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BY GRETCHEN KEISER
Staff Writer
CONYERS--To top off its 25th anniversary year, St. Pius X Parish dedicated a
new church Sept. 11 to serve the growing Catholic population in Rockdale County
and to invite others there to worship God.
While Highway 20, which passes the church, is being widened to handle more
county traffic, St. Pius X welcomed Archbishop John F. Donoghue to bless and
dedicate its 800-seat new church, which more than doubles the size of the
earlier church.
Parishioners who helped with the original church building project in 1975
were among those serving on the $2.4 million project for the new church.
In addition to the pastor, Father John Kieran, concelebrants included former
pastors Father John Walsh and Father Paul Fogarty, and Dom Bernard Johnson,
OCSO, from the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. Rockdale County
Catholics first met for Mass and community at the monastery until the parish
was established.
The granite altar, which the archbishop anointed with chrism at the Mass,
symbolizes the continuity of the community. Originally in the monastery chapel,
the altar was moved to the first church in 1976 and into the new church this
summer.
“The altar is very important to us,” said Frank McGovern, chairman
of the building committee and a 25-year parishioner. “The altar came from
the monastery. When we moved to the first building, the monks gave that to us.
The altar goes back to the beginning of the parish or even before the beginning
of the parish.”
Also at the Mass was a Haitian priest, Father Robert Poncet, whose parish in
Los Palis twins with St. Pius.
The new church was constructed in between the original church, which is now
a daily Mass chapel, and parish offices. Because of the project, all the parish
buildings are now connected, including the chapel, the church, administrative
offices, meeting rooms and a parish educational center built in 1990.
Archbishop Donoghue also blessed a memorial garden dedicated to Mary, a
project of the parish Knights of Columbus.
The archbishop was pleased with the interior of the bright new church.
“I like the way it is so open and airy with nothing to obstruct the
view,” he commented.
A large gathering space, approximately 40 feet by 80 feet, was added when
the new church was built. In this area, which is separated from the nave of the
church, people can still see and hear the celebration of Mass. It can be used
as an overflow area, by parents taking care of infants and toddlers, and by
people socializing before and after Mass.
The pastor said in the planning stage he questioned the amount of space
being devoted to the gathering area, but he was won over and now sees people
clustering there and bringing it alive.
“These gathering areas really do fill a need in our churches today to
commune with each other,” Father Kieran said. “The bigger the parish,
the more anonymous it becomes, the more the need for this.”
Growing from 230 families in the late 1970s to over 1,400 families, St. Pius
has both longtime and new members. Their dreams for the parish are very
similar.
“My personal hope and prayer is that the church will become more than a
building. My hope is that it will be a center of prayer that will reach out
into the community,” said Rob Mitchell, a member of the parish for 12
years, who coordinates RENEW 2000 faith-sharing groups.
Rosemarie Zivic, organist, said that she hopes the parish, where she and her
husband, four of their children and nine of their grandchildren belong, will
grow in unity and love.
“My hope and my vision for the parish is that we really work together
for the honor and glory of God,” said Zivic, who became a parishioner 10
years ago. “That we become one in our singing and praying--people coming
together, working together, learning to be a loving parish, being very inviting
to others and reaching out to the community.”
McGovern, chairman of a 14-member building committee, has belonged to St.
Pius since 1974 and also chaired the building committee for the first church,
for the rectory and for the parish center. A landscape architect and a regional
chief of plan formulation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he designed the
prayer garden himself.
“For years we felt we were going to expand the existing (church)
building,” he said. “Twenty-five years ago, we would never have
envisioned ourselves becoming this big.”
After architectural firms were asked to provide sketches for both an
expansion and a new church, he said, the committee realized that just to double
the size of the original church would have cost almost as much as the entire
project. The church was designed by C.D.H. Architects and built by Potts
Construction.
Although the seating capacity of the new church would be much larger than
the first church, “we still wanted the intensive community,” McGovern
said. “We wanted a building that would fit in with the existing campus
… We wanted something that tied all the buildings together … It came
out very well.”
On dedication day, parishioners can rightfully rest as the Lord did on the
Sabbath, the archbishop said, “and contemplate the fruits of (their) labor
… the beautiful physical structure which now houses our worship … the
feelings of accomplishment, of satisfaction, of happiness, and of hope.”
“To all who are here, we say welcome to our joy, come in, be seated,
and take part in the great banquet of thanksgiving which we now prepare,”
he said. “This is our seventh day, and let us fill as much of this day as
possible, with feelings of love towards one another, as we are united by this
successful work, and feelings of love for God, our Father in heaven, from whom
all blessings flow, from whom all good things come.”
“But let us also remember that it was but a short time after he
finished the work of Creation, that God began the work of salvation,” he
continued.
The Gospel described the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at
the well.
“It was Truth that met the woman at the well that day … And it is
Truth, He is Truth, who meets us here today, who greets us, and accepts this
wonderful new gift we bring Him,” the archbishop said. “… May
our lives, and the lives of those who will come here, find it ever, a
well-spring of truth, filled with the waters of salvation, and the life that is
given and shared, the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
The new church also evoked generous and fresh efforts from parishioners. The
choir, directed by Dick Zivic, whose members raised the money for a new grand
piano, proudly wore new choir robes that can be adapted to reflect the colors
of the liturgical seasons. A new tabernacle, pulpit, baptismal font and altar
candle holders were carved and built by three different members of the parish
using oak harvested and milled by another parishioner, T. J. Sutherland, and by
Father Kieran.
The visual centerpiece is an eight-foot figure of the risen Christ, carved
and painted in Italy, that is mounted behind the altar. The style is reflected
in the Stations of the Cross, obtained from the same Italian source. A large
icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe in one corner of the church reflects the growing
Hispanic presence in the county and in the parish.
The church has two large windows, one on each wall, through which sunlight
streams into the building. The pews and appointments are oak-colored, walls and
trim are in soft neutral shades and the carpeting is green.
During the dedication of the church, cantor Michele Freeman sang the Litany
of the Saints, while parishioners responded, prayerfully asking for the
intercession of those holy men and women on behalf of the parish. After
Archbishop Donoghue anointed the altar and the four corners of the church with
chrism, incense was burned as a sign that the eucharistic sacrifice of Christ
and the prayers of the church are an acceptable offering to God. The altar was
then dressed in white cloths and the candles lit, signifying readiness to
celebrate the Eucharist.
Gifts were brought to the altar by individuals representing six ministries
of the parish: liturgical, educational, social, faith-sharing communities,
outreach to the poor, and youth. These parishioners brought forward altar
flowers and hymnals; plants in different stages of growth; portraits of Mother
Teresa and St. Pius X; schoolbooks and medicines representing donations to the
needy locally and in Haiti; and a collage of the efforts of young members of
the parish.
Following the Mass the congregation followed the archbishop and priests
outdoors to the memorial garden, where benches and walkways face a statue of
Mary, set in a landscaped niche. The archbishop blessed the garden and asked
for Mary’s intercession for those who will come there for reflection and
prayer. Inscribed bricks in memory of friends and relatives of parishioners
will be placed in the garden.
At the end of the Mass, the pastor thanked those involved in the project
including McGovern and the building committee; architect Tom Smith;
construction project superintendent Jeff Nelson; Catholic Construction Services
representative Carl Trevathan; and former pastor, Father Walsh, who began
fund-raising for the new church in 1994. Plaques were given to the lay people
recognizing their efforts.
“Everybody I think is truly pleased with (the new church),” Father
Kieran said afterwards. “It is beautiful, it is practical and it is
functional. It is a great addition.”
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