The Atlanta Archdiocese will honor Atlanta’s native son, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., marking the civil rights leader’s Christian witness, on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008.

The 24th annual service commemorating King’s life will take place at 1 p.m. at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 48 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in downtown Atlanta.

Charles Prejean, director of the Office for Black Catholic Ministry in Atlanta, believes that every Christian today should focus on actions to attain peace as did King and his contemporaries.

The leaders of the civil rights movement were led by “biblical precepts that teach us the meaning of peace and justice,” he said. Their lives “encourage us to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors and to be good shepherds of the natural world given to care,” he said.

“We must allow these same biblical precepts to inform and encourage, similarly, our Christian witness today,” Prejean said. “Dr. King believed in peaceful resolution. As Christians we must believe the power of peace that God has bestowed upon us as well.”

The theme for this year’s celebration is, “Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace,” taken from the Gospel of Luke. The main celebrant for the Mass will be Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, and Father Bruce Wilkinson, pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament Church, Atlanta, will deliver the homily.

The public is invited to participate.

On Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008 the celebration continues at 3 p.m. with the sixth annual MLK Youth and Young Adult Celebration at St. Peter Claver Regional School, 2560 Tilson Road, Decatur. The service is an evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.