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Sacred Heart Parish has been working hard to build a church in Strathmore. For the past ten years we have been celebrating the Holy Mass in our school’s gymnasium.
The history of Sacred Heart Parish in Strathmore is almost as old as the town itself. Our first church was built under Fr. Leonard van Tighem’s spiritual and physical direction in 1909 (he actually hammered nails and sawed lumber!) The founding fathers of this settlement made building their town’s church a priority; it is our priority too. In the first half of the 20th century the population of Strathmore population grew substantially. A new church was built under the spiritual guidance of Fr. John Gibbons and it was solemnly dedicated and blessed on June 28th, 1953 by Bishop Francis Carroll. This church served the people of our community for over a half a century and it was there that so many of us have memories of baptisms, first communions and marriages. 
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Unfortunately, in 2007, Sacred Heart Parish experienced the loss of both our church and rectory as they were closed due to safety concerns. This placed a significant burden on us both financially and emotionally. Plans were immediately made to continue offering the Mass at Holy Cross Collegiate where it continues to this day. With this setback the parish community redouble its efforts to move ahead with planning for a new church. In 2008 the parish purchased a house to serve both as a rectory and as office space.
Toward the end of 2013, under the spiritual direction of Fr. Wojciech Jarzecki, a Fundraising Committee was created. These efforts have been hugely successful. The mortgage on our rectory has been retired and in our current Pledge Campaign (2016-2019) our small parish has pledged around $250,000 a year. By the fall of 2015 enough progress had been made financially that a Building Committee was created. At first this new committee had some major emotional setbacks as the reality of the cost of building a church became abundantly clear. After meeting with the Town of Strathmore, we set the price tag for developing a parcel of land near town (to include provision for roads, utilities, stormwater, etc.) at two million dollars - before we even begin building the church. As of Christmas 2015 it was difficult to see how we could move forward. It seemed so hopeless. However, the new year of 2016 brought a surprise from the Holy Spirit. Several members of the Building Committee arrived at January’s meeting with the same idea. There was an old 16,000 sq ft IGA building in town for sale. We asked each other, “why couldn’t we purchase that building and renovate it into a beautiful new Catholic Church?” The idea seemed sound and during the cold winter months we explored it in detail. As the snow thawed our committee confidently concluded that this was our best course of action. |
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On Tuesday, June 21st, 2016, at a large invitational event, we presented the idea to the parish and the feedback was resoundingly positive. On November 6, Fr. Wojciech blessed this future home of our parish.
A design sub-committee was established in the fall of 2016 and a project charter was developed to engage an architect. In 2017 after an extensive process of reviewing bids from six architectural firms the sub-committee announced their recommendation: DI & GP Architecture, under lead designer Mr. Jun Lee. We received permission from the Diocese and have begun the process of working with the architect. |
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Perhaps the most exciting event of all occurred last month, on Saturday, January 20th, 2018, when Bishop William McGrattan arrived for a pastoral visit to Strathmore. A special presentation was organized at the site our future parish church. Members of the pastoral, finance and building committees along with the DI & GP architectural team, presented the floor plans to the bishop. The excitement in the building was incredible.
For many years, the task of building a church in Strathmore has seemed overwhelming. Today, as we review the concrete steps we have made moving forward, our dedicated volunteers are more inspired and motivated now than ever as we continue this important work. |
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This 1910 photograph taken when Strathmore was only five years old, shows the tall spire of our first Catholic Church clearly rising above the skyline at the end of main street.