Sacred Heart Church, Auburn, Maine

Sacred Heart Church, Auburn, Maine

Pillars & Foundations was initiated as an exploration of communities as well as faith through religious institutions. My intent is to share my experiences, and spread the positivity I obtain from them. Faith centers embody a drive to make a difference which they deliver upon, regardless if it is with one person looking for hope & community, or a recipient of their expansive charitable work.

History & Building

Sacred Heart Church is part of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish which includes another church, St. Philips, also located in Auburn Maine. This Parish recently lost St. Louis Church in Auburn when it had to be closed and scheduled to be razed in 2013 due to costly structural needs. Thankfully I was informed that the church was saved/purchased by Noel Smith associated with Grow L+A. Sacred Heart was established in 1923, originally meeting in a barn but ultimately planning for and building a church in 1937. After construction it ultimately only had a capacity of 500, but in its height there was a singular Sacred Heart Parish size of 4,300 people. That meant nearly 1 out of 5 people in Auburn potentially attended Sacred Heart around this time. Over the 1950s and 1960s a school was built and expanded upon on the church property. Today this school has become the Renaissance School which is a private, but secular K-8 special service school for children that have obstacles to attending public school with other children. It is affiliated with St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston.

The entrance shown here may currently be blocked off or storage, today you enter the church at an entry way added to the right side of the building. Note the rose window above the altar in the photo below.

Sacred Heart Church was extensively renovated in fairly recent history that involved a complete re-orientation of the sanctuary, so that the front became the back, and the main entrance was moved to the side. This allowed for improved handicap accessibility, and the church despite these major changes managed to retain much of its original character. I was unable to locate the exact dates that this occurred, however I speculate it was the late 1980s or early 1990s. (Please comment if someone has the resource so I can include this information)

The future looks interesting for Sacred Heart as they are installing a organ which was recently acquired, in the rear of the church. An area will also be set aside for the choir.

My History With Sacred Heart

My mother's side of the family grew up nearby off of Poland Rd. in Auburn, and naturally Sacred Heart was their church. My mother and aunts have shared fond memories of the church through the years with me. Such memories include my parents' wedding and my baptism. I recall going here as a child on occasion, and what struck me today was how the church which once seemed typical sized, if not large, appears quite small to me today. My mother, wife and I attended Mass and we created another great memory, followed by a lovely trip for lunch at Pineland, and custard at Hogdman's in New Gloucester.  

I love how rural this picture looks. Growing up I never really thought of Sacred Heart as being a country church, but I find this description is quite fitting as I revisit many years later.

The Parish

The parish, or at a minimum the Sacred Heart Church seems to be quite vibrant. Our 11:00 am Mass was essentially filled to capacity. The bulletin also demonstrated community activities and outreach which I will elaborate upon more below.

I really appreciate the up lighting in the church, it gives a false sense of sunlight pouring in.

Notice the French spelling on the windows. Small details like this really make something quite special.

The Mass

The Mass on July 8th had a guest priest, Father Francis who is currently retired. I understood that he happens to be a friend of the sitting priest,  Rev. Robert D. Lariviere. I would like to commend him on an excellent Homily. 

It was all about the importance of faith, and it was made personal. He shared a story of losing his wife, and how ultimately this prompted his calling to become a priest when his faith was restored and embraced. When he understood, and accepted God's plan. One reading, Mark 6:1-6, discussed how Jesus was a teacher, and often his own relations seemed to harbor resentment towards such teachings. It was described how it is not uncommon that outside of the box thinking is scorned, and this is what Jesus represented. To round out the homily, a great story was told by the priest, with incredible energy and parish interaction. A boy playing little league was loved by his team for his spirits, but he lacked faith in himself, because he did not possess skills that other boys inherently seemed to have. Of course the set up is it is two outs, in the bottom of the 9th inning, with the bases loaded and his team is behind. His coach teaches him about faith by telling him his bat is magic, and he has to believe in it, and himself, but there's no chance it will work if he doesn't have faith. Ultimately we can guess, that yes, two strikes go by, but in the end the coach convinces the boy to believe and there's a grand slam. The lesson is faith, positive thinking, and destroying negativity are ultimately some of the best practices humanity is capable of engaging in.

Sunlight streamed through these window, as did a gentle summer breeze. In the distance the hum of a couple of floor fans were not a distraction, but only seemed to make the Mass that much more appealing.

Outreach

I believe society tends to take the impact of a church on its community for granted, which is partly why I've been putting these write-ups together. The Ministries and activities are inspiring and anyone who is looking for such structure, for such relationships to be formed so that they can help to give back, should certainly consider such options.

Sacred Heart, as a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish certainly enriches Lewiston and Auburn as well as surrounding communities. The Parish does work with the Knights of Columbus to help those less fortunate. They support St. Martin de Porres' Bargain Basket which raises money to support a homeless shelter, it is located on the corner of Bartlett and College St. in Lewiston, and is open Monday 9:00 am to noon, Wednesday, noon to  4:00 pm, and Friday 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. Beyond charity, there are faith groups to help individuals cope with change, as well as social activities that include events at Taber's.
 

Above the old entrance. My parents had a photo taken for their wedding in this entryway, facing out from inside the church. Their silhouettes can be seen with the rainy day sunlight filtering in from the open door as they hold each others hands. I wonder how many similar shots were captured through the years? 

Text and photographs by George Parks

Sources are embedded in links