Shrine of the Sacred Heart
Encyclopedia
The Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic parish established in 1899 in the Mount Pleasant
/Columbia Heights
neighborhood of Washington D.C.. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine
structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna
, Italy
.
The current church is actually the second that the Shrine of the Sacred Heart community has called home. The original red brick structure was dedicated in 1901, and the current structure in 1922. Both buildings were influenced by the City Beautiful architectural movement which overtook Washington from 1901 to 1910.
The parish was originally part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore before the establishment of the Diocese of Washington
in 1923. The Diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese in 1939.
The church is located at 3211 Sacred Heart Way (formerly Pine Street, NW), nestled in between the Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights
regions of the District of Columbia, just off 16th Street Northwest, for a long time a de facto dividing line in the tensely racially divided Washington in the decades after the city's 1968 riots
.
The original parish church was located at the corner of 14th Street and Park Road, Northwest (current site of the Tivoli Theater), and the current church was established in the 1920s. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Murphy and Olmstead, and the architectural sculptor was John Joseph Earley
. Incorporated into the design is Earley's innovative technique of beautifying concrete by infusing the mixture with fragmented quartz stones, then scraping away the surface of the concrete during drying to further expose the stones as the concrete sets. The same technique can be seen in Earley's work at Meridian Hill Park
, a half-mile south. This technique is today known as the Mo-Sai Technique
.
Local tradition holds that the church was built on a spur off 16th Street because the artery was home to many mainline Protestant churches, whose leaders objected to a Roman Catholic church joining them on 16th Street, long the home of high-profile religious institutions in Washington. Locals also pass on a similar as-yet-unverified story for the mansion and property next door to the church, which houses a branch of the DC Department of Recreation, supposedly because a previous owner donated it to the city out of a fear that it would eventually fall into Catholic hands if it was sold to another private owner.
Though the church was built by wealthy patrons, who reportedly raised the funds in three weeks, it is now spiritual home to many lower-income immigrant families, largely Latin American, with a particular concentration of Salvadoran-Americans. The parish regularly celebrates Mass in Spanish
, English
, Haitian Creole
, and Vietnamese
. For vigil Masses on Holy Thursday, Easter, and Christmas, the church encourages all communities to celebrate together and the vigil Mass is said in seven languages.
The church is administered by priests of the Franciscan Capuchin Order
. The current pastor is Fr. Moisés Villalta, OFM Cap. In July 2010, Fr. Stephen Carter announced that he would be succeed as pastor by Fr. Moises, and upon his installation, Villalta became the first Salvadoran-American pastor in the history of the Parish.
Among clergy who served the parish was Rev. James W. Quander, who was in the first class of permanent deacon
s in the Archdiocese of Washington. He was considered one of the longest-living juvenile diabetics in the nation. The disease, also known as Type 1 diabetes, was diagnosed when he was 5. In 1925, he was among the first to use insulin. Rev. and Mrs. Quander's children were the first African American students admitted to Sacred Heart School.
(Sacred Heart hosts her feast day December 12 for the entire archdiocese) and Óscar Romero
, the slain Archbishop
of San Salvador
, though the movement to beatify and possibly canonize Romero appears stalled.
Several dozen flags hang from the church's choir loft, representing the nations of birth and ancestry for the highly diverse congregation.
, before gradually evolving into a school staffed by laypersons, like many Catholic schools in the late twentieth century. Among its most famous alums was actress Helen Hayes
, widely known as the "First Lady of American Theater."
In the late 1990s, the church realized it could no longer adequately finance the school, a fate shared by several inner-city Washington parishes, despite the continued popularity of Catholic education in a city in need of alternatives to a struggling public school system. In 1997, then-archbishop James Cardinal Hickey
established the Center City Consortium, subsidizing these schools from a general archdiocese fund, pooling their resources, and sharing their costs. The archdiocese has direct fiscal oversight over these schools. Sacred Heart's priests still minister to the school spiritually. The Sacred Heart School continues to receive praise and honors, even as several of these Consortium schools continue to be threatened. It is one a very few United States
Catholic parish schools operating with a bilingual curriculum
.
Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C.
Mount Pleasant is a neighborhood in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The neighborhood is bounded by Rock Creek Park to the north and west; and Harvard Street, NW and the Adams Morgan neighborhood to the south; and Sixteenth Street, NW and the Columbia...
/Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.
Columbia Heights is a neighborhood in central Washington, D.C.-Geography:Located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., Columbia Heights borders the neighborhoods of Shaw, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Park View, Pleasant Plains, and Petworth. On the eastern side is Howard University...
neighborhood of Washington D.C.. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
The current church is actually the second that the Shrine of the Sacred Heart community has called home. The original red brick structure was dedicated in 1901, and the current structure in 1922. Both buildings were influenced by the City Beautiful architectural movement which overtook Washington from 1901 to 1910.
The parish was originally part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore before the establishment of the Diocese of Washington
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. It comprises the District of Columbia and Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and Saint Mary's counties in the state of Maryland....
in 1923. The Diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese in 1939.
History
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The church is located at 3211 Sacred Heart Way (formerly Pine Street, NW), nestled in between the Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.
Columbia Heights is a neighborhood in central Washington, D.C.-Geography:Located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., Columbia Heights borders the neighborhoods of Shaw, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Park View, Pleasant Plains, and Petworth. On the eastern side is Howard University...
regions of the District of Columbia, just off 16th Street Northwest, for a long time a de facto dividing line in the tensely racially divided Washington in the decades after the city's 1968 riots
1968 Washington, D.C. riots
Five days of race riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S...
.
The original parish church was located at the corner of 14th Street and Park Road, Northwest (current site of the Tivoli Theater), and the current church was established in the 1920s. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Murphy and Olmstead, and the architectural sculptor was John Joseph Earley
John Joseph Earley
John Joseph Earley was the son of James Earley, a fourth generation Irish stone carver and ecclesiastical artist...
. Incorporated into the design is Earley's innovative technique of beautifying concrete by infusing the mixture with fragmented quartz stones, then scraping away the surface of the concrete during drying to further expose the stones as the concrete sets. The same technique can be seen in Earley's work at Meridian Hill Park
Meridian Hill Park
Meridian Hill Park, is located in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights in the United States. The 12 acres of landscaped grounds are maintained by the National Park Service as part of Rock Creek Park, but are not contiguous with the main part of that park...
, a half-mile south. This technique is today known as the Mo-Sai Technique
Mo-Sai
Mo-Sai is a method of producing precast concrete cladding panels. It was patented by John Joseph Earley in 1940. The Mo-Sai institute later refined Earley's method and became the leader in exposed aggregate concrete...
.
Local tradition holds that the church was built on a spur off 16th Street because the artery was home to many mainline Protestant churches, whose leaders objected to a Roman Catholic church joining them on 16th Street, long the home of high-profile religious institutions in Washington. Locals also pass on a similar as-yet-unverified story for the mansion and property next door to the church, which houses a branch of the DC Department of Recreation, supposedly because a previous owner donated it to the city out of a fear that it would eventually fall into Catholic hands if it was sold to another private owner.
Though the church was built by wealthy patrons, who reportedly raised the funds in three weeks, it is now spiritual home to many lower-income immigrant families, largely Latin American, with a particular concentration of Salvadoran-Americans. The parish regularly celebrates Mass in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Haitian Creole
Haitian Creole language
Haitian Creole language , often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about twelve million people, which includes all Haitians in Haiti and via emigration, by about two to three million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, French...
, and Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
. For vigil Masses on Holy Thursday, Easter, and Christmas, the church encourages all communities to celebrate together and the vigil Mass is said in seven languages.
The church is administered by priests of the Franciscan Capuchin Order
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
. The current pastor is Fr. Moisés Villalta, OFM Cap. In July 2010, Fr. Stephen Carter announced that he would be succeed as pastor by Fr. Moises, and upon his installation, Villalta became the first Salvadoran-American pastor in the history of the Parish.
Among clergy who served the parish was Rev. James W. Quander, who was in the first class of permanent deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
s in the Archdiocese of Washington. He was considered one of the longest-living juvenile diabetics in the nation. The disease, also known as Type 1 diabetes, was diagnosed when he was 5. In 1925, he was among the first to use insulin. Rev. and Mrs. Quander's children were the first African American students admitted to Sacred Heart School.
Culture
The church has a long history of social justice ministry, and has been the frequent host of the District's labor Mass on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, as well as the home of the Hermano Pedro homeless outreach program and the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Dinner Program, and is affiliated with local social service organizations such as the Spanish Catholic Center and Neighbors Consejo. The parish houses large devotions to Our Lady of GuadalupeOur Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe , also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary.According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady...
(Sacred Heart hosts her feast day December 12 for the entire archdiocese) and Óscar Romero
Óscar Romero
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980....
, the slain Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
, though the movement to beatify and possibly canonize Romero appears stalled.
Several dozen flags hang from the church's choir loft, representing the nations of birth and ancestry for the highly diverse congregation.
Sacred Heart School
The church has a parish school, though it no longer retains full control of it. For most of its history, the shocol was staffed and by the Sinsinawa Dominican SistersSinsinawa Dominican Sisters
Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers is a Catholic religious order for women. The mother house is located in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin in the Diocese of Madison.-Overview:...
, before gradually evolving into a school staffed by laypersons, like many Catholic schools in the late twentieth century. Among its most famous alums was actress Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
, widely known as the "First Lady of American Theater."
In the late 1990s, the church realized it could no longer adequately finance the school, a fate shared by several inner-city Washington parishes, despite the continued popularity of Catholic education in a city in need of alternatives to a struggling public school system. In 1997, then-archbishop James Cardinal Hickey
James Cardinal Hickey
James Aloysius Hickey was an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 2000, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1988.-Early life and ministry:...
established the Center City Consortium, subsidizing these schools from a general archdiocese fund, pooling their resources, and sharing their costs. The archdiocese has direct fiscal oversight over these schools. Sacred Heart's priests still minister to the school spiritually. The Sacred Heart School continues to receive praise and honors, even as several of these Consortium schools continue to be threatened. It is one a very few United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Catholic parish schools operating with a bilingual curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
.