Introduction

Francis Arinze once said, “The Catholic Faith never changes. But the mode and manifesting this one faith can change according to peoples, times, and places.” (Francis Arinze ~ a short quote) What does he imply by this? Exactly what he says, the Catholic Faith will always stay firm, but the way it functions, the way it is structured, its infrastructure, everything else can change depending on the circumstances. In this research we look at one of the oldest Catholic churches in the Atlanta Area, The Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and a more modern church, St Michael the Archangel Catholic Church. The churches will be demonstrating those changes that have occurred over the years not just in the internal area of the Church in its traditions, liturgy, rituals, and music, but also the structure of it due to the different objectives and necessities they have had including but not limited to: war, fire, a big part of Vatican II’s implementation, limited space issues due to growing population, and commodity.