Photo By Michael Alexander

Since 1897, Marists in Atlanta have reached out to the abandoned.

Today, they include families without cars who ride school buses to join a Marist parish community for prayer. They are Catholics who desire to resolve marriage difficulties so they can join in the sacraments. They are the hundreds of adults studying in the evening at Marist School to earn a high school equivalency degree.

Key to its mission, members of the Society of Mary are to serve in a “hidden and unknown” way.

Marist Father Jim Duffy puts it simply, “Don’t blow your own horn.”

The icon shows the relationship between Mary, the Sone of God and Society of Mary (Marists) founder Jean-Claude Colin. Photo By Michael Alexander

As part of the Year of Faith, the Atlanta Archdiocese in a special way is honoring the Virgin Mary. Two religious communities that serve in the archdiocese with Marian roots are the Society of Mary and the Missionaries of LaSalette.

The mission of the Society of Mary remains the same since its founding in the chaos of revolutionary France in the early 19th century. “They attend especially the most neglected, the poor, and those who suffer injustice. They are ready to carry out these tasks anywhere and at any time,” according to the society’s constitution.

At the Provincial Court of Appeals, Marist Father Paul Hachey has overseen cases since 1993. He gets passionate when he talks about the work of the court. He said every folder stuffed with papers handled by the court represents a person, not just a case. “These are people’s lives,” he said.

The icon shows the relationship between Mary, the Son of God and Society of Mary (Marists) founder Jean-Claude Colin.

Icons of the Virgin Mary adorn Father Hachey’s office. A large painting of a street scene from Rome, Italy, hangs behind his desk. Born in Massachusetts, Father Hachey’s voice carries his native Boston accent. The 55-year-old is a member of the Atlanta Track Club and 13-year veteran of the Peachtree Road Race.

He was attracted to the Marists by the strong bonds among its community members. And it continues today when the men gather for morning prayer and also at the day’s end share a meal and evening prayer.

A lot of Catholics have marriages or other situations that keep them on the margins of the church and his role as a Marist is to “bring people to the Lord” by using canon law, he said.

At Brookhaven’s Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Father Duffy said the parish has opened its doors to Catholics from other cultures. Weekly, close to 70 Indonesians gather for liturgy in their native language.

The parish teams with the Marist School Men’s Bible Study to organize the school’s buses to pick up nearly 300 parishioners at the Chamblee MARTA station and bring them to the parish to worship together.

“That has absolutely grown,” he said.

“We consider ourselves a very welcoming parish,” said the New York native.

These two stained glass windows were installed last fall in the Holy Family Chapel on the campus of Marist School, Atlanta. Swiss artist Milo Piuz originally created the windows for a Marist seminary in Bettendorf, Iowa back in 1960. The window on the left depicts the first Marists’ solemn moment of profession and the window on the right recounts the martyrdom of St. Peter Chanel. Photo By Michael Alexander

These two stained-glass windows were installed last fall in the Holy Family Chapel on the campus of Marist School, Atlanta. Swiss artist Milo Piuz originally created the windows for a Marist seminary in Bettendorf, Iowa, back in 1960. The window on the left depicts the first Marists’ solemn moment of profession and the window on the right recounts the martyrdom of St. Peter Chanel.

Father Duffy was in his early teens when he left for seminary. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for the teenager coming from a family where sisters and cousins had joined religious communities and were diocesan priests. He was spurred to move to the Marist seminary in Massachusetts after hearing a talk from a Marist vocational director at the tender age of 14.

As to why the Marists attracted him, he does not recall. “Mary called me long before I knew she called me,” he said. He made his first profession of vows in 1974 and was ordained in 1979. Father Duffy has served across the United States, from Vermont to Louisiana. He has been the spiritual leader of the Atlanta parish since 2006.

For Marist Brother Ernie Morasci, he sees his Marist service as encouraging families to carve time out of the day to sit and talk over a meal together.

Marist Brother Ernie Morasci is a native of San Francisco, Calif. He will celebrate his 50th anniversary as a Marist brother in February 2014.

“One of the big things for Jesus was the meal. The Eucharist is a meal,” said Morasci, a native of San Francisco and cook for the three members of the parish Marist community. And he shares a weekly reflection and recipe with nearly 800 people.

Cooking is a new responsibility for Morasci, who joined the Marists in 1964.

“I didn’t know how to boil water. I moved up from that to TV dinners and slowly moved on. I haven’t killed anybody yet. I’m having a ball,” he said.

The Society of Mary started in the turmoil of early 19th century France, as the clergy and church were suppressed and some even killed in mass executions. A group of men embarked on a way of service to the church in what they called “The Work of Mary.” There are close to 1,000 Marists serving worldwide, with the headquarters in Rome. Four men with ties to the Marists have been declared saints. And this year is the 150th celebration of Marists’ arrival to serve French-speaking Catholics in Louisiana.

Marist Brother Ernie Morasci is a native of San Francisco, Calif. He will celebrate his 50th anniversary as a Marist Brother in February of 2014. Photo By Michael Alexander

Around the turn of the last century, the religious community founded the Marist School downtown and served at what is now the Sacred Heart Basilica. The coat of arms of the Marists is painted on the wall of the church to remember its heritage.

The school, which moved to what was a suburb of Atlanta in the 1960s, remains the largest presence of Marists here. The Marist community, which is on campus, has eight priests, who teach and are administrators at the school.

But the campus is becoming more than just a place for college-bound students. This past February the school hosted more than 130 young Hispanic men and women for a seminar on becoming pastoral leaders in their community. This seminar, at Marist School and put on by the nonprofit organization, Fe y Vida, is part of an initiative to better serve the local Hispanic community. And the GED workshop attracts some 500 students, 30 volunteer teachers, and 20 Marist School student volunteers.

Known for its “Marist Way,” the members are to live “a quiet and hidden” service, just as Mary served in the Gospels. But it is more than reciting the rosary or praying a special devotional prayer.

“We have no particular devotion to Mary. Our founder was opposed to that,” said Father Duffy.

The relationship is deeper as Marists are to act as she did, he said. “You are always to be like Mary, thinking like her, acting like her,” he said.

For Father Hachey, the Gospels always show Mary bringing people to Jesus, never being the center of attention herself.

“She was a hidden believer. That’s what we’re about.” Bring people to Jesus and the church, quietly and with compassion, he said.