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Parish History
 The faith community of St. Thomas Aquinas was established in 1959 as a mission of the Cathedral of Christ the King. In 1960 St. Jude the Apostle parish began to care for the spiritual needs of the nascent community, which based its ministry at the Roswell Community Center. The seventeen acre property on Rucker Road was purchased in 1972. The mission was raised to parish status on June 1, 1972, and an all-purpose building was completed nine months later. By 1973, the parish was experiencing incredible growth, with over 500 families when Monsignor David O’Connor was named pastor.
St. Thomas Aquinas has consistently been one of the most active parishes in the area, providing lay leadership to Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, and other renewal programs. In 1977 and in 1979, the parish attracted national attention wiht a unique evangelization program for inactive Catholics called Operation Homecoming.
 A permanent church was erected in 1982. Notable features include a stained glass rose window and Stations of the Cross donated from the chapel of the new closed St. Joseph’s Infirmary in downtown Atlanta. There were over a thousand families registered at that time. Monsignor Jim Fennessy was appointed pastor in 1983 and in 1988 he oversaw the erection of the Community Life Building which housed 35 classrooms and several offices to serve the burgeoning adult and children’s religious education programs. In 1989, over six hundred families took part in the RENEW program, and from that seed-bed of active participation the Small Faith Community movement began at the parish. The movement continues to this day with lay ministries, with some ninety ministries currently serving God’s people.
Father Albert Jowdy was named pastor in 1991. The parish began an outreach program to the growing Hispanic presence in North Fulton County in 1993. This ministry is in full bloom today with over 500 Hispanic families and two Masses in Spanish each weekend.
By 1995 the parish numbered over 2,500 registered families. A new rectory and expanded parking lots were added that year. In 1996, to celebrate the parish silver jubilee, St. Thomas Aquinas adopted St. Martin parish in Delatte, Haiti as a sister parish. In the ten years of that thriving relationship, St. Thomas has helped to build a parish church, elementary school, and a pure drinking water facility for the people of St. Martin’s. Also in celebration of the silver jubilee, the parish, in collaboration with North Fulton Habitat for Humanity, helped fund and build its fifth house for lower income residents. The association with Habitat continues and there are now twelve houses that the people of St. Thomas Aquinas have helped fund and build.
In 2001, St. Thomas Aquinas received the Parish of Excellence Award, naming it as one of the 100 most excellent Catholic parishes in the United States of America.
 In 2002, Monsignor Leo Herbert was named pastor. He was succeeded in 2003 by Monsignor David Talley. Father Greg Goolsby was appointed pastor in 2006. In August of 2009, the parish installed a life size crucifix, commissioned especially for St. Thomas Aquinas, which was designed and fabricated by local artist Jorge Postada. It now hangs over the altar in the main church’s sanctuary.
St. Thomas Aquinas parish continues to thrive, with about 3,200 families. The parish recognizes its mission to a diverse population and strives to live the Gospel admonition: “We, though many, are one Body in Christ.”
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