During one of the family road trips westward from Medicine Hat to Calgary, Fr. Cristino Bouvette said he could faintly recall pit-stopping at the IGA marketplace on 4th Avenue in Strathmore.

Naturally, a brief walkthrough of a small-town grocery establishment 20-30 years ago as a child does not sear deep into one’s memory bank.

His experience exploring the old building in the autumn of 2023 as a priest in his late 30s was markedly different — he was captivated from moment to moment.

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You see, the building he toured was no longer an IGA. All the trappings of a grocery store were gone without a trace. He was examining a vacant facility on the precipice of being transformed into a house of worship that congregants hope will be the “beating heart” of this prairie town with a population of nearly 15,000.

Intellectually curious, Bouvette inquired about what section of the IGA formerly occupied the space soon to become the Sacred Heart Church sanctuary.

A townsperson said it was the bakery.

“We have now gone from a place where bread that feeds our stomachs was made, sold, purchased and eaten to the place where the Bread of Life is made, stored, eaten and, most importantly, is worshipped because of who the Bread of Life is,” said Bouvette. “That it would stand in the same place — the same physical spot of the grocery store and church — I find it to be a perfect connection.”

On June 14, Bouvette stood beside Bishop William McGrattan to dedicate this parish dazzling with Neo-Romanesque arches, continuous curvatures in the walls and shimmering religious artifacts, including the crucifix, altar, tabernacle and Stations of the Cross tablets. This occasion was long-awaited and anticipated, to say the least. The community had been deprived of a proper church since the old one was closed 17 years ago over safety concerns.

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Providentially, the congregation endured and grew during the subsequent years, celebrating Mass in the Holy Cross Collegiate gymnasium. Hundreds accompanied McGrattan, Bouvette and other attending clerics in a walking procession from the high school to their new spiritual home. The new Sacred Heart Church can accommodate 545 people in the chapel and approximately 220 in the parish hall.

“So many families brought their children to this dedication,” said Nettie Hendricks, chairperson of the building project fundraising committee. “It is a real sign of renewal when you see the resurgence of the community. It is almost like it is sprouting new again. We weren’t all white-headed people in that congregation.”

In a diocesan message, McGrattan praised the steadfastness and hope exhibited by Strathmore Catholics, particularly the white- or gray-haired folks, for nearly two decades.

“Like the chosen people of the Old Testament, the parishioners had endured many hardships, faced painful memories and had made countless sacrifices in order to arrive and enter into this renovated building, which was to become their new place of worship,” wrote the bishop.

Now, congregants will be called upon to follow the example of the New Testament disciples by spreading the news about Sacred Heart Church opening its doors so that an even greater multitude of townsfolk and people from surrounding communities can come to receive bread through the Liturgies of the Word and Eucharist.

Encouragingly, the spiritual bread baked by the new Sacred Heart Parish also has the potential to transcend Strathmore's geographical boundaries. Already, St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Chestermere, 20 minutes away, is modelling Sacred Heart’s approach to fundraising for a proper church building. And there could be more to come, said Bouvette.

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“I hope that our ongoing transformation can fuel these sorts of transformations taking place elsewhere,” said Bouvette. “I mentioned to a couple of brother priests overseeing churches that need new buildings. I told them, ‘don’t underestimate the Strathmore model of a grocery store.’ There is an abandoned grocery store in Lethbridge. Think about it as this was an incredible strategy that worked out remarkably well.

“I think the bishop wants to let the Strathmore model be presented as a way forward for several other parishes in our diocese,” added Bouvette, who will officially become pastor of Sacred Heart Parish on Aug. 1 after serving nearly a year as administrator.