Photo by Nichole Golden

LAGRANGE—A new Catholic’s generosity, a pastor accompanying his flock and a community’s witness of vocations rising from its parish were key to the success of capital campaign fundraising for St. Peter Church in LaGrange.

St. Peter and its mission St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Warm Springs were among the 10 churches kicking off the first wave of the archdiocesan capital campaign, “Rooted in Christ—Growing in Faith.”

Settling back into his office after a Kiwanis Club luncheon, Father Tim Gadziala, pastor, places a phone call to parishioner Charles Jacobs.

It was Jacobs’ gift of $300,000 that launched the Troup County parish’s fundraising efforts for the campaign. The donation inspired others to give. As the largest individual gift in parish history, Jacobs’ contribution was matched by a non-Catholic in gratitude for Father Gadziala’s ministry to her late husband.

St. Peter parishioners pledged more than $1.5 million for the campaign, exceeding its goal of $740,000. “We have a very generous parish,” said Father Gadziala, who has served there for nine years.

Jacobs, who works in finance in Atlanta, began attending St. Peter in 2020.

“I’ve only missed one Sunday, I think, in that entire time,” he said.

Then an Episcopalian, Jacobs explored Catholicism against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID hit; they shut down the Episcopal churches for over a year. In the meantime, I started watching EWTN, and that really got my interest,” he said.

He began to experience the Eucharist in a way he’d never thought about. Jacobs watched Mass for a year, and participated in a Bible study led by a priest on YouTube.

In May of 2021, he found out Catholic Churches were open as other churches were still shuttered. St. Peter parishioner Barbara Jabaley invited him to church. Her brother was a classmate of Jacobs.

“I immediately met the RCIA director,” said Jacobs. “My first Sunday at St. Peter’s was just a wonderful experience.”

In the Fall of 2021, Jacobs started the RCIA program, and Father Gadziala confirmed him at the Easter Vigil in 2022.

St. Peter has about 600 registered households, and the smaller community is something Jacobs likes. He said the pastor encouraged him along the way. His overall impression is that the liturgy is “really rich.”

Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., greets Charles Jacobs of St. Peter Church, LaGrange, at a kick-off for the archdiocesan capital campaign. Photo Courtesy of Father Tim Gadziala

“You could spend your whole life studying the Roman Catholic Church and you wouldn’t scratch the surface,” he said.

Jacobs has jumped into parish life, serving as a lector and eucharistic minister. He is also on the finance council, and Father Gadziala hopes to tap into his expertise to build up the parish’s endowment with the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia.

As Jacobs was experiencing upheaval following the death of his parents, he found a new home.

“The Church was becoming my family in a way,” he said.

After talking with Father Gadziala about the campaign, Jacobs felt led to make the substantial donation.

He told the pastor, “Saying no would be like saying no directly to Jesus.”

“It moved his heart,” said Father Gadziala.

Jacobs came into some financial resources, and he began to form the mindset of giving back.

“The Lord’s been extraordinarily generous with me, and I certainly don’t deserve it, but I recognize a gift when I see it,” said Jacobs. “I am committed to giving a good proportion of what I have back to him for his ministry and the spread of the Gospel so that more people can understand that Jesus is the answer. He’s our friend, and he’s the only eternal friend we have.”

Jacobs has a fondness for old clocks. His grandfather’s clock is on the mantel of his historic home. Jacobs placed a gifted crucifix from the Holy Land above the clock.

“The image that that has evoked in me is, ‘you know Jesus, you don’t care about time, but we do because we only have a finite amount of it,'” said Jacobs.

The clock and cross remind him that Jesus is over everything and sees it all. Jacobs said doesn’t think he would have this understanding without the lens of a Catholic faith, which has deepened his friendship with God.

His family lived in LaGrange when Jacobs’ stepfather was rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church there.

“LaGrange was the first real home we had as a family,” he recalled.

He’s aware that the connections made years ago in LaGrange are part of the Lord’s work to bring him to the Church.

“You can see his work, if you would just cooperate,” he said.

Father Timothy Gadziala

Journeying together

Father Gadziala called upon a few parishioners to speak about the campaign and encourage others to give what they could. Another blessing came out of one woman’s gratitude for the priest’s accompaniment of her family.

Father Gadziala received a call from a local hospice and went to visit the woman’s husband, a lapsed Catholic.

“I became friends with him and visited him every week,” he said. Four months later, Father Gadziala celebrated the man’s funeral.

The woman began attending Mass and learned of the campaign, matching the initial $300,000 donation given by Jacobs. Preferring to remain anonymous, she is studying to become a Catholic, receiving personal instruction from Father Gadziala.

St. Peter raised 213 percent of its campaign target. In this campaign, parishes keep every cent raised above 200 percent of the goal for its own parish projects, and 30 percent of all monies raised.

Father Gadziala said some of the funds will be used to redo the exterior stucco around the church’s rose window, due to damage. The sanctuary ceiling has been prone to leaks, and the priest would like to undertake a ceiling-to-floor restoration of the space.

The archdiocesan campaign will in part support seminarians in formation. The community has witnessed first-hand the vocations of two young men with ties to LaGrange, that of Father Paul Nacey and Deacon William Whitlow, who will be ordained a priest in 2027. Father Gadziala suspects that the witness of vocations solidified the need to give.

Father Gadziala learned much about the ministry of presence and fundraising while serving at other parishes and in Jamaica, where he assisted with administration of the missionary work of the Diocese of Mandeville for five years.

The pastor travels the 35 miles to Warm Springs several times a week for Mass, confessions and adoration at the mission, the only Catholic church in Meriwether County.

“People know me and I know their stories,” said Father Gadziala. “I learned to accompany people.”

The mission of 50 families raised 237 percent of its target, the highest percentage among the 10 first-wave parishes. The mission will repave its parking lot, buy a sign for the church and purchase needed liturgical items such as an incense stand and funeral pall.

Whether it’s a gift of $10 or $1,000, the priest has reminded church members of the words that reflect the charitable mission of St. Vincent de Paul, “No one is too poor to give; no one is too rich to receive.”

For Father Gadziala, part of the authentic work of a priest is to support the bishops and to help meet the needs of the local Church.

“We are men of the church. I accompany the bishop as a diocesan priest, and the bishop accompanies me,” he said.

A priest of 32 years, Father Gadziala still finds the work meaningful.

“I love the Church. I love what I do,” he said.