The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus takes place on the Friday after the feast of the Holy Trinity which makes it one of those movable feasts in the Catholic liturgical calendar (most of these are based on the date of Easter, with the only exceptions I’m aware of being Christ the King and Holy Family). For this feast, I went to Sacred Heart parish in Melrose Park.
Inside, the church has a quiet elegance and the use of red and white streamers to decorate the sanctuary was a brilliant visual effect.
I don’t like to make too many assumptions about parishes based on weekday masses, which tend to be no-frills affairs under ordinary circumstances and any enhancements that happen for the church’s feast day again can distort the perception of the church. That said, they did have music which has been atypical for weekday masses on this project and before the Mass began, a Black parishioner came in and greeted everyone present before taking a seat which seemed a good sign of a welcoming parish. The parishioners were ethnically diverse at the Mass, although my best guess is that I was one of maybe three or four who wasn’t eligible for Medicare.
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