Raymond HORAN

1942 - 2017

HORAN, Raymond F. Father Raymond F. Horan died Friday, June 9, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. He was 74 years old. The son of Raymond F. Horan Sr. and Marguerite E. (O'Shaughnessy) Horan, he was born Oct. 10, 1942, in Somerville, Massachusetts. He had two siblings, Peter and David. He attended Marist College High School in Atlanta and St. Bernard College in Cullman, Alabama. He studied for six years at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York, where he received a bachelor of arts. Father Horan was ordained on May 18, 1968, by Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin, then auxiliary bishop of the Atlanta Archdiocese. He was a priest for 49 years. Father Horan was the founding pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Marietta, which was established on Sept. 29, 1977, when the Catholic community in Cobb County was growing rapidly. The boundaries of the parish were enlarged a year later and Father Horan remained there as pastor until May 1981, fostering the faith community as it grew from a small number of families to hundreds and established its first building. He then served as pastor for six years of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Decatur from 1981 to 1987 and as pastor for three years of St. John the Evangelist Church in Hapeville from 1989 to 1992. His earliest years of ministry included St. Thomas More Church in Decatur and St. Joseph High School in Atlanta. He worked in the missions of St. Joseph Church in Athens, which in the early 1970s included St. James Church in Madison and missions in Monroe and Winder. He became pastor of St. Mary Church in Toccoa and its mission of Sacred Heart in Hartwell in 1974, overseeing construction of a new church and parish hall in Hartwell that was dedicated in 1977. He was at the time director of Catholic rural life. Father Horan served a term as vice president of the Atlanta Senate of Priests beginning in 1974, and over his years of priesthood he was a dean in the south metro area of the archdiocese, a member of the Council of Priests and served a three-year term on the advisory group to the archbishop known as the College of Consultors. After serving as pastor in Hapeville, he pursued studies in addiction counseling and was in residence at Blessed Sacrament Church in Atlanta. He retired on Oct. 31, 2004, after nine years of service with the Veterans Administration. Father Horan resided in the town of Martin at the time of his death. He donated his body for research to the Emory School of Medicine. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers and is survived by his nieces and nephews, Marty and Sandy Horan, of Brandenburg, Kentucky; Mike Horan, of Dahlonega; Maureen (Horan) Sommer, of Marion; eight great-nieces and great-nephews and four great-great nephews. A memorial Mass will be celebrated on Friday, June 23, at 12 p.m. at St. Mark Church, 5410 Georgia Highway 197, Clarkesville. The celebrant will be Msgr. Henry Gracz. In lieu of flowers, donations in Father Horan's memory may be made to Glenmary Home Missioners, P.O. Box 465618, Cincinnati, OH 45246, www.glenmary.org/ways-to-give/, or to St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, 2050-C Chamblee Tucker Road, Atlanta, GA 30341, www.svdpgeorgia.org.