For the past two years, parishioners at Edmonton’s Sacred Heart Church of the First People have been worshiping inside a school gym across the street.
In 2020 a fire caused by the remains of a haze ceremony closed the more than a hundred-year-old building for its restoration.
But it is the last Sunday mass event in his gym, with Reno completed next week before Pope Francis’ visit to the cathedral on 15 July.
“Everyone’s excited, we have to go back to our church… the fire has done a lot of damage,” parishioner Kevin Morin said.
Parisian Marie Claire Stack said, “Next week we make a pilgrimage to a beautiful newly renovated church after the fire, to find our home again in the Sacred Heart.”
While parishioners are excited to relocate, there is still much work to be done.
The work was originally to be completed in the fall, but the announcement of the Pope’s visit forced that timeline to July 17—a week before the Pope’s visit to the Edmonton Church.
“People had to work ten hours a day, about seven days a week, to push through that schedule. There were people working here on Sundays trying to paint, get the flooring done when other trades aren’t here, so yeah it’s hard,” said Sacred Heart Church of the First People’s Financial Secretary Ron Martino .
“Construction is not going to be one hundred percent complete by the Pope’s visit, but it will be finished high enough to get our guests up and down,” said Pastor Mark Blom of Sacred Heart Church, First People’s Associate.
“There are things that are not needed, for example the kitchen downstairs is not going to operate, we don’t need it, we can operate the church without it. The heating system is not going to turn on, but I mean That’s going to happen at the end of July, hopefully we don’t need the heat,” Martinou said.
Father Mark Blom said the project was expected to be 95 percent complete by next week.
A labor of love worth it to all its members who look forward to meeting the Pope in person. And those who want to heal, reconcile, and move on from the pain caused by the role of Catholic churches in residential schools.
“It’s so beautiful that it’s coming. It’s a great blessing for reconciliation and forgiveness,” said parishioner Theresa Yatesley.