Sacred Heart Church hosts homecoming dinner at Holy Cross Collegiate

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Sacred Heart Church hosted a “homecoming” dinner at Holy Cross Collegiate, April 23, as part of the diocesan renewal.

The renewal is an initiative churches across the Diocese of Calgary are participating in. According to Father Cristino Bouvette, speaking on behalf of Sacred Heart Church, each parish is supposed to be developing strategies to “breathe new life and invigoration” into the parish community.

“(The) event was one of these initiatives, seeking to bring people together and to try and invigorate the spirit of community there,” he said. “For us in Strathmore specifically at this time, as we are preparing to soon move into our new church, we are really focusing a lot on the theme of homecoming and just working on trying to make sure that we are helping people feel comfortable with coming into our new church building together, whether they have been actively practicing their Catholic faith or not.”

This particular event, he added, he hopes to be a prefiguration of things to come through the church parish, as the community readies itself to reconvene regularly under the new building.

According to the ongoing construction schedule, the new Sacred Heart Church is to be open to the parish and to the public in June, though an exact date has not yet been set. 

“I think that is a part of what we are beginning to sense is that there is a renewed energy among our already active practitioners, but then we are frequently discovering people who are coming out of the woodwork,” said Bouvette. “Maybe they have either been away from the practice of their faith for a while and are hearing things and are noticing the physical building itself is going up and really coming together, or they are new to Strathmore.”

The event ultimately consisted of a free dinner through the sponsorship of the Knights of Columbus and a partnership with Mike’s Bar and Grill, guest speaker Michael Chiasson, and an invited community of consecrated men and women. 

Bouvette explained events such as this largely aim to have an impact of bringing people together to develop a sense of community among church practitioners. 

“I was very pleased to meet some people who I have never seen at church before, so they heard about this and decided to check it out,” he said. “Some people are recently immigrated to Strathmore. I met two families who have just arrived from mainland China who heard about this and came to take part. Some people who have also long since lived in Strathmore but have never been connected to the parish community came out.”

Continuing forward, and in regards to the imminent church opening, the Sacred Heart Parish will be seeking for people to pre-register their attendance once the grand opening is formally announced.