By Thea Jarvis

Doug and Beverly Cash and their growing young family moved to Tucker, Georgia in the mid-nineteen fifties. Settled in their home off Main Street, they found real country living – the only paved in town was Lawrenceville Highway.

Beverly had been raised by her grandparents in Kentucky. There, she attended Catholic schools and walked the two miles it took to get to Mass each morning. At the end of the journey, the sisters were waiting with hot chocolate and doughnuts for the hungry children.

Metro Atlanta was a different story. There were only seven parishes spread out over the whole area, and not one of them was in Tucker.

Getting to Mass and the sacraments for Beverly and her family was nearly impossible. Toting five children back and forth to Sacred Heart downtown did not make for peaceful Sundays.

So when Beverly’s friend, Ezon Bacchus, called her and asked if she would be interested in getting a mission church started in Tucker, Beverly answered with understandable enthusiasm.

Bishop Sheen Contacted

Their contact was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. He had been to Atlanta and knew it to be a proper “mission” territory. As Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he had a direct interest in such activity.

So he, in turn, approached Bishop Francis E. Hyland, who, in 1956, became the first bishop of the newly formed Diocese of Atlanta.

We all remember the persuasive powers of Bishop Sheen – even the angels did his bidding when his blackboard needed erasing. And Bishop Hyland could do no less, especially when the TV Bishop sent along a little donation.

He directed that a mission be started under the auspices of St. Thomas More Church in Decatur. The Cash family had gotten their wish.

Beverly remembers those early days with delight. “Those were the happiest days of my life. The children were growing, I did everything from setting up the altar to washing all the linens. I felt really close to God.”

Mission members began to gather at the old Tucker High School for Sunday Mass. Eventually, the community even had a name. When Immaculate Heart of Mary was founded and took over the Tucker mission, it became known as the St. Francis de Sales Mission.

And the little church grew. From Tucker High School, it moved to a vault in the Tucker Federal Bank, one of the few buildings with a room large enough to hold the congregation.

Holy Cross is Founded

The Church of the Holy Cross was founded from the St. Francis de Sales Mission in 1964. Along with Holy Spirit, which began in the same year, it became the first parish in the archdiocese to offer a parish center concept: no parochial school but an emphasis on total religious education.

A house was purchased on David Road in Chamblee, and the new pastor, Father Leonard F. Mayhew, moved into his new home with Archdiocesan Vice-Chancellor, Father Noel C. Burtenshaw in residence. The new parish included Tucker, Chamblee, Doraville, all of Gwinnett County, and a portion of Atlanta.

Daily Masses were celebrated in the David Road house. On Sundays, the Carey Reynolds Elementary School in Doraville was used for capacity crowding, and the parishioners loved the sense of “pioneering” in the wilds of Atlanta’s suburbs.

But the need for a “real” parish home was growing. Land had been acquired off Hathaway Court in Chamblee, and the time had come for it to be used.

The “Emerging Layman”

From the very beginning, the Holy Cross community exemplified what Vatican II called “the emerging layman,” reaching beyond past parochialism and joining in a new dedication to Christian leadership and love.

It was the people of the parish who opted for a multi-purpose church “room,” wherein liturgical services would be held, as well as dances, diners, and other church functions. It was the people of the parish who chose to be a “tithing” community, undistracted by fundraising and committed to addressing the basic issues of justice, peace and unity. And it was the people of the parish who voted in support the future construction of the finished church complex, including a classroom and meeting building and a neighborhood rectory.

For Lou Erbs, present director of the Holy Cross adult choir and longtime member of the parish, it was an exciting time. The church “believed in and practiced lay involvement. We were encouraged and supported in our learning process, and came to experience what we felt the Council teachings were all about.”

Father Eusebius J. Beltran, named pastor in 1966, provided the leadership and direction that the laity sought. He felt that “every area of parish life must be integrated to form the Christian community.” Development lay in the parish as an “active Christian family” in which the goal is not to “construct buildings and impress people, but to help people, to make them more aware of Christ.”

To this end, the first Mass was offered in 1967 in the newly completed parish center. Bishop Bernardin blessed the endeavor and Holy Cross pressed forward.

Religious Education A Goal

Atlantans mourned the death of Archbishop Hallinan in 1968. In the same year, Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan was installed as Archbishop, and Holy Cross erected a sixteen classroom building across from its parish center.

The following year over fourteen hundred children were involved in the religious education program, including young people from the mission that had begun in Norcross and Lawrenceville.

Bill Layburn, the first president of the Holy Cross Parish Council, expressed his desire that Holy Cross “help youth to establish a good relationship with the parish, the community, and the church.”

Such goals continued to be reached. They were encouraged and augmented by the clerical and lay leadership that followed these beginning years of Holy Cross.

The Later Years

Father Tony Morris, who became pastor when Father Beltran was transferred to St. Anthony’s in Atlanta in 1972, lent his considerable administrative talents to the community.

Father Edward O’Connor, who became pastor in 1973, blessed Holy Cross with his warmth, his humor, his consummate humility, and his ability to let the Spirit move where it would.

After completing the overwhelming task of renovating the church interior in 1975, Father Ed told his people at Holy Cross that “we try very hard to be a family. We love our Father’s house because he has made it ours as well. Our parish is the focal point of our lives where we enjoy one another and share life with each other.”

The notion of sharing with and enjoying the members of the parish “family” is key to an understanding of what Holy Cross was and continues to be.

Whenever parishioners speak of Holy Cross, they do so in terms of family, community, and home. Holy Cross is neither a cold, isolated building or a vague, romantic ideal. It is the Church, expressed in the real sense of Church as people of God.

Father Mark Geary, O.P., came to Holy Cross in 1975 to pave the way for his brother Dominicans who were soon to become the full-time pastoring team of the parish. Under Father O’Connor, he found Holy Cross to be “a very active and people-oriented parish.”

The full Dominican team arrived in 1976 to join the people of Holy Cross. They brought with them the renowned Dominican gift for preaching and a real desire to work with the members of the parish family. They have supported a multiplicity of parish organizations, implemented phase two of the renovation of the liturgical area, and have encouraged newly ordained married deacons, Walt Bedard and Dick Narey, in their ministry.

Deacon Narey feels strongly about his own commitment to the parish. “In church models, Holy Cross best expresses itself to me as community. Next to my family it is the most important social and religious community in my life.”

Parishioners Speak

The charismatic renewal is alive and well at Holy Cross, and Don and Rosemarie Nicosia are among its members. Don is presently chairman of the Liturgy Committee and Rosemarie teaches in the parish CCD program. For them, “Holy Cross provides the closeness and support of a family. When love is evident in a family, its members are allowed to grow. In the family of Holy Cross, we have been allowed to grow spiritually as members of the body of Christ.”

Chris Hardin virtually grew up at Holy Cross. With his five brothers and his parents, Mike and Linda, he has been able to give to and receive from his parish family, where he finds “a means for building relationships with God and others.”

The school of religion helped Chris to “sort out a value system.” The folk group, directed by his mother, gave Chris “the satisfaction of playing for the church with my friends.” Through high school “the CLYDE (youth) group allowed me to participate in community projects.” Now a student at Georgia Tech, Chris continued to be nourished by community life: “The young adults program lets me share with people my own age.” In addition, Chris, an Eagle Scout, serves as assistant scoutmaster in the parish troop which his father heads.

Leslie Long is the single mother of two children who joined the parish more recently. But her feelings of belonging are no less real than those of Chris. Leslie experiences Holy Cross as “my home, where I find genuine love, support, and sharing. It is all those elements vital to my nourishment and growth as an individual in a close-knit family.”

The testimonials are endless. The sentiment is genuine. There is an underlying unity in the diversity that is Holy Cross.

Diversity brings with it growth and change, both signs of life in a church that is a living, breathing reality.

Father Mark Gary, in his role as pastor, reflects on the vitality that he deals with on an every day level: “We still struggle with what it means to be a real Christian community in the Lord as we try to respond to each others’ needs. That we are still struggling, still seeking, through prayer and study, shows that we are alive and willing to grow, to become what we are called to be … the people of God.”

Beverly Cash is still a member of Holy Cross church, active in Ultreya, where she finds “comfortable people who listen and make you feel welcome.”

She has witnessed incredible growth in the twenty-five years since she first began her affiliation in the little mission community in Tucker.

Her vision of a place where she and her children could gather to pray with others who shared their faith has been realized.

Bishop Sheen would end his famous weekly show with “God Love You.” The experience that Holy Cross Parish is, makes you believe He does.