Sacred Heart Garden Ministries

We were pleased that the national St. Kateri Conservation Center chose Sacred Heart Parish to become the first Ark of Faith and Biodiversity in the nation. The Ark program draws its inspiration from Noah’s Ark and Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. It invites parishes to renew their Catholic faith by deepening connections with God and fostering harmonious relationships with one another and with all of creation.

As a Parish Ark we have agreed to conserve 30% of our parish open land for the well-being of people, biodiversity, and climate resilience, through faith, rewilding, restoration, and land conservation. We have already met these requirements, but parishioners continue to work with the St. Kateri Conservation Center to become a model of responsible ecological stewardship.

proJect update

Last spring, we created a sunny Friendship Garden filled with native plants that support pollinators and other wildlife. We also established a Meditation Garden in the large wooded area above the church. This fall, we expanded the Friendship Garden and Meditation Garden. We also started replacing grass with native plants in the Raised Garden under the large windows near the main intersection by the Parish Center. This planting includes traditional native pollinators as well as ferns, grasses, and shrubs. The debris from renovating our gardens is used to create the Hügelkultur Berm near the lower rock wall in the woods. All of this work has been accomplished through direct donations of time and materials from parishioners and other individuals who believe in the value of this project.

The St. Kateri Conservation Center established the Sacred Heart iNaturalist Project to monitor the increase in biodiversity on our property over time. They are also working with us on plans that will help us reduce maintenance costs, manage drainage issues, and responsibly address our need for additional on-site parking for individuals with mobility difficulties.

Additionally, we are collaborating with the Town of Lexington to establish a trail through our woods that will connect to a recently acquired two-acre parcel known as Widnall Woods. The Conservation Commission has completed its survey of our land and provided us with a draft of a legal agreement and a proposal for the Sacred Heart Trail, which will expand the ACROSS Lexington trail network and provide essential connections in East Lexington. Fr. Fran met with representatives of the Commission and directed us to submit these plans to the Archdiocese for review.

Sacred Heart will also play a vital role as a pilot project for a collaborative initiative between the St. Kateri Conservation Center and the Archdiocese of Boston, aimed at surveying and tracking land use on Catholic properties across the Archdiocese.

Education and Community Outreach continue to be critical components of this work. We have offered numerous workshops and talks in our own parish, spoken at the RCAB conference on Laudato Si’, and had our work highlighted in our local paper. Recently, one of our members attended a papal conference on Laudato Si’ and returned to our parish to discuss Pope Leo’s message on the environment. We are also in the early stages of collaborating with other parishioners to develop an innovative Laudato Si’ curriculum for children’s faith formation. The St. Kateri Center has also asked us to help other parishes establish their own arks, and plans for this are under discussion.

Thank you to all who have joined us in nurturing our environment and making a lasting difference!