Print Issue: January 9, 2003

MLK Mass Will Commemorate 40th Anniversary Of King's 'Dream' Speech

Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, will be the homilist at the annual archdiocesan MLK Mass. (CNS file photo)

By Erika Anderson, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - The annual Mass celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. will be held Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Mass, which will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, will be celebrated by Archbishop John F. Donoghue. Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, bishop of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, will be the homilist.

Born in Camden, N.J., in 1948, Bishop Murry entered the Jesuit order in 1972 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979. He holds a master of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Calif., and a master of philosophy and a doctorate in American cultural history from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Bishop Murry had served as a university professor, as president of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., and as associate vice president for academic affairs at the University of Detroit before being appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago by Pope John Paul II in 1995. In May 1998, the pope appointed him coadjutor bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. He became bishop of the diocese on June 30, 1999.

Bishop Murry has served on numerous boards including those of several universities. He is currently the chairman of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and national chaplain to the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver, the oldest African-American Catholic fraternal organization in the nation. He is also a member of the Bishops' Committees on African-American Catholics, Communications and Consecrated Life, Ad Hoc Committee on the Economic Concerns of the Holy See, and is a consultant to the Bishops' Committees on Liturgy and Social Development and World Peace-Domestic Policy.

A celebration reception, featuring musical selections from the Archbishop James P. Lyke Memorial Mass Choir, will be held immediately following the Mass at the James H. "Sloppy" Floyd Building, 1 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

A youth and young adult celebration will be held at Lyke House, the Catholic center at Atlanta University Center, 809 Beckwith St., on Sunday, Jan. 19 from 3-5 p.m.

Charles Prejean, director of the Office for Black Catholic Ministry, said that the celebration is a way to apply King's life of faith in action.

"Dr. King's quest to realize the 'beloved community' is as much ours, in that we are members of the faith community, as it was his," he said. "Moreover, as a people of faith, we must not only acknowledge this responsibility, but we must actualize the faith imperative in ministry that gives witness to the reality of God's love in us, and ministry that demonstrates our love for Him and our neighbor."

"As Christians, we do believe that this imperative requires us to strive for peaceful coexistence and universal human betterment."

For more information about the Martin Luther King Jr. Mass, visit the archdiocesan Web site at www.archatl.com or call Charles Prejean at (404) 888-7848 or Jean Brannan at (404) 755-1641. The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is located at 48 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.