Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

Father Juan Anzora, standing right, shares a moment with some of the longtime families of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Cartersville. Seated (l-r) are Josy Lutjens, Cecil Morris, Betsy and Mike O’Conner. Karen and Wade Culberson are standing beside their pastor.

Cartersville

Cartersville parish honors founding families, priests

Published May 14, 2015

CARTERSVILLE—The families who started St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Cartersville were welcomed with a special Mass on Friday, April 24.

Father Joseph Aquino, the last LaSalette priest to serve the parish, traveled from Sulphur, Louisiana, to celebrate the Mass with Father Juan Anzora, the pastor.

Approximately 130 parents, children and grandchildren attended the celebration with Mass and a catered dinner in LaSalette Hall, named in honor of the many LaSalette priests who served the parish.

Starting with one family in 1935, the community grew to six families to become a mission, meeting over Young Brother Pharmacy, in 1948, then a parish of 35 families when St. Francis became a parish in 1969 to the almost 900 families of today.

Father Anzora said the parish was celebrating the past with gratitude, the present with joy and the future with hope.

An anonymous former parishioner donated a plaque in memory of LaSalette Father Peter McKeown who served the parish on three occasions when St. Francis of Assisi was a mission and later as a parish.