Parish Anniversary Mass Strikes Perfect Pitch

ERIKA ANDERSON, Staff Writer

Published: November 18, 2004

ATLANTA—Deacon Hilliard Lee Jr. began his liturgical career as one of the first two altar servers at St. Paul of the Cross Church.

Almost 50 years later, Deacon Lee is one of three deacons serving his home parish, which celebrated its golden anniversary with a Mass on Oct. 24.

A large banner, strung between two trees on the property of St. Paul of the Cross Church, announced its 50th anniversary and the year’s theme, “Celebrating the Past … Facing New Horizons.”

Prior to Mass, parishioners gathered in the church wearing their Sunday best. A buzz electrified the building as people greeted each other with the familiarity of old friends.

Several former pastors, priests and brothers from the Passionist order, who founded and staff the parish, were on hand for the celebration, including Father Melvin Shorter, CP, a 15-year pastor who served as the homilist for the anniversary Mass.

The Mass began with a procession including parishioners carrying aloft banners representing the various ministries of the parish. The Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver also processed into the church, followed by the many priests in attendance, including Father Terence Kristofak, CP, provincial superior of the Passionist Province of St. Paul of the Cross, and Msgr. R. Donald Kiernan, vicar general of the archdiocese for pastoral ministries.

In his homily, Father Shorter remarked often on the theme of celebrating the past and facing new horizons as he recounted the history of the parish, which is located just off I-285 in northwest Atlanta.

“We look to the future, and we ask God and our ancestors to pray for us and to guide us,” he said.

During the 1950s, when churches were segregated, Our Lady of Lourdes Church was the only African-American Catholic church in the city. A diocesan priest, Msgr. James Grady, urged the Passionists to form a mission and school for African-Americans in the South, specifically northwest Atlanta.

When searching for land on which to build the church, Father Shorter said, the founders saw more than just dirt and grass.

“They didn’t just see land. What they saw was a field of dreams, and they knew that if they built it, people would come—and come they did,” he said, speaking of the many cities from which parishioners hailed. “They all came. They all came because they were welcomed.”

The civil rights movement greatly impacted the parish and “shaped who we are,” Father Shorter said.

“The world has changed and we have seen a lot, and nothing will ever be the same again,” he said.

During the time of public and private school desegregation, young members of the parish were among those making the difficult steps toward fighting for racial equality, and during his homily, Father Shorter asked those who had been at the church since its 1954 inception to stand and be recognized.

“Elders of this faith community, we salute you, we thank you and we ask for your prayers,” he said.

Despite the struggle of racism, St. Paul parishioners “kept marching on to Zion,” Father Shorter said, even when times were hard.

“Brought forth by faith and led forward by the word of God … we kept singing. We kept marching,” he said.

Father Shorter also looked ahead to the future, telling parishioners that they must now “face new horizons that will bring us new challenges, new goals.”

“Are we really ready to face new horizons?” he asked. “As we move into the future, are we facing new horizons or facing the setting sun?”

As an example, Father Shorter told the Parable of the Oboe, in which members of a symphony try to convince an oboist to change his pitch, and after many attempts with music that still is not correct, finally realize that they must all tune their instruments to the oboe.

“Faith communities that are in sync must learn to work together and realize that each person needs the other. There can be no divas when forming the perfect pitch faith community,” he said. “A perfect pitch faith community is only as strong as its weakest members.”

“Let us live as Christ taught us as we move into our next 50 years, by letting them know who we are by loving one another,” he said.

As the gifts were brought forward, the church was filled with a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace” played on the saxophone by Midion Smith.

Following Communion, Msgr. Kiernan read aloud a letter from Pope John Paul II to Archbishop John F. Donoghue, commemorating the parish’s golden anniversary.

For many parishioners who have been at the church since the beginning, the day marked not just the church’s anniversary but a personal one.

Deacon Lee, who was ordained in 1992 and can be found at the church nearly every day, said that the parish has enriched his life in many ways.

“As an African-American Catholic, St. Paul of the Cross has provided me with a spiritual home where I am able to worship and serve my church,” he said.

The parish began as, and remains somewhat, a commuter parish, Deacon Lee said, drawing people from all over the metro Atlanta area.

“I think people really like worshiping here in terms of our services and our hospitality,” he said.

Father Jed Sumampong, CP, who began his pastorate at St. Paul of the Cross last March, said he instantly felt welcomed. Though a Filipino in a predominantly African-American parish, Father Sumampong said the hospitality in the parish is evident.

“I have been very welcomed here; I feel like one of them,” he said.

With 534 families, the parish hopes to grow, but Father Sumampong said that the small parish is mighty in faith.

“This is a very vibrant parish, maybe not in terms of numbers but definitely in terms of participation,” he said.

Mary Wells has been a member of the parish for 50 years, having begun attending the church while on breaks from college at North Carolina State University.

She first became involved when the church’s former pastor, Father Edward Banks, encouraged lay participation.

“He wouldn’t just ask us to go; he would actually take us,” she said. “He really helped to make people participate.”

It is that participation, Wells believes, that makes St. Paul of the Cross a special place.

“People are really open to being leaders in different organizations. They are open to everything,” she said. “It’s a family thing.”

Jackie Chandler first attended Catholic Masses with a friend. Though she had grown up Methodist, she was searching. She first attended St. Anthony Church, but when she moved, began attending St. Paul on her own.

“I noticed that St. Paul was an African-American parish, and I liked that and I felt welcomed there,” she said.

She and her husband later converted to Catholicism.

“I really feel like we have grown up here,” she said. “I think that the Passionist priests—we have always had a certain closeness with them. They know you as a person, not just as a parishioner. You can have them over for dinner. They are priests, spiritual advisors, as well as your friend. I think that’s the really good thing about our church.”

The Passionists often hold their meetings at the parish, Chandler said, and therefore parishioners also get to know other priests, even though they may not serve at St. Paul of the Cross.

“I think they really love the parishioners here. They feel a certain closeness, even if they are not stationed here,” she said. “I think it’s just because of good, old-fashioned Southern hospitality.”