Now serving around 2,000 families, Sacred Heart Church stands in what is known as the "Beltline" area of southwest Calgary, just outside downtown proper and not quite in the residential area to the south and west. The present Sacred Heart Church opened for services on Christmas of 1930, replacing an earlier wood frame building opened in July of 1910.
Since its opening, the Gothic Revival building has been enlarged and renovated, adding the majestic steeple and bell tower in the 1950s and enlarging the sanctuary in the 1970s. In 2011 a very spacious
columbarium was also added to the building.
The entire building is of dark red brick, with mostly Gothic arched openings, including the main doors, clerestory windows and belfry vents. The square steeple itself is now centred in the building as a result of later additions. Built to resemble earlier Gothic Revival towers, it has buttresses at each corner with stone capped steps as it rises. Inset panels between corner pilasters each contain triple tall, narrow belfry vents. Above the belfry the tower steps in to become an octagonal spire which reaches a good deal farther skyward. Given its patina, we surmise that the spire is clad in copper sheeting.
We believe there's a carillon in the tower, but as yet have not been able to confirm this. For now, we'll just say there's a single bell in the tower.
HISTORY OF OUR PARISH
In 1901, Calgary was home to only 4,400 residents. Over the following decade, however, the population increased almost tenfold, prompting Bishop Legal of the Diocese of St. Albert to request that land be purchased for a second Catholic church in the city. In July 1910, a frame structure built by the Oblate Fathers on Diocesan property opened for regular services. Bishop Legal initially designated the church as a mission to be served from St. Mary’s. The west end congregation grew so rapidly over the following year, however, that in June 1911 he erected Sacred Heart as an independent parish with both a pastor, Fr. A. Naessens OMI, and an assistant pastor to serve a mission at Beiseker. Within the year, Fr. Naessens and his still expanding congregation were making arrangements to build a larger, more permanent place of worship. By 1913, however, Calgary’s real estate boom had ended and Fr. Naessens abandoned the project on the sage advice of Fr. A.J. Hetherington.
Elevated to the title of domestic prelate and monsignor in 1924, and raised to the highest rank of prelacy in 1936, Fr. Hetherington left an indelible mark on the Calgary Diocese...
...Thanks to his careful planning and his parishioners’ generous donations, funding was well in hand by 1929. Contractors were in such high demand and labour was so costly, however, that the plan to build seemed impossible The onset of the Depression abruptly removed these barriers. The long-awaited 500 seat place of worship, which generated only a small debt, opened at Christmas in 1930.
In the 1950s, Msgr. Hetherington and his parishioners embellished the church with a steeple and stained glass clerestory window. Fr. R. Sullivan enlarged and renovated both the church and its rectory in the 1970s. To celebrate Pope John Paul II’s 1984 visit to Alberta, Msgr. Joseph LeFort, who served at Sacred Heart from 1982 to 1990, added floodlights to the steeple as a highly visible symbol of Christianity. During Msgr. LeFort’s pastorate, the city of Calgary twice honoured the church congregation with its prestigious award for superlative landscaping. The care bestowed on Sacred Heart Church bore fitting witness to its purpose, which Fr. Hetherington had defined with great eloquence in 1937.
From the Sacred Heart Calgary