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BY GRETCHEN KEISER
Staff Writer
TYRONE--In a pastoral setting in Fayette County, the future St.
Matthew’s Church is under construction, providing a permanent home for a
parish that has relocated from Fairburn to Tyrone.
The groundbreaking ceremony and blessing of the site was celebrated July 9
as parishioners in summer clothes and sandals gathered at the cleared land
around a large wooden cross marking the location where the altar will be.
Archbishop John F. Donoghue, assisted by Father Leo Holleran, MS, the
pastor, gave the prayers of blessing. Then he blessed the people, who are part
of a parish community that began in 1978 as a mission of Blessed Sacrament
Church in Atlanta.
Although St. Matthew’s Church, which has always been served by
LaSalette priests, has a 20-year history, the parish never before built its own
church.
In Fairburn a funeral home chapel was remodeled into St. Matthew’s
Church and later the parish built the LaSalette Center, a multipurpose building
where Masses were celebrated. In the late 1990s, in light of the growth of the
Catholic population south of Atlanta, particularly in Peachtree City, Newnan
and Fayetteville, the decision was made to relocate St. Matthew’s nearer
the growing areas to strengthen the parish and to serve Catholics living in
those areas.
The last Mass was celebrated at the Fairburn church in August 1998 and until
the new church is completed, the parish meets at a Protestant church on Highway
74 South a few miles from the Tyrone site.
The 30-acre site where the new St. Matthew’s Church is being built is
also the location for the new Catholic elementary school, Our Lady of Victory,
which opens this fall.
Both the school and the church have been designed by Passantino & Bavier
of Smyrna. The builder for the church is Dudley Barrett Construction Co. of
Atlanta. The parish building committee is chaired by Hugh Weaver.
The fan-shaped church will have seating for 700 and the capacity to expand
to 1,000 through the addition of a balcony. A 5,000-square-foot administrative
building will be connected to it for a combined area of 20,000 square feet. The
exterior will be red brick with a banded appearance, similar to the exterior of
the school.
“This is a day we have all been waiting for, to break ground for the
new church building,” said Father Holleran. He reminded the 150 or more
parishioners gathered that it is the people, not a building, who make up the
church and that their presence was vital for the event and for all the future
works done at the parish.
With birds chirping and a red sun setting behind the trees, the archbishop
prayed for the safety of the building project and for the future church to
contribute to “building up the kingdom of God.”
The over $2 million project is scheduled to be completed by next June. It
will include a daily Mass chapel and will be very simple in design, according
to Ron Sineway of Passantino & Bavier, head designer for the project.
After the blessing, parishioners released yellow and white balloons and
quenched their thirst with lemonade and celebratory cake.
Several people in attendance have been members of St. Matthew’s from
its beginning. Deacon Jean Moenk, who is retired, was president of the parish
council when the mission was created.
“I’m pleased,” he said of the new church. “I’m
happy about the school being here too. We’ve needed one badly for a long
time. The south side (of metropolitan Atlanta) is really growing. St.
George’s is bursting at the seams. Holy Trinity is bursting at the
seams.”
Suzanne Weaver, chairman of the liturgy committee and a member of the
building committee chaired by her husband, expressed pleasure over the building
of the new church and the adjacent school, which will serve Catholics on the
south side.
Weaver, who drove 120 miles a day to bring her son to and from St. Pius X
High School, Atlanta, said, “It was worth every minute in the car to get
him there.” But she is grateful others will not have to make that
sacrifice because a new Catholic high school and elementary school are being
built on the south side.
Both the new St. Matthew’s Church and the new Our Lady of Victory
School will benefit the children of the parish, she pointed out.
“A lot of our children grew up never being in a real, dedicated
Catholic church--always a temporary space.”
The presence of the school should draw young families also. Surrounding the
property are rural, pastoral sites that are slated for new home developments,
Weaver said.
Previous pastors at St. Matthew’s since its founding are Father James
Noonan, Father Thomas Reilly, Father Fred Flaherty and Father James Caffery,
all LaSalette priests.
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