(JUNE 7, 2019)
By Benjamin Becker
The parish bumper stickers say it’s “Fort Wayne’s Best Kept Secret,” and for many people it just might be. In Fort Wayne’s only traditional Latin Mass parish, Sacred Heart, a lot is going on and even more seems to be bubbling up.
One draw to this gem of Fort Wayne is the Latin Mass itself, which continues to attract more and more young people. National Catholic Register and the United Kingdom’sCatholic Herald both recently featured full-length, statistic-laden articles drawing attention to the fact that youth are disproportionately attending the Latin Mass parishes. Sacred Heart is no exception, with its growing number of parishioners. As the Catholic Herald said, it looks like “the new kids are old rite.”
With the influx of new parishioners, a number of new devotional groups have started at Sacred Heart. The Militia of St. Joseph, “The Terror of Demons,” focuses on spiritual combat and male spirituality, while the Handmaids of St. Joseph caters to women of the parish. The Young Women’s Sodality meets regularly, and the newest addition to the parish’s laity programs has been the long-anticipated Troops of St. George young men’s program.
