Today’s Marietta Daily Journal presents some interesting facts, culled from the recently published 2009-10 edition of The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s annual Book of Lists. Columnist Joe Kirby writes:

Two generations ago, Catholics were as rare as hen’s teeth in Cobb. Now, they’ve just about taken over the joint.

The largest church in Cobb is St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church on King Springs Road in Smyrna, pastored by the Rev. James Kuczynksi, with 19,780 members, according to the ABC. It also ranks as the second-largest church in the metro area, behind only the Rev. Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, which has more than 25,000 members.

In third place in the metro area is First Baptist of Woodstock, with 17,000 members, followed by another Catholic house of worship in Cobb, Transfiguration Catholic Church on Blackwell Road in east Cobb, headed by the Rev. Msgr. Patrick Bishop, with 15,277 members.

All told, six of the metro area’s 10 largest churches are Catholic, according to the ABC – one more indication of the demographic changes that have swept across Georgia in recent decades.

The Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta will begin it’s three-part Catholic Leader’s Forum tonight at 7 p.m. Parts 2 and 3 will be held in February and April. I’ll be there!

Eric Gorski of the Associated Press writes:

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have taken a consistent line on a health care overhaul: It’s vital, but they cannot support proposals that go too far in covering abortion and not far enough in protecting health workers who don’t want to provide that procedure.

Now, at least a half-dozen bishops have gone beyond that position, some of them using hard-hitting terms such as “socialization” and “monopolization” to launch a broader critique of big government.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, and Bishops Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa, Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., and Samuel Aquila of Fargo, N.D. are “[a]mong the bishops who have written columns, commentaries or pastoral letters including comments about excessive government control of health care” according to the article.

Read the full story: Some Catholic bishops question gov’t health care

Vanessa Barnes of the Houston Examiner has an interesting article about 10 Episcopal nuns converting to become Catholic nuns this past Thursday, Sept. 3. The sisters cited “orthodoxy and unity” as the reasons for their conversion, and the report explains that these nuns “became the latest in a long line of defectors leaving the Episcopal denomination divided over the approval of women’s ordination and the ordination of a gay bishop.”

Get the full article here: “Episcopal nuns become Catholic nuns“

So it looks like Pope Benedict XVI is one busy bee. The daily blog from the National Catholic Register has a nice article about “One Busy Holy Father.” Check it out!

Yesterday, I spotted this nice outdoor advertisement from the Archdiocese of Atlanta:

The billboard was seen on the I-75/I-85 connector north bound near 14th street.

The Archdiocese’s web site (www.archatl.com) has a Flash animation on its home page which uses this ad, along with several others which I assume are part of the same billboard campaign.

Pretty cool!

On the local front, the Archdiocese of Atlanta will be getting a new auxiliary bishop soon. According to the archdiocesan web site, Monsignor Luis Rafael Zarama, currently vicar general of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, was named by Pope Benedict XVI to be auxiliary bishop of Atlanta. More information, including an audio recording of the July 27 press conference, is available at www.archatl.com. The Georgia Bulletin also has a detailed article about Bishop-Elect Zamara.

The site reports that the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-Elect Zarama will take place on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, titled “Caritas in Veritate” (in English, “Love in Truth” or “Charity in Truth”), is now available on the Vatican’s web site. Enjoy!

Okay, so it’s official — we can hold our breath — Pope Benedict XVI’s third encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) is coming out. According to the Vatican Information Service, it will be officially presented at a July 7 press conference.

At 10:45 am today, President Obama is to meet with eight reporters and editors from Catholic media, according to this National Catholic Register blog entry. Apparently, all those invited are from print media, including National Catholic Register publisher Father Owen Kearns, who explained that the meeting is unprecedented. The article states that Kearns “has not previously met a sitting U.S. president, nor has he been previously invited by the president to a White House gathering for members of the Catholic press.” The meeting’s purpose is to discuss Obama’s upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, slated for July 10.