By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

Surrounded by church history, beautiful architecture and religious art, a group of 35 parishioners made up primarily of youth and a few young adults from the Lakes Catholic Community as well as diocesan seminarians recently participated in a pilgrimage to the Eternal City.

Father Brian Hughes addresses pilgrims from the Diocese of Sioux City during pilgrimage to Rome.Teresa Goehring, director of youth ministry at Milford St. Joseph and Spirit Lake St. Mary, organized the trip to Rome with a couple days in Assisi with Father Brian Hughes, former pastor of the parishes who is now retired.

Pilgrimage
“We really focused on this opportunity as a true pilgrimage. We were on a mission to help deepen our connectivity to Christ and the church, as well as allow them to really have the Holy Spirit work through some of the things that we were doing in order to grow their faith,” said Goehring.

Originally intended as a trip for high school youth of the two parishes, Goehring mentioned they extended the invitation to some college-age parishioners who had missed out on similar experiences due to the Covid years. Eventually, the organizers were contacted by the diocese to see if diocesan seminarians could be part of the group.

“The seminarians were incredibly helpful, personable and outgoing with the kids,” said Goehring, noting that they shared talks about saints related to churches and sites they visited.
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By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications 
 
Sacred Heart Church in Fort Dodge was dedicated in 1922 by Bishop Edmond Heelan and served the Catholic community until September 2019. The church’s doors were permanently closed when Holy Trinity Church was constructed to serve all of Webster County.
 
The church remains the property of Holy Trinity Parish although it has not been used for worship in nearly seven years. A group of former Sacred Heart parishioners have been working to preserve the historic building and find a new use for it that benefits the community. 

“We have a non-profit, Preserve Fort Dodge, that’s formed to rehabilitate abandoned structures in Fort Dodge,” said board member and parishioner Carissa Harvey. “We initially started as the Sacred Heart planning committee.”
 
The group’s focus is currently on preserving Sacred Heart Church with plans to take on another community project upon completing repairs and improvements on the 100-plus year old church.

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