Welcome to our Web site. It is now
nearly six years into my ministry here with the People of God at
Sacred Heart / St. Dominic Parish. I wish you all God's blessings!
I have to tell you what a happy place
this has been for me to minister, not without its challenges, but a
place full of inclusiveness and joy. By my count, parishioners worship
here from at least fifteen suburban locations for the sake of our
mission of worship and deed. Our parish community is actively and
prayerfully engaged in social outreach, commitment to the poor and openness to
immigrants and refugees newly arrived from Latin America, Africa and
Asia, in addition to our long time parishioners from the neighborhood and throughout
the city. We are a multi-lingual and multi-cultural community serving
the needs of the People of God, and our parish is an anchor for the City
of Portland in which we are located.
It has become clear to me since I arrived
here that an inner-city parish such as ours would not survive (and
indeed prosper) without the commitment of folks from other parts of
Portland and its suburban towns and cities. Coming together with a
common mission, our parish (because of its location) can host a Food
Pantry, Clothing Bank, retreat programs and various anonymous groups to
overcome addictions, and be a place of new hope and new beginnings for
individuals and families from around the world.
Our
parish community is very diverse. We celebrate the Eucharist in two
languages, English and Spanish and occasionally also in French. If you
visit with us at our coffee hours after Mass, and various other social
events that we host, you can meet parishioners from just about every
continent of the world. We are Irish-Americans, Franco-Americans,
Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Anglo-Americans.
We are refugees and asylum-seekers. We are long-time citizens and
potential ones. We are rich and poor. We are professionals and laborers.
We come together to relish each other's common faith in Our Lord Jesus
Christ. As Christ is in solidarity with us, we are in solidarity with each
other.
While we have great outreach programs, we
also work at nurturing our own spiritual programs through Religious
Education for both adults and children and those inquiring about our
Catholic faith. We have ministries to the elderly, and our musical
program to enhance our Liturgy of Sacred Worship is first rate,
innovative and creative, and strives to include the cultures of our
constituent members. We celebrate the only Spanish Mass in the Portland
area. Some of our Liturgies are multi-lingual to reflect the diversity
of our parishioners for special occasions. This Web site is a great
resource for learning about the parish, the Diocese of Portland, the
Jesuits, the Vatican, and our Catholic faith. It is a growing and
interactive site, multi-lingual and multi-cultural to reflect our
mission and its constituents.
Our
worship space is a wonderful neo-classical church. Our stained glass
windows tell the great story of Christ's life as related through the
Gospels. Stations of the Cross are wonderful occasions of contemplating
Jesus' last days for us. A visit to our church can provide you with
moments of contemplation of what our ancestors in faith experienced in
prayer and reflection. If you want to experience the highlights of the
Gospels, you can see them in glass and relief in our church. Most of all,
we hope that you will come and worship with us and meet the living God
celebrated in Word and Sacrament.
Whether you are a parishioner, an
occasional visitor or have an interest in our mission of reaching out to
the poor of the inner city and our work of melding together the rich and
the poor, we invite you to make contributions to make an already vibrant
parish even more so.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, expressed that we should
pray as if all depends on God and that we should work as if all depends on
ourselves. I think that this formula is helpful to our mission. We pray
hard and work hard to make our parish a viable place. St. Benedict, in his
rule to his monks, tells them that when the guest comes, Christ comes. We
are a very welcoming place and invite you to join us in worship and in our
commitment to newcomers to our city and country.
I say all of this to tell you of our work
here at Sacred Heart / St. Dominic and our mission. I find our mission
exciting and creative and so wonderfully challenging. I hope you will
join us in that mission.
Sincerely in Christ,
- (Rev) Richard-D. Bertrand, S.J.
- Parochial Vicar in Residence
