Page 147 - ROCHESTER

Sacred Heart cHurcH
In the fall of 1956 Bishop James E. Kearney appointed Father Raymond Wahl as founding pastor of Auburn’s Sacred Heart Parish,
which at the time was little more than a 15-acre cow pasture, according parish lore.
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PPurchased for $8,000, that plot of land soon became the site of a thriving parish.
Construction of the parish’s rst building began in the spring of 1957, and many of Sacred Heart’s founding parishioners were actively involved in this work, doing what they could to help in the evenings after returning home from their jobs. Sometimes parishioners were pouring cement or framing walls, and other times they were painting the walls or installing oors. Those who weren’t involved in the building’s physical construction were busy raising funds for the new parish – and building a sense of community among parishioners – by holding bake sales and card parties.
Parish Masses were celebrated in this rst building, which featured classrooms and an auditorium, until October 1973, when construction began on
the church at 90 Melrose Avenue. Bishop Joseph L. Hogan dedicated the completed church in 1974.
Sacred Heart’s new hexagon-shaped church, which cost $117,000 to build, was completed one year later and dedicated in October 1974. The new organ and tabernacle were gifts from Monsignor Frederick Straub, and a parishioner donated a large statue depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
At its founding in 1956, Sacred Heart gained a mission church, St. Ann in Owasco, which previously had been a mission of St. Patrick Church in Moravia. St. Ann remains a mission of Sacred Heart, and the two parishes share a pastor.
Sacred Heart celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006 with a year full of special Masses and festivities.