Palms

swayed gently in the spring breeze as worshippers

from the Catholic Church of St. Gabriel's and the

Episcopal Church of the Nativity gathered Sunday

for the traditional blessing of the palms by

their respective pastors, the Rev. Tim Hepburn

and the Rev. Robert Hudak.

Christian

churches across the county prepared Sunday for

the beginning of the most solemn time of the

liturgical year, Holy Week. The distribution of

palms recalls Jesus' triumphal entry into

Jerusalem before the Last Supper, his crucifixion

and resurrection. "Many people spread their

cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy

branches that they had cut in the fields...

"Mark 11:7-9.

The

"Passion of Christ" also is read on

Palm Sunday.

The

day held special significance for the estimated

140 members of Church of the Nativity who

gathered for the first time in their new church

on Antioch Road in Fayetteville, next door to St.

Gabriel's. A formal dedication ceremony is

scheduled for sometime in June, Hudak said.

The

mood was less joyful at St. Gabriel's following

an announcement by Hepburn that he was being

transferred to serve as chaplain at Blessed

Trinity Catholic High School, north of Atlanta,

effective mid-June. His successor is the Rev.

Daniel Toof, former pastor of St. Mary's in

Toccoa.

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