Photo Courtesy Archives of Archdiocese of Atlanta

Two months ago, the Marist priests of Our Lady of the Assumption in Brookhaven left the parish after 60 years of service there. A farewell celebration on May 18 honored the priests and the order that fostered the spiritual needs of their parishioners for the last six decades. It came just a few months shy of the anniversary of the celebration of the Marists’ arrival at the parish in September of 1965. 

The Marists’ tenure at OLA came about as part of a clergy swap with Sacred Heart of Jesus in downtown Atlanta. The Marist priests had been in charge of Sacred Heart since 1896 when it was called Saints Peter and Paul. The order oversaw the construction of the current church building and its renaming as Sacred Heart in 1898. In 1901, the original Marist School, called Marist College, opened next door to the church. 

Fifty years later, Our Lady of the Assumption was founded in 1951 and was staffed by diocesan priests. Then in 1962, Marist School moved to a new modern campus on Ashford-Dunwoody Road within the parish boundaries of OLA, where it remains today. Meanwhile, the archdiocese was planning to build its new central offices downtown near Sacred Heart, which would ultimately open in 1969. In addition, St. Joseph Hospital was one block away from Sacred Heart at the time, and archdiocesan leadership felt that diocesan clergy needed a stronger presence downtown. 

Negotiations between the archdiocese and the Marists began in 1964 and ultimately result in the two parties swapping administration of Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Assumption. The changeover was formalized on Sept. 5, 1965, with an afternoon Mass at OLA followed by an evening Mass at Sacred Heart. Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan presided over both. During the celebration at OLA, children from the parochial school put on a performance that included boys dressed as little bishops. 

Shortly thereafter, Archbishop Hallinan was in Rome for the final session of the Second Vatican Council. In his “Archbishop’s Notebook” column for The Georgia Bulletin, he remarked: “As I sat Tuesday with some 2,300 bishops, each in miter and cape, in St. Peter’s, I first wondered why I felt so much at home despite my absence in 1963. Then I remembered! Sunday at Our Lady of the Assumption, I was surrounded by about 20 ‘small bishops’ in their miters (which seemed to tilt a little) and their capes (which occasionally dragged a little).” 

As a final note, between Sacred Heart and OLA, the Marist priests closed out 129 consecutive years of parish service within the archdiocese this year. They leave quite a legacy.