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By Rebecca Rakoczy, Special To The Bulletin
ATLANTA—The weather was playing a cat and mouse game with an
early spring, but the chilly temperatures didn’t prevent Atlanta from
turning shades of green on St. Patrick’s Day.
Nowhere was it more apparent than inside Sacred Heart Church in
downtown Atlanta, where the color was de facto, and the lilting Celtic brogue
of many native Irish men and women was heard alongside their Southern-accented
brethren. More than 200 people attended morning Mass at the historic 1898
church to celebrate the patron saint of the day, St. Patrick.
“I like to start St. Patrick’s Day in a spiritual
way,” noted Jean Smith, one of the Mass-goers.
Good spirited fun was also the order of the morning, as Sacred
Heart Church receptionist, Mary Alice Hearn, wore her green elf shoes and a
special harp pin, the ancient symbol of the land, and proclaimed, “I love
St. Patrick’s Day like I love Christmas,” dispensing green paper
shamrocks freely to anyone who desired one.
The tradition continued for Pat and Jo Kelly, parishioners of
Transfiguration Church in Marietta, who came downtown to start off St.
Patrick’s Day with Mass—then the parade, for the 33rd year in a row,
dating from 1968, when their family moved to Atlanta from Ohio.
All Saints Church, Dunwoody, parishioner, Rose Begley, who
coordinated the day’s Mass, wore a bright kelly-green suit, a green-tinted
carnation in her lapel. Shamrock-bibbed, 1-year-old twins, Aislinn and Kayla
Testa, brought a bit of Ireland with them—their aunt, Alice Beck, from
County Kilkenny in Ireland, along with their mother, Teresa Testa, of St.
Lawrence Church, Lawrenceville.
Even Father Paul Flood, pastor of Christ Our Hope Church in
Lithonia, who gave the homily for the Mass, donned a scarf knitted by an
elderly parishioner in the colors of orange, white and green.
Father Flood was joined in the Mass celebration by Archbishop John
F. Donoghue, Father Richard Kieran, Father Stephen Churchwell, pastor of Sacred
Heart, Father Richard Morrow, of the Cathedral of Christ the King, and Deacon
Ray Egan of All Saints.
Celebrating Ireland is as much a part of the day, and that
tradition is carried on by the Hibernian Benevolent Society, which has
sponsored the St. Patrick’s Day Mass every year since the group’s
founding in 1858.
The mood in the church was as jubilant as the sunshine streaming
through the beautiful stained glass windows. Led by organist Alan Brown, 17th
and 18th century traditional Irish hymns sung by the St. John Neumann Church
choir filled the sanctuary along with the haunting strings of harpist Debra
Peterson.
The Mass began with cantor Sam Hagan’s rich voice.
While everyone claimed a bit of Irish heritage on this day, Father
Flood reminded the gathering of the true reason for the day, honoring the man
who became a saint, bringing a country to Christianity with great sacrifice.
St. Patrick, who lived from 389 to 461, worked to convert Ireland
to Christianity and to establish a church there. Father Flood called St.
Patrick’s commitment to ministry and mission a “penance of love
completed,” and read the Lenten Gospel of Luke regarding Jesus’
parable of the prodigal son, reminding the congregation that “Lent is a
time to change direction and turn away from sin . . . It also offers the gift
of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a reality that calls us to change.”
He also noted that St. Patrick offered the gifts of profound
faith, humility and courage to accomplish his mission and ministry to the
people of Ireland.
Father Flood also noted that like the prodigal son, many of the
“sons and daughters of Ireland” are returning home in the face of a
booming economy, hearkening to the “roar of the Celtic tiger.”
Members of the Roswell-based Irish dance troupe, Cregan
O’Brien, brought up the gifts wearing their colorful costumes and swinging
curl headpieces. This year’s dignitaries at the Mass included Irish Sinn
Fein leader Gerry Adams and his wife, and members of Ireland’s Ministry of
Rural Development, who were special guests of the Hibernian Society and were
introduced by president Tom Begley.
A member of the Rural Development Ministry read a letter from
Ireland’s president, Mary McAlesse, who extended “warmest St. Patrick
Day greetings,” and noted that today’s Ireland is enjoying prosperity
and peace crafted by a generation with more hope and opportunity than at any
other time in its history. Although no mention was made of the looming threat
to an agricultural lifestyle, the mayor’s message was tempered with the
congregation’s knowledge that Dublin’s own celebration of St. Patrick
was canceled, due to fears of the spread of hoof and mouth disease. |
