Longtime Atlanta priest dies after contracting the flu while on vacation

ATLANTA — Members of a historic Atlanta church are mourning the loss of their priest. 

Atlanta’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus pastoral administrator Kelly Schreckenberger said the Father John Howren contracted the flu while on vacation, the virus then turned into double pneumonia.

He died on Monday morning.

“He will be genuinely missed. There’s people all over are really hurting, so I just ask everyone to pray for the basilica, pray for the Atlanta archdiocese, all of his brother priests, and just know how much he really mattered,” Schreckenberger said.

This sanctuary, where Father John Howren led mass, is now where parishioners are paying homage to him, with a mass at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“A true priest in every essence of the word,” Schreckenberger said.

Father John was a priest with the Atlanta archdiocese for 30 years. Church volunteer Ralph Bailey says Father John was a blessing to the parish.

“I don’t want to believe it, this can’t be happening, he was a young man, he was only 61, and no, I want him to come back,” Bailey said.

Emory University’s Dr. Jodie Guest says 46 Georgians have died of the flu this season, compared to zero deaths last year.

“The flu is rampant,” Guest said.

She says this year’s strain seems to be very transmissible, with symptoms hitting early and hard.

“It’s a different mutation, and people are definitely calling it the super flu, and yet, we are not totally positive if it is really associated with sicker cases of the flu or not.” Guest said.

Bailey said Father John didn’t just touch lives, but quite literally put his touch on the church, which was just restored in the fall.

“We have what he gave us still to remember, not so much a monument to himself, but a place for us to worship in his hand again,” Bailey said.