The Mission in Georgia is named as 'Saint Alphonsa Catholic Mission'. Alphonsa is a Clarist nun who hails from Kerala and belongs to syro-malabar rite. She was born on 19th August 1910. She entered the Poor Clares Convent in 1927, receiving the postulant's veil with the name Alphonsa in 1928 and she received the religious habit in 1930. In spite of her painful illness she suffered she was cheerful to the last and the smile of innocence never parted from her lips. She considered herself a sacrificial offering at God's altar and believed that suffering refines us and makes us worthy of him. She passed away on 28th July, 1946. In 1985 Pope John Paul II formally approved a miracle attributed to her and on 9th July she became 'Venerable Sister Alphonsa'. On 8th Feb. 1986 during his apostolic visit to India, the pope beatified her. St. Thomas Syro-Malbar Catholic Diocese of Chicago in Georgia Corporation was established on 11/09/2002 in Georgia as a non-profit organization. The purpose of the Corporation is to establish a catholic mission and church to preserve the spiritual and religious needs of the Syro-Malabar community in Georgia. Thirteen years ago a handful of people belonging to this rite came together under the spiritual leadership of Fr. Joseph Mullakkara MSFS to have a mass once a month in their own rite and language. As years passed the community kept growing and today it has 250 families registered in the mission. Now the community is in dire need of having a facility sufficient to contain six to seven hundred people. In 2003 six acres of land with a small house in Loganville was acquired by the Mission. On May, 21st the ground breaking ceremony was conducted in this property for the new church facility. Fr. James A. Heanult MS, pastor of St. Oliver Plunkett Catholic church in Snellville was the chief guest. Now the director of the Mission in Atlanta is FR. Kurian THOMAS Karickal MSFS.