By Michael Motes

Father Michael A. Morris, pastor of downtown Sacred Heart Church, has assured his parishioners that they will look back on these weeks of January, 1978, with fond memories of "roughing it."

"Our present inconvenience puts us in touch -- just a little -- with the hardships endured by the pioneers of Sacred Heart, who have left us such a beautiful house of worship," he says.

The parishioners are indeed "roughing it" as the inconvenience mounts!

Sacred Heart is undergoing a face-lift and what started off a couple of weeks ago to be a relatively small "spruce up" job of painting and repairing plaster has grown into a major renovation.

"When we began repair work on the Church, the plan was to repaint the entire nave, galleries, choir loft, stair wells and vestibule," Father Morris said. "Plaster repairs were to be made in the sanctuary and wherever else needed. The process included removing the red and gold wall covering, repairing the plaster behind it, then replacing the wall covering with a similar design.

"But," the pastor added, "as the project continued we discovered some leakage problems with the frames of the high stained glass windows. This must be remedied, both to protect the windows and to assure that the new plaster and paint will not be damaged."

The next calamity came when the workmen discovered that the mural on the sanctuary ceiling was in "very poor condition."

"In the case of dealing with the restoration or reparation of such an art work, we must do some very careful consultation before undertaking either alternative," Father Morris said.

Fortunately, the pastor can keep a sense of humor during the work. He recently told his congregation:

"Flip Wilson does a skit in which he plays the role of Reverend Leroy, preacher in the 'Church of What's Happening Now.' Here at Sacred Heart, there is always something going on and 'what's happening now' is an enormous undertaking.

"Redecorating a church building of this size and complexity is a major effort and takes place only once every few decades."

As nearly as anyone can recall, the last major renovation at Sacred Heart was about 30 years ago. The original building, dedicated in 1897 by the Marist Fathers, was refaced in 1961, but no major interior restoration work was done at that time.

At present, daily Masses are being celebrated in the main sacristy because of the scaffolding in the Church. Weekend plans are to remove enough of the scaffolding to cause only a "minimum of inconvenience" for the Saturday and Sunday congregations.

With the exception of the work on the mural, Father Morris hopes that all renovation will be completed within the next few weeks.

"We are looking to the future as we repair, and prepare, for Sacred Heart parishioners-to-be," Father Morris commented.

The outstanding downtown structure of French Romanesque design was recognized by the United States Department of the Interior and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in 1976 for its "artistically significant architecture." On May 13, 1976, it was entered in the National Register of Historic Places.