Portland’s Sacred Heart Church holds final Mass
Jocelyn Alvarez of Topsham prays while attending the mass of Thanksgiving with her children Jeremias Maiano, 7, left, Gabriel Maiano, 3, and Sofia Maiano, 4, at Sacred Heart/ St. Dominic Parish on Sunday in Portland. (Staff photo by Derek Davis)
PORTLAND — The sun cast a stained glass rainbow across Catherine Bernier’s pew. Her feet rested on pale ovals scuffed into the dark floorboards by hundreds of parishioners over the last 130 years.
“This is not easy,” the Very Rev. Seamus P. Griesbach said to his parish at Portland’s Sacred Heart Church.
Bernier rested her head on her mother’s shoulder and wiped her tears as she listened to the service, just as she had countless times before.
But this was the last time she and her parish would sit in the pews of the ornate Mellen Street building.
Just over two weeks ago, the Portland Peninsula and Island Parishes announced the closure of Sacred Heart and St. Dominic Parish. The 1896 building is aging faster than the Portland Diocese can keep up with, and repairs would come with a $6 million price tag.
The diocese doesn’t have a plan for the building yet, but will make decisions on its fate in the coming months.
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Altar servers during the last Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Portland on Sunday by Bishop James T. Ruggieri and the Very Rev. Seamus P. Griesbach. Due to an estimated $6 million in repair and restoration estimates, the parish has decided to close the church. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
“I wish we could just take it, pick it up and put it somewhere else where it wasn’t falling apart,” Griesbach said later. “It’s in a bad place, where the foundations are collapsing, and where everything’s been going against this building for a long time.”
He pointed up at the meticulously detailed plaster, and at the stained glass windows. It’s beautiful, Griesbach said.
At the top of an ornate pillar next to the altar, the ceiling is beginning to crack. Griesbach wishes he knew why this had to happen at Sacred Heart.
Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday, filling the pews to say goodbye to the building as the band played hymns with Latin and African roots. For years, the church has offered a safe place for immigrants to worship, like Nene Mokamia and her family.
When Mokamia found the church after moving from the Democratic Republic of Congo a few years ago with her husband and daughter, she said it felt like home. Her family was welcomed immediately.
Marie-Ange Banzuzi, 7, talks to Bishop James T. Ruggieri as the Very Rev. Seamus P. Griesbach looks on following the final Mass at Sacred Heart Church on Sunday. Due to an estimated $6 million in repair and restoration estimates, the parish has decided to close the church. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
Mokamia was a reader for her parish in the Congo. She didn’t know if she’d be able to find the same opportunity in Portland, but Sacred Heart’s combined French and English Mass gave her a way.
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“We found peace. We found love at this church,” Mokamia said.
She and the Berniers agree that the church’s closure is upsetting. But for them, losing the building to age is easier knowing that the spirit of their parish will live on.
The diocese said in its announcement that the English and French Mass is moving to St. Pius X Church and the Spanish-language Mass will be held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
“It’s devastating to say goodbye to the physical place, but the spirit of it is why we’re all here and that’s going to go with us,” Catherine Bernier said. “People will persevere in faith, and there’s a great deal of love.”
Parishioners stand up and sing during the final Mass at Sacred Heart Church on Sunday. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
As the service ended Sunday, parishioners stood from their pews with outstretched arms swaying with the band. They clapped to the beat, some letting out a cathartic shriek as they said their goodbyes.
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Isabelle Oss is a community reporter covering Kittery, Berwick, North Berwick, South Berwick, York and Ogunquit. Born and raised in Colorado, she moved to Maine in April 2026. Isabelle holds a master’s. More by Isabelle Oss
