by Steven Wright
news@thenewsleaders.com
When Dana Howard and her husband Patrick moved from Colorado to Minnesota more than 10 years ago, they wanted to find a church that would welcome and support their family.
It only took one service at Sacred Heart Parish in Sauk Rapids and they knew they had found the perfect fit.
“We came here one Sunday with our two little toddlers and after the service somebody told us we’re doing a good job, keep bringing your kids,” Howard said.
So they did. Fast forward 10 years and Howard is now the director of communication and finance at Sacred Heart and just days away from a groundbreaking ceremony to expand the church.
Sacred Heart’s current facility, which is roughly 15,000-square-feet and serves close to 1,700 families, has become a little cramped during the past few years.
“We had confirmation last week and everyone piled out of the gathering space and just couldn’t move,” Howard said in a Newsleader interview.
“If we had a fellowship hall to move over into, it would give us more space to properly do our ministries.”
The new expansion, which will cost close to $3 million and will essentially double the size of the current location, will provide meeting rooms, office space and a large fellowship hall.
“It was always our intention to have a fellowship space, with only one meeting room right now,” Howard said. “We’re very limited because we just don’t have the space to meet.”
Fundraising for the expansion started in 2013 and with more than $1 million in pledges received, construction is ready to begin. The ground-breaking ceremony will take place this Sunday, May 24, after 10 a.m. Mass. The Vicar General of the diocese will bless the area and everyone will be invited to grab a shovel and let the dirt fly.
Sacred Heart hopes to finish construction on the project by late spring 2016.
A view inside the sanctuary at Sacred Heart Parish in Sauk Rapids.
The proposed plans for Sacred Heart’s expansion, which will include new meeting rooms, offices and a fellowship hall.
