St. Theresa Church parishioners observed the 20th anniversary of the church’s establishment with special celebrations Aug. 6. Visits by three of the four previous pastors were a highlight of the occasion.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory was the principal celebrant of the anniversary Mass at 5 p.m. with the current pastor, Father Richard Tibbetts, and the former pastors in attendance with a church full of worshippers.

Present for the celebration were the founding pastor, Father Edward O’Connor, and two of his successors, Msgr. Hugh Marren and Father William Hickey. Father Stewart Wilber, also a former pastor, was substituting for another priest elsewhere in the archdiocese and could not be present. Father Joseph Shaute, parochial vicar at the church, also concelebrated the Mass.

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan established the parish on Aug. 8, 1985. Formerly it had been a mission of St. John Vianney Church in Lithia Springs. When the parish began it had approximately 250 families. Today it numbers over 1,200 families who are served through the church on Prestley Mill Road just south of WellStar Douglas Hospital and West Central Technical College.

Following the anniversary Mass, a dinner dance was held in the conference area of the neighboring college with close to 300 men and women in attendance.