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Dear Friends in Christ,

I am very happy to be here with you today to celebrate this important anniversary in the life of St. Oliver Plunkett Parish. I am especially happy to join you in welcoming Father Kuczynski, the vice-Provincial, of the LaSalette Fathers. His presence calls to mind once again, the long and faithful service of the LaSalette Fathers to the Church in North Georgia. Thinking of this most devoted community of priests, we cannot help but call to mind, someone whom we all loved and who was among the finest of those LaSalettes ever to serve our local Church. I am remembering, of course, Father Tom Carroll, who was such a good friend to us, who is now gone to his rest, but whose spirit surely has its place among us today. We speak of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and on this Pentecost express our gratitude to the Holy Spirit for everything that He has done for us. Let us also remember to thank Him for the people He sends into our midst - our families, our friends, our priests. And let us not feel too badly, that times change, that human life comes and goes, and that we must learn to be grateful for both life's greetings and its farewells.

We say, "It seems like only yesterdayÉ", and we tend to say that more often as we grow older. Many here are too young to recall - but those of us who are of an older vintage will remember - and it does seem like yesterday almost, that during this parish's founding year, the year 1978, the Church herself faced some very important greetings and farewells. In April of that year, this parish came into being as a mission - within a few months, Catholics throughout the world mourned the death of Pope Paul VI, the Pope of the 2nd Vatican Council - just a little over a month later, we were stunned, and again brought into mourning, by the sudden death of Pope John Paul I, the "smiling Pope." But quickly, the Holy Spirit brought to the throne of St. Peter, our Holy Father John Paul II, whose years as Pope have been filled with tireless work, and great blessings for the Church and the world. One last event to recall of 1978 - that in December, just in time for Christmas, Father Kane, the first pastor, requested of Archbishop Donnellan, and was given permission, to name the Snellville mission after the great Irish archbishop and martyr, St. Oliver Plunkett.

All of these events of 1978, were momentous - some universally so, and others, of interest to us alone. But we must always remember - as we face life's beginnings and its end, its challenges and triumphs, its unexpected turns as well as the plans we bring to fruition, and especially, as we face the farewells that remind us that God loves us, and eventually will call us to an eternal home - as we face all these realities of life, let us, on this Feast of Pentecost, think upon the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that most wonderful gift of all, the Church - the One, True, Catholic and Apostolic Church, in which Christ dwells, in which Christ comes to us, to give us the strength and the wisdom we need, to make our lives fruitful and worthy of a Heavenly destiny.

May He be with us always, through His Holy Spirit, through His Presence in the Eucharist, through His Holy Church - and as the years pass, let Mary, the Mother of our Lord, be our guide and our defender, and help us to keep faithful to Her Son and His Church, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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