Sacred Heart Cathedral

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Consecrated June 17, 1966 (ground broken 1962; first Mass April 3, 1966)

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Fairbanks, Alaska, was built after Pope John XXIII established the Diocese of Fairbanks in 1962. Ground was broken that year on land at Airport and Peger Roads, with the first Mass on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1966, and consecration by Bishop Francis Doyle Gleeson, S.J., on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, June 17, 1966. Rev. James Spils, S.J., oversaw construction. It serves as the mother church and seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks.

Modern mid-20th-century architecture with brick veneer

• •Seat (cathedral) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska
• •Diocese established August 8, 1962 by Pope John XXIII; Bishop Francis Gleeson, S.J., was first bishop
• •Consecrated by Bishop Francis Doyle Gleeson, S.J., on June 17, 1966 (Solemnity of the Sacred Heart)
• •First Mass celebrated Palm Sunday, April 3, 1966; ground broken 1962 at Airport and Peger Roads
• •Jesuit priests served the parish until 1982, when diocesan priests took over