Giving thanks for our permanent home in Strathmore, Sacred Heart Church

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Your Excellency,
Dear brother priests and deacons,
My beloved parishioners and friends of our Strathmore community,
Sisters and brothers in Christ,

It is surreal to have come to the conclusion of this celebration with you in this absolutely marvellous space. Now enthroned, our Lord has a permanent home in Strathmore only two meters from behind where I now stand, and from here the love of His Sacred Heart will beat forth throughout our whole community.

In the second act of Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo has secretly scaled the walls of the Capulet estate into Juliet’s courtyard, she asks him from where he came and how he risked getting there. Romeo responds, "With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do, that dares love attempt."
 
My dear friends, we must never forget that what has happened here tonight was because of love. First, because of how much God loves us and how aware of His love for us that we are. But also because we love Him, and because we simply
could not go on without a dedicated space to worship Him. Many walls and obstacles have been scaled over 16+ years in our community, only to show that those stony limits cannot hold love out. Love dared attempt to turn a grocery store into a magnificent little country church out on the prairie. And love did it. 

This has been a long ceremony and I do not mean to unnecessarily prolong it; however, it is necessary to extend a few brief words of thanks. 

​First, we would like to thank the team who began with us, both at the front door tonight, but also ten months ago, from Chandos. At my first meeting with them very soon after the renovation actually began, they told me they would be done on May 30- and I laughed at them. But as sure as the day is long, with almost never facing a delay and remaining miraculously close to our budget every step of the way, the incredible team at Chandos handed us over keys on May 30 a couple of weeks ago. Our parish owes Danny, John, Julie, Johnny, Tabia, all their staff and sub-trades more than we could ever repay, and so we simply say ‘thank you.’ 

None of this beauty would be standing here, however, if it were not for the vision, and one could even say ‘mission’, of our chief design architect, Mr. Jun Lee, from whom we heard at the beginning of our celebration. Every detail in it’s elegance and noble simplicity of our beloved new church was born of his skillful creativity and so, we thank you, Mr. Lee. His work was realized, guided and guarded by the wonderful team at Peake Design, who served as our Architects of Record. We are most grateful to Ken, Tony and Will for the care they showed every step of the way in leading us to this
moment. 

In the wisdom of our diocese, it was discerned early on in this project that we needed to entrust the process to a carefully chosen point man who would guard the interests of the diocese while also helping us to achieve what we set out to accomplish as a parish. To fill that role was the inestimable, Mr. Don Verdonck, who generously volunteered of his time to steer our project to this happy end. 

One of his earliest insights was proposing to our diocese that we hire a firm to manage the project for us, and so entered into the equation M3. We were carefully accompanied step by step of this journey by their team and specifically Bryanne, whose attention to detail and good management skills were demonstrated by holding the record of being the person to singlehandedly send me the most emails in my whole priestly ministry. Each of those emails have led us here today, and so again, we give thanks.

All of this outside help was only necessary, however, because of the unrelenting handwork and dedication of our own parishioners who have stepped forward in an unparalleled way to help us realize this moment. Putting their time, their professional competencies and personal gifts and abilities at the service of the parish, our Building Committee, Finance Committee and Parish Pastoral Council have made an immeasurable contribution towards us having just celebrated the Holy Mass in our new church, and so to each of you who have given so selflessly to get us here, whether a committee member or simply as engaged parishioners, we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

​Undoubtedly, what has made this night as glorious as it has been were the rituals of our timeless worship. Foremost in its beauty has been the music which was offered tonight. We thank the Diocesan Choir, joined by many of our own parishioners, as well as the male chant schola, whose gift of music has lifted our minds and hearts to God tonight. We were also helped in our worship by our sacristans, servers and sacred ministers who have attended to the Holy Altar,
now consecrated in our sight, with such care and reverence. I am especially proud of the young people of our parish who have turned out in full force to serve the Holy Mass tonight.

Since March, a steering committee of twelve people, including our two fabulous deacons- who are such gifts to our parish- have considered and attempted to lay out every detail of all that has unfolded over the last few hours; AND for the promised party that is about to begin, I promise! To our Dedication Mass Subcommittee, we cannot express adequate thanks and praise. 

​I would like to briefly add my own words of more personal thanks in a few directions. First, to Pope Francis, who only gave us six months notice to plan his trip to Canada two years ago which has proven to be a big help in preparing me
to undertake the challenge of the last nine months in Strathmore. Who would have thought that the visit of the Pope was going to ultimately help me be the pastor of a rural, Albertan parish!

More seriously, however: to the seminarians of our diocese whom I have been humbled and honoured to serve and hopefully nurture in their discernment of the priesthood for the past seven years. Many of them are here tonight, assisting our altar servers and leading our singing. These young men inspire me daily to strive to be a better priest and they represent God’s promise to us of a very bright future in our diocese. I thank you and am grateful to continue to serve you.

To the young adults of the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy, who have been the object of my attention and affection for the past five years. Many have travelled here to Strathmore tonight to witness this momentous occasion and to be close to their padre, who loves them very much. Thank you for being patient with me these past nine months as I have tried to serve both this community in Strathmore while remaining as available to you as I could. I am grateful to our Bishop for the exciting new course he is charting for the next chapter of our beloved chaplaincy.

To my brother priests who have concelebrated the Mass with us this evening or who have humbly come simply to be present in the midst of God’s People and take part in our worship, thank you for your selfless service and the support you have shown us all by travelling here this evening. In particular, I thank my predecessors, living and deceased, who have served Sacred Heart, Strathmore, for over 100 years. Fr. Wojciech and Fr. Tomy, present here this evening, you
each have contributed more to this building project than I possibly could have in the last few months and so we all thank you in a special way. 

To our Bishop, William McGrattan, we express our most heartfelt thanks. You came into this diocese well into the long and somewhat complicated story this parish has faced over the last number of years. All the while along, you have believed in us, you have supported us, and the generosity you have shown to our parish has helped us to arrive here today, and hopefully, has set up other parishes in the future for the same success. We thank your Excellency, not only for your careful management and generous support, but most of all, for the fatherly care you have shown us, and to me personally. We are so honoured to be counted among the few churches you have dedicated over the course of your
episcopal ministry. We hope today’s events are but one sign to you of the Renewal you are boldly leading our diocese through. 

Our final words of thanks must be directed to the Divine Architect of Creation. We are thankful, Father of Mercy, for your abundant blessings. Inspired by your Son’s counsel to ask anything of you in His Name, we have humbly sought Your help, for many years, in building a new parish church. Now, having worshiped You from within it, we ask that it would be a fitting temple for Your praise and glory. Grant that it will remain forever a house of prayer; a refuge for the weary; a field hospital of penitence and forgiveness; a school of faith and charity; and most of all, a worthy sanctuary for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Supper of the Lamb.

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Today's celebration is a testament to God's faithfulness to the petitions of this following prayer which we have offered in our community for over a decade. We give thanks for His mercy in granting us our request and we strive to be faithful stewards of the gift of this new church which He has given us.
​
Fr. Cristino

O Heavenly Father, continue to bless us with generous hearts and ready hands. We desire to offer loving service to our King by our ongoing and humble sacrifice of time, talent and treasure- please…lots more treasure… but tonight, we rejoice in having dedicated our new church to the praise and honour of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. We ask our dearest Mother of the Saviour and Mother of the
Church, Mary Immaculate, to raise our petitions to your Son. Together with Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse, please guide and unite us in our efforts that we may be consumed with zeal for this house of the Lord. Amen."

The first Baptism in the Baptistry at Sacred Heart Church, Strathmore (Reeves' family). Photo: Manny Everett.

READ BISHOP'S MESSAGE

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