Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

  • Bishop Ned Shlesinger was the homilist and main celebrant for the Mass at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Atlanta, on the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Just before the Oct. 2 Mass in the hospital chapel, Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center employee Bradley Hess shakes hands with Deacon Tom Badger of St. Ann Church, Marietta, as he also greets Bishop Ned Shlesinger. Standing next to Hess is hospital chaplain Father John Kieran. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Kathi Baird, front row, center, and other members of St. Thomas More Church’s S Factor ministry pray the Our Father during the morning Mass at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center. The group of seasoned, social, service minded and spiritual adults, over age 65, has adopted homeless veterans as a service project. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Bishop Ned Shlesinger greets Mass attendees as they leave the chapel at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center. Here he converses with Bob Jones, a veteran, a hospital volunteer and a member of Holy Cross Church, Atlanta. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Bishop Ned Shlesinger poses for a photo with Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center education team members (l-r) Saly Pius, Debbie Combs and Anne Cadet following the Oct. 2 Mass in the hospital chapel. Photo By Michael Alexander

Bishop Ned Shlesinger was the homilist and main celebrant for the Mass at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Atlanta, on the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Photo By Michael Alexander

Atlanta

New bishop celebrates Mass at VA Hospital

By Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer | Published October 20, 2017

ATLANTA–Bishop Bernard E. “Ned” Shlesinger III made his first visit to the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center, where he celebrated Mass in the chapel to a capacity crowd. The liturgy took place on Oct. 2, the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels.

During the bishop’s homily he asked the congregants if they had a name for their guardian angels. He indicated that “Anthony” was the name he had given his guardian angel years ago.

Bishop Shlesinger was joined on the altar during the Mass by Father John Kieran, a senior priest who serves as a Catholic chaplain at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Deacon Tom Badger of St. Ann Church, Marietta. Deacon Badger is a U.S. Navy veteran.

Other deacons in attendance, who are also veterans, included Deacon Peter Swan of St. Philip Benizi Church, Jonesboro, and Deacon Michael Roberts, founder and executive director of Warrior2Citizen, a not-for-profit organization in Atlanta that helps military service members, veterans and their families confront the long-term effects of war trauma.

After the Mass, Bishop Shlesinger greeted hospital employees, volunteers and other Mass attendees.

Bishop Shlesinger is a U.S. Air Force veteran who once flew the C-130E Hercules transport plane.