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BY BETTY SCHOENBAECHLER
Special To The Bulletin
ATLANTA--Over 40 years ago, St. Paul of the Cross Church was founded in
faith as a black Catholic parish and it is sustained today by the commitment of
devoted parishioners who believe in the church’s mission and charism.
Located in northwest Atlanta just off I-285, St. Paul’s is home for
nearly 700 families, some of whom come from surrounding counties to worship
there. Parishioners travel from Marietta, East Point, College Park and Buckhead
because they have put down roots in St. Paul of the Cross.
“We are the largest African-American Catholic church in Atlanta that
was formed specifically for the African-American community,” said Father
Melvin A. Shorter, CP, pastor since 1990. “We are a growing parish and
have many young families coming into our congregation every month. Many of our
original parishioners who moved here from Our Lady of Lourdes 45 years ago are
still serving our church.”
St. Paul of the Cross is under the direction of the Archdiocese of Atlanta,
but was founded and is staffed by priests from the Passionist order. Father
Shorter is provincial consultor for the Passionists’ eastern province that
extends from Boston to Florida.
During the 1950s many affluent and middle-class African-American families
had moved to the Collier Heights neighborhood of Atlanta. At the time, churches
were segregated and the only African-American Catholic church in the city was
Our Lady of Lourdes. A diocesan priest, Msgr. James Grady, urged the
Passionists to form a mission and school for African-Americans in the South,
specifically northwest Atlanta. With the support of Bishop Francis Hyland, the
plan succeeded and within a few years the Passionists dedicated a
state-of-the-art sanctuary and school facility to serve African-American
Catholics west of Northside Drive. The first Mass was celebrated in January
1955.
The Passionists were founded in 1720 in Italy and are primarily a community
of preachers who run retreat houses and missions. Their founder was St. Paul of
the Cross who was granted a vision of himself clothed in a black tunic on which
there was a white cross with the word “Jesu” under it. Passionists
are called to keep the memory of the Passion of Jesus alive in their hearts and
to proclaim its meaning through their words and actions.
Early Masses at St. Paul of the Cross were held at the temporary rectory, a
rented house in a residential neighborhood, until the permanent buildings were
constructed. An elementary school opened for classes in 1957, run by the
Sisters of St. Joseph, who served the community for 25 years. The school closed
in 1990 due to low enrollment and the buildings are still being leased to a
private school today. In the 1960s, Drexel High School was located there for
several years to serve the Catholic African-American population.
During the time of public and private school desegregation, young members of
the parish were among those making the difficult and historic steps. To this
day St. Paul’s dedicated parishioners have persevered, making the parish a
place where faith comes alive and is put into action every day.
The adult choir, known as the Miracle Choir, sings at the 11:30 a.m. Sunday
Mass. Greeters speak to everyone entering the church. Inside, the parish
mission statement is prominently posted, saying, “We are the People of God
of St. Paul of the Cross Catholic community. Gifted and blessed by God Our
Father with an African-American culture, we come together through baptism in
the Roman Catholic tradition, attesting to the unity and universality of the
Church ... We gather to give fervent testimony to the kingdom of God through
worship and celebration of the sacraments ...”
Cantor Michelle Williams exhorts those gathering for Mass to put their
hearts and voices into praising God. As the worship unfolds, her voice helps
the congregation sing with the choir, while her uplifted hands and joyful
countenance invite a surrender to deeper prayer.
“Our services are quite lively,” said Father Shorter. “The
singing in our congregation is monumental. People openly praise God. You may
hear traditional Catholic hymns, gospel music and African-American hymns all in
one service.”
“Most of our music is from the ‘Lead Me, Guide Me’ hymnal,
which was developed by African-American bishops,” said Steve Dalton, choir
director. “Our adult choir has 31 members and our children’s choir
has about 20. The teens coming out of this choir are beginning to take
leadership roles in our new Life Teen program.”
Dalton trains the choir in the classical repertoire, but emphasizes the
works of living African-American composers.
“I am trying to use living African-American composers because I feel
they are writing for where we live today,” he said.
“We’ve introduced drums this September to be used when it’s
appropriate, but mostly the choir is accompanied by the piano and electric
keyboard,” said Dalton, who came to the parish from Holy Cross Church in
Atlanta. He joined the music staff at St. Paul’s in 1986 as an organist
under the direction of Alphonso Nuckles who died in 1993. Dalton credits
Nuckles, who also directed the Archdiocesan Mass Choir, with changing the face
of music ministry at St. Paul’s.
“I would not be able to do what I am doing here without what he had
already accomplished,” he said.
Dalton says his place of work has become his parish family.
“This is my parish. It has become my home.” He said he has
witnessed a rejuvenation in the parish since the mid-80s.
“This church is full of families with young children,” he said.
“The revival here is centered around the youth because we know they are
the future of this parish.”
The children’s choir, open to all grade levels, sings selected pieces
at various services during the year. The choir also performs Christmas and
Easter programs for a retirement home in Atlanta.
About 100 children are enrolled in St. Paul’s religious education
classes from grades pre-K to 12. Director Yvonne Bernal said the religious
education team is supported by dedicated, long-term volunteers who are also
involved in other aspects of parish life. Many, like herself, have been
teaching Sunday school for 15 to 20 years. The underlying theme of the
religious education program is helping the youth build community as they study
their Catholic faith.
“We work hard in the two-year confirmation program to build community
and we see the fruits of that when, after confirmation is over, they continue
to interact with one another,” she said. The youth minister invites
students in the confirmation program to social activities to help them feel
connected to their parish and see what will be available when they enter high
school, she explained.
St. Paul’s introduced a Life Teen ministry in December. Youth minister
Merlin Todd said that because the group is small, they are starting with one
Life Teen event each month, centered around the 6 p.m. Mass.
Todd and a group of the church’s teenagers plan the Mass each month by
reviewing the day’s readings to determine the central theme.
“I’ll ask them what they think the message is in three to four
words. Then we’ll decide how we can alter the environment to reflect the
theme and select music that is appropriate.”
An example is one Life Teen Mass that was centered on the readings about
Adam and Eve being tempted in the Garden of Eden and Jesus’ temptation in
the desert. The teens chose the theme, “From Temptation to
Redemption,” and made an apple tree for a prop. During the Old Testament
reading, a spotlight centered on the tree and moved to the cross during the
Gospel.
“The teens are responding well to Life Teen and the added
responsibilities that are expected of them,” he said.
Twelve of the teenagers had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part
in a pilgrimage to St. Louis to see Pope John Paul II. Darice Gamble, a
long-time St. Paul of the Cross parishioner, was attending daily Mass at Holy
Trinity Church in Peachtree City, when Father Kevin Peek, parochial vicar at
Holy Trinity, announced that he had been selected as a concelebrant for the
pope.
“Father Peek asked me if I knew any teens from St. Paul’s who
would like to go with them,” Gamble said. “This was such a last
minute idea, but the beauty of it was, the Lord had his hand in working out
every detail.”
The youth slept in the gymnasium of a church close to the event’s
activities and sat only 10 rows away from the main altar.
“I have no doubt the Lord graced our group because of Father
Kevin,” Gamble said, adding that Father Peek prepared the youth
spiritually for this pilgrimage.
“They were ready to receive the grace from being in the presence of the
pope,” she said.
The Gambles, like other parish families, are involved in a number of
ministries at St. Paul’s.
“This church is comprised of many dedicated people who are absolutely
devoted to their Catholic faith,” she said. “There is a prayer group
that has been meeting since the church began, a Legion of Mary that has a very
sincere devotion to Mary, and a Bible study that meets regularly. These are the
people who are there praying for our church every day, behind the scenes.”
One such parishioner, Mary Wells, has been with the church since its
inception. Like many others, she was a member of Lourdes before St. Paul’s
opened, and has served in numerous ministries at the church.
“Evangelization and reconciliation are not programs at our parish, but
a way of life for ourselves as individuals and as a community of faith. This is
the heart of St. Paul of the Cross.”
Wells credits the Passionists for laying the groundwork for a church
community that is dedicated to serving those who are in need and providing a
positive role model for young people. Various ministries at the church, such as
the Ladies Auxiliary and the Knights of St. Peter Claver, respond to the needs
of the poor in Bankhead Courts, a housing project neighboring the church
facility, as well as homeless shelters and battered women shelters.
Catherine Goolsby and Lucille McIver, past and current Grand Ladies of the
Ladies Auxiliary, described one of the organization’s numerous service
projects--values education.
“We work with the children at Blaylock Elementary School, teaching
mannerisms, carrying the children on camping trips and on field trips to
cultural events,” said McIver. “We also assist the Knights of Peter
Claver in a tutoring program to prepare high school students for SAT
tests.”
The Knights of St. Peter Claver is one group that touches many areas of St.
Paul’s parish life.
“The Knights of Peter Claver is primarily a fraternal order for the
whole family,” Todd said. “There is a Ladies Auxiliary and for
children who’ve made their first Communion, a Junior Daughters and Junior
Knights. We work on a national sickle cell project and some of our members
spend the night at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception’s shelter once
a year. We’ve been meeting with representatives of the Bankhead Courts
housing project to revive our ministry to the children who reside there.”
St. Paul’s also has an active adult education ministry currently
involved in RENEW 2000 and Bible study, pastoral care, RCIA, pastoral council,
young adult ministry and the Jolly Bunch, which is part of Atlanta’s
Golden Age Club.
Jackie Marshall, one of those 60 and over honored this May as a parish
“trailblazer,” joined St. Paul of the Cross when she was a freshman
at Spelman College in 1957. Following graduation and work, she returned to the
parish in 1964 and has been active ever since. Those chosen as
“trailblazers” have been active in the parish for 25 years or more.
“We’ve had good leadership here which has kept the families
together,” Marshall said. “There is a continuity here.”
When the parish celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1995, a comprehensive
journal was assembled that included historic steps taken by parishioners in the
struggle for racial equality.
For example, parishioner Charlayne Hunter, now journalist Charlayne
Hunter-Gault, was one of the first two black students to integrate the
University of Georgia in 1961. Other parishioners included Michael Yancey, the
first student to integrate the Marist Military School, and Michael Gaines, the
first black student from Georgia to be accepted at West Point in 1969.
Parishioners have participated in such community programs as The Atlanta
Project, Harper Cluster, the AIDS Walk, The Hunger Walk, Samaritan House and
InterFaith, Inc. Each Christmas the church sponsors the Giving Tree, where
parishioners purchase gifts based on cards they remove from a tree that lists a
ministry’s or individual’s needs.
Deacon Hilliard Lee Jr., who can be found at St. Paul’s daily, said he
is encouraging the start up of church-sponsored Scouting troops to provide yet
another program for St. Paul’s growing population of children. Father
Shorter’s obligations as provincial consultor for the Passionists require
him to travel frequently, so Deacon Lee often handles many of the day-to-day
parish responsibilities. The church also has several other deacons including
Leon Allain, Joseph Goolsby and Benjamin Petty, who is retired.
Deacon Lee grew up in the parish himself and is committed to his church
family. He credits the church’s growth to its distinct African-American
worship and the spirituality of the Passionists.
“Hospitality is one of the natures of the Passionists and I believe
this is a very hospitable parish.”
Parishioners are often quick to greet visitors and new members.
“You recognize someone who is new,” Todd said. “When we see
the same people visiting a few times the people of this parish really try to
make them feel welcome. We have a lot to offer. When I first came here as a
teenager, the one thing that drew me in was the CYO (Catholic Youth
Organization) group. I got involved in its activities and became hooked into
parish life. I felt connected. Now I see the same thing happening with my
five-year-old. She looks forward to Sunday school at St. Paul’s.”
Deacon Lee and the director of religious education also look forward to Mass
at St. Paul’s.
“When I’m traveling and attend Mass at another church, I miss
being at St. Paul’s,” Deacon Lee said. “There is something
special that happens here. Everybody participates. Everybody sings.”
Bernal commented, “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere other than
St. Paul’s. This parish is alive!”
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