St Athanasius

St. Athanasius was established as a new parish on part of Charlie Besse’s farm on Outer Loop , Jefferson County, Kentucky, through Archbishop John A. Floersh’s announcement on July 9, 1960. The Reverend Francis E. Bossung was appointed pastor on August 3, 1960. Even without facilities he wasted no time gathering the people into a community.



After assembling in St. Rita’s facilities for some months, St. Athanasius’ first Mass as a parish was held on November 6, 1960, in the loft of Whispering Hills Country Club. Due to the generosity of George Buisson, Masses were held there each Sunday until May 1961, when we were able to move into the basement of the just finished rectory.



The Men’s Club, Women’s Club and the Knights of the Altar were established long before we had facilities. The Men’s Club was founded on September 7, 1960, with Paul Logsdon as the first president. The first meeting of the Women’s Club was held at St. Rita’s on September 15, 1960, with Marie Bischoff Haines as the first president. In the early days, the Knights of the Altar also met at St. Rita’s; but later the boys met at Marian Hancock’s home, where she taught them Liturgical Latin using a phonograph record.



There were at least 450 families registered in the Parish by the time we had our first Mass in our present church. This Mass was on September 24, 1961, without pews, statues or organ; but they were soon to follow. We welcomed our first assistant pastor, Father Louis Miller,