By Zoe Cannon
Gratitude for the Gift of Faith
“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Matthew 25:23).
God has entrusted us with all that he created. One day, God will ask what we have done with all that he has given. The eternity of God is different from the temporality of man, because the spirit of God transcends time and we are bound by it.
God dwells in a spiritual realm, very different from the worldly influence that governs our life. We are busy with things necessary to live in this world and often forget to praise God for the blessings of this world.
In history, we witness people who understood the obligation of stewardship. The saints, missionaries and religious sisters who brought faith to our country are exemplary. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States and all the successes, we should be proud of the Catholic presence that established hospitals, institutions of education and places to worship.
The very old, historic, Catholic churches survived generations of ideas, opinions and financial concerns. Eventually, deterioration from weather and the elements of time take a toll on buildings, but our personal relationship with God is the real foundation of the Church! The buildings that serve as our spiritual home could never equal the greatness of human life … a holy temple created in the image of God.
I attended grade school at Sacred Heart in Vincennes during the 1960s. The projection of increased enrollment led to the building of a new school in 1963. Bursting at the seams, many classes were still held in the “old” school established in 1910. Father John Becher was directed by Bishop Silas Chatard in 1908 to organize the new Sacred Heart congregation. Father Becher formed a building committee, and a school, convent, rectory and church opened with 65 families.
Sadly, the Sacred Heart School built in 1963 was sold to the Vincennes Community School Corporation in 1970. Decreased enrollment created a need for consolidation of all parish schools. A grade school opened on the St. John campus in 1971, named after French missionary Father Benedict Joseph Flaget, and it thrives today.
In 2009, as a Sacred Heart parish council member, I reviewed an assessment of the “old” school. The building was used for religious education classes and a parish hall, aptly named after Father John Becher. The internal deterioration revealed was alarming. Seventeen years later, in March 2026, the Sacred Heart school building was razed.
I obtained a stained glass window from the building. We found a company in Indianapolis to restore it. The window that brought light into my school plays, choir events, eighth-grade dance and my basketball and cheerleading practices is beautiful again. The sound of children, music, bouncing basketballs and an occasional coo from a pigeon will always be remembered.
The craftsman restoring our window was working on a project to refurbish stained glass windows obtained from a Catholic church in New York. Soon they will be installed in a new chapel being built at Bishop Silas Chatard High School in Indianapolis. If old windows could talk!
Time belongs to God. We have free will to choose how we spend our time on earth. The growth and vibrancy of the Church belong to us. The Body of Christ is more than a church building, it is the strong faith we pass on to future generations! Amen!