The Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Tivoli was all glow and brilliance last Sunday when His Lordship Bishop Vincent M Darius OP presided at the Holy Eucharist to celebrate the rededication of the church. Several clergy and Religious were also present at the great occasion as the church was filled to its 400 capacity.

Church in Tivoli

Bishop Darius said that the rededication marks a new beginning and a new chapter in the life of the parish. Focusing his homily on Mt 9:9-13, he said that, as Jesus called Matthew and dined with tax collectors and sinners, similarly the Church which is a Church of sinners, is a place for the despised, the rejected in society and the insignificant.

He urged that the Church must be a Church of compassion as, too often, people have been wounded by others from within the Church.

His Lordship said that the rededication has brought new challenges, particularly to parishioners. He complimented them for their energies and their enthusiasm in their renovation efforts, but he suggested that they use the same energies to build communities.

He stressed that they should be concerned about the fewer and fewer, especially the youth, who are attending Mass. “Let your church be a church that evangelizes,” he said, “go and find them.”

Cross section of the congregation

The Tivoli church was built between 1916 and 1921 and was blessed and consecrated in 1923.

Since then, no major work had been done on the building as it deteriorated with the passage of time. Fr Trevor Nathasingh came to preach a mission in the parish in 2003, during which time he told the parishioners “It is a shame to worship God in this building.”

This moved the hearts of the people in the parish and immediately, with their parish priest Fr John Eze, a building committee was established.

Funding came from many sources including Advaniat, Propaganda Fide, the parish priest's own diocese back in Nigeria . The renovation was almost complete when Hurricane Ivan visited and, although the church building escaped major damage, the windows on the southern side were blown in.

Fr John Eze, who left the parish earlier this year for England and was replaced by Fr Lawrence, came all the way from London to Grenada for the rededication.

The project cost about EC$700,000.00.