Groundskeeper Carl Hall helps unload food donations at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta. The church is celebrating 175 years. Photo by Johnathon Kelso
Atlanta
By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer | Published December 1, 2023
ATLANTA—At the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, it announces a “bold faith” lived by a “bold church.” And that’s how it’s been since it began.
During the Civil War, an Irish immigrant priest opened the downtown church to serve as a field hospital. It was a place for Union and Confederate soldiers wounded in battle to recuperate. Father Thomas O’Reilly continues to receive annual remembrances from the city of Atlanta for his outspoken role in saving civic and church buildings from the destructive fire that ravaged the city as the March to the Sea campaign began.
During the 1990s AIDS epidemic, the church opened its fellowship hall to the gay community suffering from the disease. On a weekly basis, dinner would be served to men who were sick. In response to complaints about the pastor’s outreach, two Atlanta archbishops came to meet the guests and prepare their plates of food. The outreach helped revitalize the church, making it known as one of the most inclusive and affirming parishes in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
The tomb of Father Thomas O’Reilly photographed inside the crypt at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The priest saved the church in the Civil War. Photo by Johnathon Kelso
The red-brick church sits blocks from the golden dome of Georgia’s capitol and Atlanta City Hall. It marked its 175 years of ministry on the corner block this year. It is the original Catholic church in this once rugged railroad town, serving the Irish immigrants who came here to build the tracks.
The Georgia Bulletin spent time at the Shrine to see what a day there is like.
08:30 a.m.
Jawanza Brown, 29, is packing more than 100 plastic grocery…
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