Catholic Church booming in Dalton as thousands attend St. Joseph’s and its two new missions

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DALTON, Ga. — Two separate car dealerships failed at a concrete-and-glass showroom built in 2001 in Chatsworth, Ga.
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Then Dalton’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church bought the 22,000-square-foot building on U.S. Highway 76 in 2012 to establish a mission in Murray County, which had no Catholic church.
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“It had 600 people the very first day, which kind of got me in trouble with the fire marshal,” said the Rev. Paul Williams, the pastor who leads St. Joseph’s. “It’s full every Sunday.”
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timesfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/05/catholic-church-booming-dalton-thousands-attend-st/?breakingnews
 
Are these new Catholics or just Catholics from other churches?
 
I find it hard to believe a whole Southern county had no Catholic churches before this.

Are these new Catholic atendees or just Catholics being pulled from another parishes?

I ask this because recently a Polish mission church started in my area and is always jam packed. But another mission closed and many of the other local parishes lost attendees.

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Pax Christi!

Sounds great! They say they’re not just taking parishoners from nearby churches. Cool!

I plan to attend a Spanish-language Mass, and I hope soon!

Gos bless.
 
svid2 said:
Pax Christi!

Sounds great! They say they’re not just taking parishoners from nearby churches. Cool!

I plan to attend a Spanish-language Mass, and I hope soon!

Gos bless.
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Yes, as I read it, the Spanish-speaking Catholics have found a home.

Let’s hope it lasts. Remember it wasn’t that long ago Crystal Cathedral had 3,000 in attendance and plenty of TV viewers every Sunday before they declared bankruptcy.
 
Thanks for the comments gang. I was pleased with the article. This was a “light” version as the journalist had to trim it down.

Some facts I wish had been included:
  • We averaged 600+ baptisms each year over the past 10 years. Usually, we baptize 20-30 kids each Saturday morning.
  • We had our largest First Communion class this year: 550 kids, spread over about 8 Masses.
  • We have doubled Confirmations in the last 5 years (200 last year) and expect 260 this year.
Yes, we are growing. As the kids around here like to say, “somos bendecidos”. :angel1:

To address some of the questions: the other area churches are also growing, and people generally don’t “float” between them because of the distances involved - it’s a 30-60 minute drive to the neighboring parishes.

Fr. Paul WIlliams, pastor, Saint Joseph’s Dalton
 
ProVobis said:
Yes, as I read it, the Spanish-speaking Catholics have found a home.

Let’s hope it lasts. Remember it wasn’t that long ago Crystal Cathedral had 3,000 in attendance and plenty of TV viewers every Sunday before they declared bankruptcy.
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And now the Catholics have claimed the Crystal Cathedral to be Christ’s Cathedral.
 
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