Wednesday, August 27, 2003
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003 |
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PTC's Holy Trinity Catholic Church dedicates new educational building By CAROLYN
CARY
and MARIE
POWERS
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Peachtree City, dedicated its new educational building Aug. 18, with the assistance of the Most Reverend John F. Donoghue, Archbishop of Atlanta. The dedication followed a Mass of Thanksgiving for the parish. In his comments Donoghue mentioned that he was on hand last fall for the groundbreaking and was pleased to be asked to bless its completion. "The best thing we can do for our children, the best thing we can do for ourselves and the world we live in," Donoghue said, "is to hold fast to our faith and our hope, but also to let faith and hope move us to charity. And how better can this love be expressed than in teaching in teaching our children especially that the only foundation upon which one can successfully build life is the foundation of Jesus Christ." Fr. John Walsh, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, concelebrated the Mass along with parochial vicars Fr. Dave McGuinness and Fr. Joseph Shaute. They were joined by Fr. Kevin Peek, former parochial vicar and current pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur; Fr. Paul Burke, chaplain of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Fairburn; Fr. Dan Fleming, pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Mission in Sharpsburg; and Fr. Paul Bolton, Catholic chaplain at Fort McPherson and the local Knights of Columbus district. Following the dedication, Fr. Walsh noted, "This is a great evening for us. It's been a long journey, and many, many people have walked with us and helped us along the way. I really believe this has been a labor of love and, as our fundraising campaign proclaimed, we are doing the work of the Lord." In his homily during the Mass, Archbishop Donoghue commented on the work that had been completed by Holy Trinity's parishioners, who raised more than $3 million through a multi-year pledge drive to fund the Education Building and other improvements to the parish grounds. The congregation first met in April, 1973, and entered its first sanctuary in December, 1980. There are currently 3,129 families who call Holy Trinity their home church. A rectory was built last year which houses four priests, including the parochial vicar of the new Our Lady of Mercy High School. The 26,000 square-foot educational building houses a large multi-purpose room with kitchen that will be used for large gatherings and for the parish's active Life Teen Ministry, an adult formation room that will support Holy Trinity's growing adult faith formation program, a chapel that can be used for small prayer services and Eucharistic Adoration, offices and 13 large class rooms for the Parish School of Religion which serves more than 800 children in elementary school and 400 in middle and high school, and a teen drop-in area, for students at McIntosh High School. The church has just purchased the medical building on the hill behind the rectory. Construction overseer Philip Browning Jr. said "That's going to be it for the present time. Our next project is a larger sanctuary, but those plans are several years away." Nearly 1,000 members were on hand for the dedication. Information about Holy Trinity can be obtained at 770-487-7672.
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