AURORA—One could say that the new Sacred Heart Church was built taquito by taquito.

Dinners featuring taquitos and other Hispanic favorites were held every Sunday for months and months, according to Msgr. Arquimedes Vallejo, parochial administrator. He said small groups of 10-15 parishioners took turns to provide a fundraising dinner, usually netting between $900-$2,100 a week — all for the building project.

“We are a poor community, but we are a family,” says Msgr. Vallejo.

Last year the parish’s annual Kermes festival raised more than $40,000 in two days, all from food sales, with the help of one of the most well-known musical groups in the Hispanic community in the United States, Los Alacranes.

The musicians performed at the festival for free, Msgr. Vallejo says, “because of the church. People came even from Wisconsin to hear them.” And all of those funds were used for the new church.

“The economics are very hard, and 99 percent (of parishioners) are Hispanic,” Msgr. Vallejo says of the challenge to the parish after Sacred Heart Church burned beyond repair some 13 years ago.

Ironically, the very first Sacred Heart Church in Aurora burned down in 1868. French parishioners of that parish took the name for their new church at a different location. The parish moved to its present location on Fulton Street in 1875.

Building the new church in 2011-2012 united the parish’s “one family in two languages,” Msgr. Vallejo says. “Everything is for the church; everything is served with love and sacrifice. Through the sacrifices, our church became beautiful.”

On March 4, the building erected with the help of fundraisers was celebrated by crowds that overflowed the new church pews into the aisles and beyond. In addition to the standing-room-only group in the church, more than 700 people participated in the dedication Mass from the parish’s school basement where services have been held for the past 13 years.

Bishop Thomas G. Doran presided. In his homily, he called the new church a “tribute to all of you under the leadership of your priests,” and a noteworthy accomplishment after years of parishioner faithfulness without a church building.

“That you have (remained faithful) is a credit to you all,” the bishop said after reflecting on the Sunday readings about the obedience of Abraham and of Jesus. “It is your obedience and faithfulness through all the years of saving … that has resulted in this (church) where you can be proud of what you have accomplished.

The church dedicated to the honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (is) a sign of God’s continuing love for us … ,” he said.

The bishop told those gathered that he was “asking God’s choicest blessings” for them, concluding his homily with “May God bless you all.”

The dedication included sprinkling the church with blessed water, incensation of the altar and walls of the church and anointing of the altar with oil following prayers to many of the saints of the Church. “Lord, send your Spirit from heaven to make this church an ever-holy place, and this altar a ready table for the sacrifice of Christ,” Bishop Doran prayed.

In his remarks, Msgr. Vallejo expressed his gratitude to many people, beginning with the bishop and the Diocese of Rockford, past priests of the parish and his associate, Father William Tunarosa. Construction manager Jim Alabastro and Mayor Tom Weisner were among recipients of plaques of appreciation from the church.

Msgr. Arquimedes presented Bishop Doran with a list of all the donors for his blessing. He also read letters of congratulations and encouragement from two former priests of the diocese, Bismarck, North Dakota Bishop David Kagan and Lafayette, Indiana Bishop Timothy Doherty, both of whom promised their ongoing prayers for the parish.

Alabastro, site superintendent Mike Hildebrandt and project manager Fred Norris, all of Chapple West construction, were among those who attended the dedication. Alabastro stayed around a while after the service, enjoying, he said, the enthusiasm and happiness of parishioners. He expressed his admiration of the commitment he had seen from them and their pastor.

The parish, for example, had wanted the church to have a brick exterior, but the cost seemed to be prohibitive, Alabastro said. Msgr. Vallejo then asked him how much it would cost per brick. Armed with that per-brick cost, the priest asked for each parishioner to pledge $2 a brick.

The very next week, Msgr. Vallejo could tell us to go ahead with the brick exterior, Alabastro said.

The next two projects on the parish’s “plate” are grading and paving two parking lots and remodeling the convent into a parish rectory. So the fundraising has not ceased. But the church is complete and paid for.

Brick by brick. Taquito by taquito.