Peaceful Toccoa Church Celebrates Golden Jubilee

PRISCILLA GREEAR, Staff Writer

Published: September 30, 2004

TOCCOA—Father Paul Flood stood amongst former parishioners at twilight outside St. Mary’s Church and reflected on one of his favorite memories of his first pastorate there in the Appalachian foothills of Toccoa.

He served the parish from 1994-97 and, while meeting his parishioners, discovered boating on nearby Lake Hartwell. He recalled taking his new ski boat out on Labor Day weekend to the lake, five miles from the church on the South Carolina border.

“We liked to minister to them by boat . . . We’d meet parishioners at their lake houses,” he said with a smile, as one parishioner added, “we taught him how to water ski.”

Having a positive first pastorate there empowered him for ministry around the archdiocese, he said.

“It was relaxing in the sense that all the beautiful things in parish life are here,” said Father Flood, now the pastor of St. Benedict Church, Duluth. “The people here are very gracious, and they know when pastors come here it’s somewhat isolating. They understand all of that and are very gracious and very generous. It’s good training ground for pastors.”

Father Flood, Father Walter Foley and former pastors Father Darragh Griffith and Father Richard Tibbetts returned to the rural North Georgia church for the church’s 50th anniversary Mass, celebrated Sept. 18 by Archbishop John F. Donoghue.

Some women wore white corsages for the occasion. Choir members from the 100-family mission of St. Catherine Laboure in Commerce came to sing.

Located in Stephens County, Toccoa has a population of 9,323 people and is 65 miles from Greenville, S.C., and 90 from Atlanta. It is named after a 186-foot waterfall located at Toccoa Falls College.

The church of about 160 families, which sits on about eight acres just down the street from the Huddle House, has a friendly, small-town spirit. Parish organizations include a ladies guild, an altar guild, a pro-life committee and a Knights of Columbus council. Members gather for Bible study and for monthly times of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

The church’s focal point is a simple wooden crucifix and a stained glass window depicting Mary and the infant Jesus. An Italian marble statue of Mary is also set in an outdoor grotto made by parishioners, along with wooden and bronze Stations of the Cross given in memory of the late Father William Calhoun, who served as pastor.

During the homily the archbishop spoke of how the church is a place to empower people to live righteously and carry God’s love outward to the world. Reflecting on the readings, he said, without God’s grace even good people fall prey to temptations to find loopholes and take shortcuts to get ahead or make money.

“When you, good and faithful parishioners, week in, week out, bring yourself and your loved ones here to St. Mary’s, to this home named in honor of the Mother of our Divine Savior Jesus Christ—when together, we step through those doors and come into our real home, the home given to us in Baptism, when we become something other than part-time ‘children of the world’—we become what Christ Himself calls us, when He draws the line between those who live in the world, and those who live in Him—we become ‘children of light.’ That light, the light of grace, the light of God’s love operating in our souls, gives us protection—gives us the strength we need to move in and about this world without succumbing to its imperfections and sins,” he said. “Finally, for us, the things of the world will inevitably fail, and what will remain in our hearts and souls, is the message of His salvation.”

He reminded the flock that they cannot serve both God and mammon.

“ You cannot love Jesus Christ in part, but hold out the rest of your love for the wealth or the success or the pleasures of the world … At the door of Heaven, you will meet Christ. How much better, when that moment comes, if you can say to Him, ‘Lord, I have done my best to be like you, to live as you lived, to do what you said to do, and to draw others into your love.’”

He said St. Mary’s is a place where they bring their families to participate with all the saints in God’s life and to be strengthened by the sacraments.

“And remember, we celebrate not only the living presence of who we are at this moment in time—we also celebrate with all those who have been a part of the life of this church throughout these fifty years, and with those who are yet to be born, who are still, for us, but thoughts in the eternal mind of God who gives life. All are here, as they have been, as they will be—one family, the communion of saints,” he said. “For them, for ourselves, let us now give back to God a sign of the love we want to return to Him, in thanksgiving for the love He gives us through Jesus Christ. Let us come as often as possible to meet Him in the Sacraments.”

Archbishop Donoghue then installed Father Dennis Juan as the new pastor and expressed confidence in his ability to lead the parish to grow in faith, in outreach and in size, adding that he’s following in the footsteps of some of the best priests to serve the archdiocese, including Father Calhoun, the late Msgr. Michael Manning and the late Father Joseph Drohan. He spoke of Father Juan’s belief that where will is not enough, God will provide.

“I believe that with this attitude, and with you and Father Juan working together to show God’s light to one another, and to the surrounding community, St. Mary’s will continue to be the warm and committed family that it has always proved to be in the past.”

After Mass parishioners lined up in the parking lot outside of the parish hall. As members chatted a cadent chorus of crickets began chirping in the fresh evening air. Inside were two long tables covered with a pastiche of homemade dishes ranging from broccoli cheese casserole to Mexican enchiladas to sweet potatoes. There were also tables covered with photos, newspaper clippings and articles on parish history. Tables set up outside amidst the Georgia pines were under white tents strung with white Christmas lights. On each table were ads for new products like Kraft deluxe cheese slices and headlines such as “Eisenhower announced domino theory of communist expansion,” all from 1954, the year the church was founded.

Parish history began in the early 1940s when Father Manning came from St. Michael’s Church, Gainesville, on Sunday mornings with vestments and altar linens in two suitcases to celebrate Mass in Toccoa for a handful of area Catholics, first in the Albemarle Hotel and later in the American Legion hall on Doyle Street and the home of Joe Malik. The community in Toccoa became a mission in 1956, according to scrolls of information given out at the dedication, and rejoiced when they got their first church after being named the beneficiaries of a special Mother’s Day collection around the diocese designated to build a church in North Georgia.

They worshipped in a small red brick building, which also served as a parish hall, with a curtain to draw to shield the altar and sanctuary during social events. The mission was staffed until 1964 by the Verona Fathers. A rectory was built in the late 1950s and a church hall was built onto it in the early 1970s.

Founding member Jeanne Cash, who came to Toccoa in 1948 “as a bride from Pennsylvania,” recalled the sacrifices made by Father Manning.

“He spent many long hours traveling the country roads of North Georgia to serve the Catholics of the area,” she said.

The Verona Fathers, she added, “were greatly admired and appreciated by the Toccoa Catholic community. In my view, all of the priests who followed deserve a sincere vote of thanks for their devotion to service in the Toccoa area.”

About 25 years ago, parishioners foresaw a need for a larger facility, a larger hall and more space for religious education. After much planning, in 1987 the parish council decided the time was right and under the leadership of Father Calhoun and Marion Rice, it came to fruition. Rice recalled how she was elected chair of the building committee.

“From a building committee of 26 people, out of all those business people they chose me as chairman. I’m not a professional. I have no college experience. I was just a plain, simple bookkeeper, clerk. We decided to start a drive and raise the money,” she recalled.

When her husband died she donated money in his honor for the stained glass window featuring St. Joachim and St. Ann and many others also contributed for everything from the carpeting to the pews. “Everybody came together and built it.”

A native of Boston, Rice grew up in a large urban parish but couldn’t wean her husband from the red Georgia clay.

“Coming here was something,” she said. “I had to learn to be more outgoing because the Catholic religion is a very private, personal religion, but when in the South and in a minority religion you have to learn to be more outgoing and know who your fellow Catholics are and become a family.”

Rice says she’s done just about everything in the parish. “It’s all pleasure to me, every phase of it that I do. It’s my church and I do what’s needed and I’m very active in the community.”

Father Tibbetts admired the self-sufficiency of the parish.

“They took such ownership of the parish, and it was theirs. They did everything. There was no hired staff whatsoever,” he said.

As the quarter moon glowed in the dark grey sky, Father Flood noted how some parish members he knew had died and others had grown into teenagers and young adults.

“It’s a joy in one’s priesthood to see families growing,” he said. As parishioners die “it’s sad to see families deal with that, but they move on as best they can and the church helps with grief … That’s what the church is about, being with them in happy and sad times, in moments of grief and sadness and happiness and joy. The church is a great sign of comfort and a constant to people.”

Father Juan stood nearby observing his new flock. He expressed gratitude for the warmth and welcome he has received from the congregation, which is helping him to adjust to living outside a metropolitan area.

“It’s a new experience and a great challenge … Even though I’ve been in the country it’s a different culture. The people are very united … I’ve found them to be very united and helpful in love for the parish, in giving of time and talent,” he said.

One of his priorities is to visit and invite back those who have drifted away from the church. “My interest, with parish help, is to bring in the lost flock or those who for whatever reason are not coming, to be evangelizing as we should in the larger community.”

Father Juan, a native of Guyana, grew up in London and has lived in Bogota, Colombia. He is fluent in Spanish and since his arrival more Hispanics have begun attending Mass. As the number grows he also intends to begin a Spanish Mass.

The Tran family of the parish has already initiated a monthly Mass in Vietnamese. Since moving to the area from California about three years ago and falling in love with it, the Trans have invited other Vietnamese families to relocate there, and there are now about 35 of them. Yen and Vinh Tran live on a poultry farm and like the more peaceful lifestyle and Christian values they find here in which to raise four of their children.

Dressed in an elegant teal blue dress, Yen Tran said that as the parish’s first Asian family they were immediately welcomed. She volunteers at the parish with bookkeeping and is praying that her teenaged children, who are a little shy, will one day get more involved in the church’s youth activities.

In the rural area “it’s easy for my kids to live a Christian life. (There’s) more time for God than in a fast life,” she said.

She said the church in Toccoa is very similar to the church in Vietnam, where it is a privilege to be Catholic. “In my country only five percent are Catholic. To me, if you are born to a Catholic family you are very lucky.”

Vinh Tran spoke enthusiastically about starting the Vietnamese Mass, which has been celebrated three times by visiting priests either at St. Mary’s or at Sacred Heart Church in Hartwell, and of the growth of the rural Vietnamese community. The Vietnamese families have also started a tradition of passing a statue of Mary from one family to the next every two weeks as part of a Marian devotion.

“We want to get a bigger and bigger community here,” Vinh Tran said.

Parishioner Angelene Willard had not been attending church and was on a spiritual search when she paid St. Mary’s a visit more than 15 years ago, attracted to its welcoming spirit of diversity and the presence of an African-American pastor, Father Calhoun. She felt at home, and in 1988 she became a Catholic. Unmarried, she doesn’t mind that there’s no singles program.

“We don’t have a lot of specific programs that a lot of bigger churches have, but it’s not a problem. We’re all family,” she said.