March 30, 2007
By Fabvienen Taylor
CAMDEN — “It’s been almost like `a dream deferred’ for this community,” said Father Mike Barth, ST, quoting the words of the poet Langston Hughes, famous for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.
“I am so happy for the people here,” said Father Barth, a priest of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinitarians) who has pastored this growing African-American community in rural northeast Madison County for two and a half years. “They have waited a long, long time for this church,” he said.
On Sunday, March 25, Bishop Joseph Latino consecrated and dedicated the new Sacred Heart Catholic Church on the site of the old Sacred Heart Mission, which was closed in the 1970s.
The new 7,000 sq. ft. brick and steel church and family center sits off the road at the intersection of Highways 17 and 43. It costs $1.8 million and received funding from the Trinitarians, Extension Society, Black and Native American Missions, the Diocese of Jackson, several foundations, individual donors, and Sacred Heart parishioners.
Sitting on 110 acres, the new building consists of the church — which will seat over 200 — a multipurpose center/gym, game room, kitchen, youth office, fitness center, meeting and conference room.
“I was really hoping that one day we would have a new church,” said 87-year-old Margie Robinson, a Catholic since the Trinitarians established Sacred Heart Mission for blacks in the 1940s. “People have been so good to us. I just thank the good Lord I was here to see this dedication today.”
Robinson was among the parishioners who, after their mission church was closed, were directed to the predominantly white Immaculate Conception Church down the road.
Feeling displaced and not always welcome at Immaculate Conception, many in the Sacred Heart community longed for, worked for, a new church to call home.
For many years a depressed economy stunted growth and several years ago, a study by the Trinitarians revealed it was no longer feasible to keep the small Sacred Heart Elementary School open.
“At that time we committed ourselves to grow the Catholic church community,” said Father Barth, noting the number of families with children in the parish. At Easter, 10 new members will enter the church. “The time was right for a new church,” he said.
Larson Conway Sr., 82, another long-time parishioner, said he “had no idea this would ever happen.”
“We are really proud of our community here,” he said everybody cooperating and pitching in together to make this happen. It feels good to be a part of the old church and the new church.”
On a Sunday morning two weeks ago, the parishioners, with a police escort, processed the fourth of a mile from the now suppressed Immaculate Conception Church, to the new church.
“It was like a pilgrimage,” said Margaret White, who served as commentator at Sunday’s dedication. “It reminded me of Moses leading his people in the desert, telling them to be grateful for what God was doing for them. God is good. This is a new beginning for us and we have to keep it going.”
A huge savings for the new church came from the now-closed Father Judge Mission Seminary in Lynchburg, Va., which donated Sacred Heart three stained glass windows, the main blue stone altar, metal grating, and a steel baldachino (canopy) placed over the baptismal pool.
As part of the weekend celebration, on Friday night, the gym was dedicated to Amy Lynn Lackett, a Missionary Cenacle Volunteer with the Trinitarians, who taught physical education at the elementary and was killed in Camden in 1992.
Lackett’s mother Jean Lackett, Barbara Zoppi, her aunt, and her sister Nancy Pohla, traveled from New Jersey to Camden for the dedication.
“We wanted to meet the people Amy talked about, to attend the dedication and see the beautiful plaque dedicated to her in the gym,” said Jean Lackett. “The people here have been so wonderful to us. Amy always talked about how good, how spiritual the people here were.”
The new gym will be a draw to both parishioner youth as well as kids in the community. “There is really no place in the community where kids can gather, congregate,” said Father Barth. “It will be a safe place for youth from the church and the community to come for activities.”
Aloysius Evans, 13, an altar server, agreed. “I think I will be spending a lot of time up here at the church,” he said.
During his homily, Bishop Latino congratulated the community on their “beautiful new church.”
“But as magnificent as this structure is,” he said, “it must have a vibrant, faith-filled community to give it life, meaning and purpose. Without that this building will become nothing more than an architectural monument, a sterile museum.”
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