Father Frank Ruff was dispatched to rural White County, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in 1963. He was to establish a Catholic community, where Catholics were few in number. 

The community has grown much larger since Father Frank's time. Today, the community is made of believers who speak English and Spanish. The church he began is St. Paul the Apostle Church, Cleveland, Ga.
 
He was recorded in July 2014 in a phone interview.

Photo: Father Ruff, circa 1964 (From the St. Paul the Apostle Church history.)

Diversity adds vitality to St. Paul the Apostle Church community.

Father Frank Ruff was dispatched to rural White County, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in 1963. He was to establish a Catholic community, where Catholics were few in number. 

He was recorded in July 2014 phone interview. Today, the church he began is St. Paul the Apostle Church, Cleveland, Ga.

Photo: Father Ruff designed the sign he is nailing. He used a surplus National Forest sign. He thought imitating the style would give the small Catholic community more credibility.   (From the St. Paul the Apostle Church history.) 

Catholics in White County, Ga., in 1963

Father Frank Ruff was dispatched to rural White County, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in 1963. He was to establish a Catholic community here, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, where Catholics were few in number. 

Owners of Ward's Funeral invited him to have Mass at the building. The invitation was rescinded six weeks later because of community pressure. The church he began is St. Paul the Apostle Church, Cleveland, Ga.
He was recorded in July 2014 phone interview.





First Mass in Cleveland, Ga., took place in a funeral home.

Father Richard Morrow recalls the day Robert F. Kennedy spoke at the 1964 groundbreaking of the John F. Kennedy chapel at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga. 

The small wooden building was the first home of the Catholic community here, some 50 miles west of Atlanta. It now is an interfaith chapel on campus, also used by university's Catholic believers. 

Father Morrow, a senior priest of the Atlanta Archdiocese, at the time was the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Carrollton.    

Robert F. Kennedy, the Klan, and Catholics in Carrollton, Ga.

#ATL4Life +Gregory

Sr. Helen Prejean talks about the "crunch" for Catholics about the death penalty. 

Sister Helen Prejean

Remarks by Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, at the April 28 Catholic-Orthodox Ecumenical Gathering at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, Ga. 

Orthodox Catholic Gathering April 2015

The 50th jubilee of "Nostra Aetate" was celebrated at the Ferst Center in Atlanta on Oct. 28.  The landmark document from Vatican Council II reset the relationship between Catholics and Jews to one of mutual respect.

The celebration was an evening of song, dance and theater to bring together the Catholic and Jewish communities. Here the Jubilee Choir performs "The Lord is my Light."

Nostra Aetate Celebration

Here is the homily given by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory at the 2018 Mass for the Unborn at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

"God chooses us in love before we ever draw our first breath."

Homily at Mass for Unborn 2018

Homily at the 2018 Catholic celebration given by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 
--
Comparing today to 1968, Archbishop Gregory in his homily talked about 50 years ago as “a very harsh year” with the assassinations of King and Robert F. Kennedy, riots in American cities and the thousands dead and wounded from the Vietnam War.

“Our political scene today is as problematic as it was in 1968. Our elected officials continue to display little ability to work together for the common good. Women have been openly revealing just how often they have been abused and compromised in the workplace for many, many years,” said the archbishop. “Clearly, 2018 is a complicated year, and it’s only just beginning.”

Mass for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2018

The Georgia Bulletin, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, strives to “inform, form, inspire, educate, and strengthen the religious identity” of the members of the Catholic community of North Georgia by providing significant local Catholic news, information, columns, commentaries, and photographs, as well as national and international news related to the church.

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