The Sacred Heart Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, United States. The recently renovated cathedral is the Mother Church of the

Diocese of Rochester The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in the English county of Kent and the Province of Canterbury. The cathedral church of the diocese is Rochester Cathedral in the former city of Rochester. The bishop's Latin episcopal signa ...

and seat of the diocesan

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

, as well as home to a parish community. The parish is currently known as the Cathedral Community at The Sacred Heart Cathedral.

History

In 1823, St. Patrick's was the first Catholic parish established in Rochester. Its third church building was under construction when the Diocese of Rochester was founded in 1868, and it became the diocesan cathedral. The

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

built their headquarters adjacent to the cathedral property in 1914. Over the intervening years, the company expanded its footprint in the area and other parishes were established in the city. With the approval of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, the diocese sold St. Patrick's Cathedral to Eastman Kodak in 1937 and it was dismantled that same year. The parish remained in existence until 1979. In the meantime, Sacred Heart parish was founded in 1911. The cornerstone for the present church was laid in 1925. Designed by Chicago architect Charles H. Prindeville, of the firm Egan & Prindeville, it was completed in 1927. Sacred Heart was named the

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostoli ...

of the diocese when St. Patrick's was sold and became a full cathedral in 1952.

2005 Renovation

The diocese completed an extensive and controversial eighteen-month renovation of the cathedral in January 2005 at a cost of $11 million. Fr.

Richard S. Vosko Richard S. Vosko (born 1943) is an American Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Albany and liturgical design consultant who has overseen the redesign and renovation of numerous churches and cathedrals in the United States. Vosko has worked th ...

, a liturgical design consultant and priest of the Diocese of Albany, supervised the renovation. Apart from structural repairs and improvements, the renovation comprised moving the altar from the front of the church to the center in order to foster a feeling of participation, removing a large statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hung on the wall in the sanctuary and replacing it with a new organ (the choir will now stand in the former altar space; fully visible), placing a new immersion baptismal font in the main aisle of the church so the community can share in baptisms, removing the pews and replacing them with padded chairs to allow flexible seating for events and moving the tabernacle out of the sanctuary to a side chapel. The renovation was controversial and attempts by traditional parishioners to stop the renovations were not successful. Protestors were upset with the "radical" re-configuration deemed a "

wreckovation ''Wreckovation'' is a portmanteau term coined by Catholics to describe the style of renovations which some Catholic cathedrals, churches, and oratories have undergone since the Second Vatican Council. Background In the Tridentine Roman Missal, th ...

", the unwarranted spending of substantial monies when the diocese is closing churches and schools, and the fact that the church would likely become a pilgrimage site if former Rochester bishop

Fulton Sheen Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen, May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in ...

is canonized believing that the church should remain in the condition when he served.

Organ

The organ is an Opus 26 by Paul Fritts & Company, three-manual 53 rank instrument.

References

External links

Official Cathedral SiteDiocese of Rochester Official Site
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, state=collapsed Christian organizations established in 1911 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1927 Roman Catholic cathedrals in New York (state) Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester Roman Catholic churches in Rochester, New York 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

2005 Renovation

Organ

See also

References

External links