MOTTO

Through the Two Hearts, one heart at a time.

“God doesn’t transform parishes, businesses, schools, or countries. God transforms people, and He does it one at a time. He the collaborates with those He has transformed to continue the process. The outcome of these individual transformations is that marriages, families, parishes, businesses, communities, schools, and countries are transformed. But God’s primary purpose is never the transformation of an organization or even a group of people. Our God is a deeply personal God, and He takes a deeply personal interest in each person.” – From the book “33 days to Eucharistic Glory by Matthew Kelly

Starting with our own consecrations and devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and  the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we then reach out personally to those whom we encounter on our own faith journeys, just as the Holy Spirit proceeds from the relationship of the Father and the Son to inspire and guide us.  At the end of Mass, we are dismissed – “Go in peace” and recall that we are commanded by Jesus to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28).  There are ample opportunities to reach out: greeting others at ice tea and goodies after summer Masses, meeting others at parish dinners, missions, retreats, talks, RCIA, Alpha, and welcoming new parishioners / families, and lapse Catholics, and especially new non-Catholics seeking to join the faith.

LOGO

The logo has the picture of  Sacred Heart Cathedral along with the images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the patroness of the Diocese of Kamloops. The Two Hearts are united together. The feast days are side by side on the calendar; the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday after the Solemnity of Corpus Christi  (which is itself held on the second Sunday after Pentecost).  The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is immediately followed by the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the very next day, which is Saturday of course.

Downtown Kamloops is where the North Thompson and South Thompson Rivers join into the one Thompson River; in fact the word Kamloops is the English translation of Tk’emlúps (from the language of our local Indigenous People), meaning ‘where the rivers meet.’ (Tkemlups.ca)   In the logo, the two rivers become one, which forms into the shape of a bird (dove), representing the Holy Spirit.  On a natural level, water gives us life. Likewise, on a supernatural level, we receive divine life at baptism, as holy water is used.  The Holy Spirit is closely associated with water (Genesis 1:2).

The Two Hearts are really united as one; we are invited to share our hearts with the Two Hearts, so that all our hearts are united as one. Notice that the Sacred Heart has a crown of thorns around it, recalling Jesus’ Passion (John 19); similarly,  the Immaculate Heart of Mary has a sword piercing her heart (Luke 2:35). There is no true, unconditional love without suffering during our faith journeys in our broken world. We learn to love by uniting our sufferings with the Two Hearts,  and then we bring this newly-learned love to others.

MISSION STATEMENT

Sacred Heart Cathedral is the heart and home of Catholic life in Downtown Kamloops, discipling all hearts to our heavenly home.

Our beloved parish is named after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We also have the Immaculate Heart of Mary as the patroness of our diocese. Sacred Heart Cathedral is in the heart of our diocese; as well, it is the “mother home” of our diocese where all the priests come together in union with our bishop for significant celebrations. We are also the “heart of the city”, as we are situated in downtown Kamloops.

VISION STATEMENT

Opening our hearts to journey with Jesus and Mary.

We want to open our own hearts;  first, by allowing our hearts to be discipled through prayer, then by our consecrations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Once our hearts are personally touched by the Two Hearts, we then desire to reach out, gently knocking on the doors of the hearts of others.

Here are some ways we can reach out personally:

• Greeting our friends, but particularly greeting someone new or someone we do not know well, after Mass in the courtyard with the ice tea and goodies.
• Inviting someone to journey in Alpha
• Inviting a lapsed Catholic to journey with you in various ways
• Being open to respond if the priest may ask you to journey with a new family that just arrived in the parish
• Being open to respond if the priest asks you to journey with a person who wants to learn more about the Catholic faith.
• Being on the outlook for new people at parish functions, pancake breakfasts, mini parish retreats, parish missions, etc.
• Helping those in need, especially engaging in opportunities at the hospital, Hopewell Pregnancy Care Center, Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Voices for Life, etc.
• Always looking for new ways to journey with people, heart to heart.