Catholic Church booming in Dalton as thousands attend St. Joseph’s and its two new missions

[rug]

Father Paul Williams leads Wednesday Mass at the Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Dalton. (Photo by John Rawlston.)

published Saturday, July 5th, 2014
by Tim Omarzu

DALTON, Ga. — Two separate car dealerships failed at a concrete-and-glass showroom built in 2001 in Chatsworth, Ga.

Then Dalton’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church bought the 22,000-square-foot building on U.S. Highway 76 in 2012 to establish a mission in Murray County, which had no Catholic church.

“It had 600 people the very first day, which kind of got me in trouble with the fire marshal,” said the Rev. Paul Williams, the pastor who leads St. Joseph’s. “It’s full every Sunday.”

When it came time to name the mission, the mostly Spanish-speaking parishioners picked the patron saint of Mexican immigrants, St. Toribio Romo González. He was a priest killed in 1928 when Catholics were being persecuted in Mexico. His spirit still is said to guide the impoverished across the border.

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/05/catholic-church-booming-dalton-thousands-attend-st/?breakingnews

[shenmue]

1. Good luck to them

[okasha]

2. Obviously they filled a need in the community.

Most people who think of Mexico as an intensely Catholic country--which it is-- don't realize that anti-religious discrimination was written into its constitution until the 1980's.

[No Vested Interest]

3. This article reminds me of the Glenmary Home Missioners, a Catholic Society

of priests and brothers, founded in 1939 to establish Catholic mission churches in what used to be called "No-Priest Land", which consisted mainly of counties in the south. The group is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

When a parish became well-established, it was/is returned to the diocese in which it is located.

[rug]

4. I've heard of them but never met one.

There's another Congregation with American missions in the South only that's been around since 1871. They were founded specifically for outreach to African Americans in the wake of the Civil War. Phil Berrigan was one of their priests.