Inner city ministry – Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples

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Inner city ministry – Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples

Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples provides pastoral care to the homeless, marginalized, the poor and urban Indigenous peoples of the Edmonton area through numerous ministries offered by the parish.  In 1991 Archbishop Joseph McNeil designated Sacred Heart Church as National Indigenous parish, which was the first of its kind in Canada. Anyone with Indigenous ancestry is considered a parishioner. However, everyone is most welcome as we are all part of the one circle of life (Medicine Wheel).

Sacred Heart Parish is a unique Catholic community that incarnates Indigenous culture with Christian faith. As a result of this uniqueness there are many requests for educational tours on Native Spirituality from schools in Edmonton and surrounding areas. The tours dialogue on Native Spirituality include explanations of symbols that are in the church such as the Medicine Wheel, Eagle, Native Way of the Cross, Metis Sash, and interpretation of the artwork. There is also an explanation on the use of smudging that is done before and during the mass.

Rituals meaningful to native culture are incorporated into the Catholic liturgy. The Church is filled each Sunday with Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis, Inuit and others) from Alberta, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and beyond. It is one of the busiest parishes in Edmonton mostly dealing the marginalized, the poor and the homeless.

Sacred Heart is also a unique parish for priestly training. Seminarians from Newman Theological College come here on a weekly basis for training. We also receive Oblate seminarians who receive training and orientation to inner city parish life. Brother Abraham Hernandez Reyes from Guatemala arrived at Sacred Heart on December 27. He has immersed himself in pastoral activities with the homeless, hospital visits, house blessings, visiting agencies within the area and listening and learning from the elders. He will be with us until June 2018. Another Oblate seminarian from US will be arriving in the fall to spend ten months with us.

Brother Abraham interacting with a parish elder.

Sacred Heart has a large immigrant and refugee community and works closely with Catholic Social Services to sponsor the many refugees (mainly from Eritrea and Sudan) that arrive in Edmonton each year. Every Sunday, Mass is celebrated with an Eritrean Community of approximately 600 fervent faithful. This group is very active, supportive and collaborative with the parish community.

Community Demographics

The parish is located on Church Street in the McCauley area of Edmonton. McCauley is a vibrant, ethnically diverse inner city neighbourhood. Sacred Heart is nestled between Chinatown and Little Italy. The street is famous for its many churches: there are nineteen churches located on Church Street of which fourteen are functional and Sacred Heart Church is one of the most active and busiest. There is also a large presence of homeless and marginalized people in the McCauley neighbourhood whose needs are acute. The parish is very involved every day in trying to meet those needs. As well, many of the city’s agencies that offer services to the homeless, marginalized and low-income families have a presence in the area.

Ministries

Sacred Heart parish has many ministries and activities that are ongoing throughout the year to meet the needs of all the people in the inner-city area.

Liturgical Ministries

  • Baptism
  • First Communion
  • Confirmation
  • RCIA
  • Marriage Preparation
  • Music/Choir ministry
  • Eucharistic ministry
  • Funeral and Wake services
  • Pastoral Care
  • Hospital Care ministry

Outreach Ministries

  • Communion for the Homebound
    Our volunteer Eucharistic Ministers make weekly visits to provide spiritual comfort and communion to the homebound and nursing home residents of our parish community.
  • Spiritual Guidance
    At the request of the community, a team consisting of Archbishop Emeritus Sylvain Lavoie OMI, Lucie Leduc, Oblate Lay Associate and director of Star of the North, and the pastor Fr. Susai Jesus OMI provide spiritual guidance to those who request it.
  • Receiving Step Five
    There has also been a strong demand for receiving Step Five of the AA program. Archbishop Emeritus Sylvain Lavoie OMI and Justin Robert have offered to provide this service for the parish.
  • Grief Counselling
    Grief counseling is provided to help people cope with grief and mourning following the death of loved ones. This is a new ministry for Sacred Heart Parish and the response to this service provided by Helen Gledhow, certified grief counselor and Fr. Susai OMI has been tremendous. This team follows up with the grieving families after the funeral service. This has become a growing need.
  • Clothing/Household Goods/Food Distribution
    Our clothing/household goods and food distribution occurs on a daily basis. Each day we have the poor and homeless people coming to the door that are in need of clothing, food, furniture, money, bus tickets, and household items. Many also request crosses, rosaries, holy water and blessings. We are fortunate to have the Salvation Army deliver cases of bread twice a week to Sacred Heart, which is then distributed to those in need in the community. They also provide, on a less frequent basis, cases of non-perishable food items, fresh vegetables, clothing and diapers which are then distributed as people come to the door. Cobbs Bread, a local bakery, also donates a large amount of day-old bread once a week to the parish for distribution. Food items, both perishable and non-perishable are always in very high demand as many people are in need of enough food to sustain them for a short period of time. Many Edmonton families generously donate household items, clothing and furniture daily, which are then given to people in need.

  • Prayer Group
    Originally from the Cursillo movement, St. Paul’s Prayer Group has been meeting for the last few years at St. Joseph’s Basilica. Recently they decided to move to Sacred Heart Church for their bi-weekly gathering. The group shares their rich experience of piety, study and action that continually feeds our spiritual growth as disciples of Jesus Christ. The membership of this group is growing.

  • Bible Study
    In response to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Letter by Archbishop Richard Smith, and at the request of our Parishioners, we have started a Bible Study group which meets bi-weekly. At each gathering we choose one parable from the Gospel that is printed in the Sunday bulletin for everyone to reflect upon. During the gatherings, all are welcome to share their insights on this parable.
  • Ultreya
    The Ultreya group, part of the Cursillo movement, meets every three months with 60 to 80 members attending the gathering. In a climate of friendship, members share their life experiences based on the three tenets of Cursillo life: Prayer, Study and Action. It continues to grow and has been very successful.

  • Wakes
    This is a tradition in First Nations and Métis culture. The majority of Indigenous families who have funerals at Sacred Heart Church for their loved one, hold a wake in the church hall the night prior to the funeral. The wake provides an opportunity for family and friends to grieve, view the deceased’s body, get together and share their memories of the deceased person, which helps with the healing process. It is a time of reflecting and looking back on the person’s life. Often the wake goes throughout the night with many family members and friend’s attending. Wakes may include prayers, drumming and a feast. This ministry is unique to Sacred Heart Church.
  • Funerals
    The poor, lonely, alienated, those without families, all reach out to our parish to provide funeral services they can’t afford. They are encouraged to make a donation, but most often nothing is offered and the parish bears the full brunt of the cost, including items like electricity. Nevertheless, we feel called and are committed to helping the poor who are carrying the double burden of poverty and loss.
  • Monthly Lunches
    Sunday lunches, prepared by the Lions club and volunteers, are provided once a month. Up to 700 people including many homeless from’ the Inner City attend these lunches. For most of these people it may be the only meal they have that day.
  • Movie Night
    At the initiative of St. Vincent de Paul Society, Sacred Heart Parish started a monthly movie night. Movies of a spiritual and religious nature are shown to provide an entertaining and informative social event to help build community.

Christmas Activities

Each year Sacred Heart Church organizes two large events – a Children’s Christmas Party and Food Hamper distribution. For those living at or below the poverty line, each month is a struggle to provide for their families. Our ministry in the inner city is year-round, but assistance is most urgently needed at Christmas. Through the continued generosity of organizations, businesses, corporations, individuals, schools and parishes, we are able to provide Christmas gifts for children and hampers for families.

  • Annual Children’s Christmas Party
    This party includes lunch, face painting, a visit by the Shriner clowns with balloon-making, singing Christmas Carols, a visit by Santa and his elves who present a gift to each child. The party concludes with a full turkey dinner. This year 550 gifts were provided to the children at the party.

                      

  • Food Hampers
    The Church also provides Christmas Hampers to families in need to ensure that on Christmas morning they can wake up to a nutritious breakfast and enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner, something many of us take for granted. Over 430 Christmas Hampers were provided/delivered to those in need this past Christmas. Another 520 gifts for children were included in the hampers.

              

  • Community Christmas Day Dinner
    For the first time, Sacred Heart Church organized and provided a Christmas turkey dinner with all the trimmings on December 25th to over 700 people of the inner city, and of our community. Over 50 volunteers made this wonderful event possible. A huge thanks to all the volunteers and donors on behalf of Sacred Heart and the needy who greatly appreciated this initiative.Preparation and organization of these events begins in late September. We rely on financial donations from corporations, unions, businesses, schools, parishes and individuals to offset the costs of purchasing gifts for the children, food for the hampers, the Children’s Christmas Party and Christmas day meals. Registration for the Children’s Party and food hampers begins in November with three volunteers handling thousands of calls coming in to the office on three phone lines. We collaborate with the Christmas Bureau and the Edmonton Food Bank to avoid duplication. We also set a deadline to the day of distribution to ensure those in need are reached and to include last minute requests. A special thanks to all the volunteers and Oblate associates who generously donated their valuable time.

Oblate Parishes Helping Sacred Heart Parish

We were blessed to have three Oblate Parishes (St. Albert Parish, St. Charles Parish, Lac St. Anne Parish) within the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton who generously supported our Christmas activities. The Diocesan Parish of “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” in Sherwood Park also again provided generous support to meet our needs for the Christmas hampers. Bishop Savaryn Elementary School was also very generous in providing us with completed hampers to give away. The assistance these parishes and school provided through financial and food donations helped make these much needed activities a huge success. A generous thank you to the many parishioners of these parishes including those of Sacred Heart CHURCH OF THE FIRST PEOPLES who selflessly volunteered for these Christmas activities. These events depend on the time and commitment of hundreds of volunteers and with their generous giving of time we were able to comfortably reach our goal of providing a Christmas to remember to those in need.

                 

With all these ministries and activities taking place throughout the year, we are at times the busiest parish in the city, as well as the poorest. Sacred Heart Church is not self-sufficient, although that is our eventual goal. We are grateful that the Archdiocese of Edmonton generously supports our ministry.  In a very special way, we express our gratitude and thanks to Archbishop Richard Smith for his continued support and encouragement.

We are constantly in need of financial assistance to continue this much needed ministry in the inner city. We graciously invite and encourage donations so that we can make a difference in the lives of the homeless, marginalized and the poor.

By Susai Jesu, OMI Pastor – Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples