and
parishioners.
As buildings are added and renovated, most of the parishioners are pleased
that there will be the same spirit among the people.
"It's like an extended family--like a small town," Paul Burks
said. "Everybody comes and knows everyone else. There is a real
unity."
Mary Ellen Davis agreed that the warmth of the parish is the reason her
family drives a few extra miles from Stone Mountain to attend STM.
"It's the people," she said. "We were gone for a year to
England and people would always asked what we missed the most. I told them 'our
church.' We're like a family--a great community."
Frank Shoemaker said that the parish is a major part of his life.
"I wouldn't leave it if I moved 50 miles away," he said. "I
would have to attend St. Thomas More. It's just home to me."
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