Plans for an Archdiocesan Expansion Program to encompass building projects in the fields of child welfare, lay action, Newman movement and a high school development fund, were announced today by Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan.

The projected plans call for an expenditure of more than two million dollars, but the minimum aim of the 1965 Expansion Campaign to raise funds for the program has been set at $1,750,000.

The program includes construction of the Village of St. Joseph at a site in southwest Atlanta which will house boys and girls from broken families; a Catholic Center for Lay Action will be constructed in the downtown area on a site facing Ivy Street and a new Student Chapel and Newman Center at the University of Georgia at Athens.

The expansion program will also include allocation of funds for future high school development in the southern part of Atlanta, and in future years other cities of the archdiocese.

In announcing the multi-purpose program, Archbishop Hallinan explained that the expansion program of 1965 will touch upon several means in which the Archdiocese has a vital interest. These include child welfare, lay leadership and education both on the collegiate and high school levels.

He explained that for some time it has been the hope of the archdiocese to provide a home for dependent children, both boys and girls, at a site within easy access of the exceptional medical, and educational facilities offered by metropolitan Atlanta.

In its new site in southwestern Atlanta, the Village of St. Joseph will enable the archdiocese to bring together under its care the children of broken or helpless families. At the present time, boys from such families are cared for at St. Joseph’s Home in Washington. Since the archdiocese has no similar facility for girls it must place dependent girls in St. Mary’s Home for Girls in Savannah. The opening of the new Village of St. Joseph will permit the reuniting of families and place the youngsters close to Atlanta’s superior educational and childcare facilities. The Sisters of St. Joseph will administer the new Village.

The second project is the construction of a Catholic Center for Lay Action on property adjoining Sacred Heart Church facing Ivy Street in downtown Atlanta.

In recent years, the growth of lay activity and the position of Atlanta as the Metropolitan See of the southeast in the structure of the Roman Catholic Church in America has accentuated the need for a “Center” in which lay organizations might concentrate their effort and expand their programs.

Focal point will be a Lecture Hall seating four hundred in perfect acoustical surroundings. Archbishop Hallinan predicted that many important educational, liturgical and cultural functions will take place in the new hall. In addition to its use by archdiocesan societies, it is anticipated that it will become the site of many significant conventions and events.

A feature of the new center will be the Ecumenical Library in which persons of all faiths will find books, periodicals and texts. A Catholic Information Desk will be included.

The new Catholic Center for Lay Action will also house central headquarters for the more than twenty archdiocesan organizations. A coordinator and central file bank will enable the archdiocesan units to benefit from their national headquarters guidance and assistance.

Plans to centralize all archdiocesan administrative offices in nearby quarters are also being considered.

Archbishop Hallinan, in his announcement, indicated that the Archdiocese of Atlanta is concerned about expanding Newman Foundation facilities at all colleges and universities within the seventy-three counties of the archdiocese. After extensive study, it has been decided that the first step in this enlargement of services on the collegiate level would be the construction of a new student chapel and Newman Center at the University of Georgia, Athens.

Present enrollment of Catholic students at the University is 800 and it is expected that by 1970 more than 2,000 Catholics will be enrolled in the Athens school. As circumstances make it feasible, expansion of Newman Programs at other colleges and universities within the archdiocese will be implemented.

In describing the fourth aim of the expansion program -- the High School Development Fund -- Archbishop Hallinan enlarged upon the problems involved in projection of future high schools. Included among these were: availability of suitable sites; acquisition and development of teaching staff, and primarily, a prudent analysis of archdiocesan needs in consideration of pupil potential.

He indicated that all funds raised in excess of the construction costs of the first three projects would be held in reserve for the High School Development Fund. The archbishop noted that an over subscription of the forthcoming Expansion Campaign might leave a residue of $300,000 to $500,000 to be allocated to the High School Development Fund.

At a meeting of all the priests of the archdiocese in Christ the King Parish Hall, Archbishop Hallinan reviewed plans for an archdiocesan wide expansion program which will have a minimum goal of $1,750,000. The campaign will be conducted among all the parishes of the archdiocese. The active phase will begin shortly and is expected to culminate before Easter.