Sept. 6, 2017

Watertown - The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Sacred Heart Foundation will continue at the 44th Annual Sacred Heart Foundation dinner to be held Sept. 20 at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Missionary of the Sacred Heart Father Vincent T. Freeh will be the keynote speaker at this year’s dinner.

Father Freeh, well-known throughout the Watertown community, has served as pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and has served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for two different terms. He has also provided spiritual leadership as a religious superior in several communities in the United States including his current position as superior of the MSC community in Watertown.

Father Freeh continues to work for the restoration of family as an essential cultural value. Vatican II put marriage and family at the head of the list of urgent needs, calling family “the school of a deeper humanity,” recognizing it as the seedbed of culture. Intact families are the exception, not the rule. “The culture of death,” cited by Pope St. John Paul II, is now compounded by “the death of culture,” mainly due to the breakdown of family.

At the recommendation of the director of a major shrine in France, Father Freeh is preparing to launch a virtual shrine on the internet to generate discussion and dialogue on ways to enrich, strengthen and celebrate family.
In 2017, the Foundation awarded $80,000 in scholarships to 85 MSC deacons and seminary students to help further their education. This is the highest annual amount that the Foundation has awarded in scholarships since its founding. The annual dinner is one of the Foundation’s biggest fundraisers of the year.

Tickets for this golden anniversary dinner of the Sacred Heart Foundation are now on sale. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Foundation office at 315-782-3344.

Tickets are $40 per person, and proceeds of the dinner support the Foundation’s mission. Dinner choices will include a beef dish, a chicken dish, and a vegetarian option.

Those unable to attend are asked to consider making a donation to Sacred Heart Foundation, 668 Thompson Street, Watertown, N.Y., 13601.