About Sacred Heart · Fairfax, Oklahoma
Sacred Heart Parish is a small Roman Catholic mission-turned-parish located at 333 South 8th Street in Fairfax, Oklahoma, within the Osage Nation in the Diocese of Tulsa. It has served as a predominantly Native American (Osage) parish since its early days, and its church records also preserve the sacramental history of the former St. John Mission and School at Gray Horse, another Osage community. Today the parish is served by Tulsa diocesan priests and offers three weekly Masses in English plus a Wednesday hour of Eucharistic Adoration.
- Established
- 1913
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Rector
- Rev. Hrudaya Raj Gade
- Diocese
- Diocese of Tulsa
Why belong here
Sacred Heart in Fairfax offers the small-town Catholic essentials — Sunday Mass, a weekday Mass on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, and a weekly Wednesday hour of Eucharistic Adoration — all in a tight-knit Osage Nation community with deep Catholic roots going back more than a century. For Osage families and visitors alike, it is a place where the historic Catholic presence among the Osage, Kaw and Pawnee peoples is still kept alive through the regular celebration of the sacraments.
Mass times at Sacred Heart
Weekly Mass schedule
Adoration times
- Wednesday 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM (before the 5:30 PM Mass)
Parish Identity and Location
Sacred Heart Parish serves the small town of Fairfax in Osage County, northeastern Oklahoma — squarely inside the historic Osage Nation reservation lands. It is one of many rural Catholic mission churches the Diocese of Tulsa tends through shared-pastor arrangements. The parish mailing address and physical location are the same: 333 South 8th Street, Fairfax, OK 74637.
- Diocese of Tulsa
- 333 S. 8th St., Fairfax, OK 74637
- Phone: (918) 642-5053
- Pastor: Rev. Hrudaya Raj Gade
History Among the Osage
Sacred Heart grew out of the Catholic missionary network that Benedictine monks and Oklahoma City diocesan priests built among the Osage, Kaw and Pawnee peoples in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Fairfax 'station' was first attended from Immaculate Conception, Pawhuska (1904–1906), then from St. John's at Gray Horse (1906–1913), and was formally established as Sacred Heart Mission in 1913 by the Benedictines of St. John's, Pawnee. It was raised to parish status in 1925 and has remained a small but enduring Osage-Nation Catholic community ever since.
- 1904–1906 — Benedictines of Immaculate Conception, Pawhuska, attend Fairfax station
- 1906–1913 — Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. John's, Gray Horse, attend Fairfax station
- 1913–1915 — Benedictines at St. John's, Pawnee, establish Sacred Heart Mission
- 1915–1925 — Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. Francis, Stillwater, attend Sacred Heart
- 1925 — Sacred Heart becomes a parish under Oklahoma City diocesan priests
- 1972 — pastoral care transfers to the newly created Diocese of Tulsa
St. John Mission, Gray Horse — Records Held Here
In addition to its own parish register, Sacred Heart preserves the sacramental records of the former St. John Mission and School at Gray Horse — a predominantly Osage Catholic community that today no longer has its own resident parish. Researchers tracing Osage, Kaw or Pawnee Catholic genealogy frequently contact Sacred Heart for access to these archives.
- Baptisms and marriages: 1887 to present
- Burials / deaths: 1925 to present
- First Communions: 1926 to present
- Confirmations: 1927 to present
Clergy and Pastoral Care
Sacred Heart is currently listed by the Diocese of Tulsa with Rev. Hrudaya Raj Gade as pastor; his diocesan contact email is published in the parish finder. Earlier in the 2010s, Rev. Louis C. Obirieze (ordained August 15, 2000) was listed as the priest responsible for Sacred Heart together with St. Joseph, Cleveland and St. Joseph, Hominy — a typical arrangement for sharing one priest across several small Osage-Nation parishes.
- Rev. Hrudaya Raj Gade — current Pastor
- Rev. Louis C. Obirieze — earlier linked pastor (St. Joseph Cleveland / St. Joseph Hominy cluster)
Sacred Heart School
Sacred Heart once had its own parish school, staffed by the Carmelites of St. Therese from approximately 1927 to 1950 and again from 1955 until its closure in 1962. The school is no longer in operation, but it remains part of the parish's twentieth-century story alongside its mission-school heritage at Gray Horse.
- Carmelites of St. Therese staffed Sacred Heart School (c. 1927–1950, 1955–1962)
Contact
Parishioners and visitors are encouraged to contact the parish office directly for current schedules, sacraments, and sacramental-record requests (including genealogy inquiries involving the Gray Horse records held by Sacred Heart).
- Phone: (918) 642-5053
- Email: [email protected]
- Diocesan listing: dioceseoftulsa.org/parishfinder
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Benedictine priests of Immaculate Conception, Pawhuska1904-1906
Tended the Fairfax station (Osage) from Pawhuska
- Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. John's, Gray Horse1906-1913
Attended to the Fairfax station
- Benedictines of St. John's, Pawnee1913-1915
Established Sacred Heart Mission and attended to it
- Oklahoma City diocesan priests at St. Francis, Stillwater1915-1925
Attended Sacred Heart
- Oklahoma City diocesan priests1925-1972
Administered Sacred Heart as a parish (became a parish in 1925)
- Tulsa diocesan priests1972-2010s
Administered Sacred Heart after creation of the Diocese of Tulsa
- Rev. Louis C. Obirieze2010s
Listed as Pastor of Sacred Heart Fairfax alongside St. Joseph, Cleveland and St. Joseph, Hominy
- Rev. Hrudaya Raj Gadepresent
Currently listed as Pastor by the Diocese of Tulsa Parish Finder