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.

A PLACE TO CALL HOME -- Flanked by Father Leo Holleran, MS, pastor of St. Matthew’s Church, Tyrone, left, and Deacon Emeritus Jean Moenk, right, Archbishop John F. Donoghue recites a prayer July 9 at the groundbreaking for St. Matthew’s new church. It is the first permanent church structure in the parish’s 20-year history.
Photos by Michael Alexander

CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE -- (L-r) Don McCance, parish building committee member, Hugh Weaver, chairman of the parish building and finance committee, and Dennis Kelly, project manager at Catholic Construction Services, discuss plans for the new church, which will initially seat 700 people, but will have a potential seating capacity of 900-1,000.