A pillar of the community in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Sacred Heart Church offers a traditional Latin Mass and local support to its parishioners. Maintaining its impressive 26,000-square-foot building is a central part of Sacred Heart’s ability to uphold its mission, which includes providing religious education. As this maintenance is no easy feat, the Dominican Brothers at Sacred Heart sought new ways of decreasing energy costs and improving the environmental impact of their structure.
The current Dominican Order of Preachers arrived at Sacred Heart nearly 16 years ago to reclaim the building and to restore the unchanged, traditional teachings of the faith to the community in the Greater Boston Area. Built in the shape of a cross, the building’s structure is 50 feet high in the center with an attic above that adds an additional 12 feet of height. As is the case with many large, older facilities, heating the church has always been a challenge. The Brothers knew there was no insulation and sought ways to heat their building better, make it more energy efficient, and importantly, keep their parishioners both warm and attentive during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
