About Sacred Heart · Raleigh, North Carolina
Sacred Heart Church is the historic downtown Raleigh Catholic church at 200 Hillsborough Street, founded as a parish in 1879. Built in 1922–1924 in Neo-Gothic style, it served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Raleigh from the diocese's creation in December 1924 until 2017, when the much larger Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral on Nazareth Street was dedicated on July 26, 2017. Today Sacred Heart is part of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish; it continues to host daily Masses (English and Spanish), weddings, and funerals, while all weekend and Holy Day Masses are now celebrated at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral. The church is a contributing property of the Capitol Area Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places and remains a beloved downtown landmark.
- Established
- 1879
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Rector
- Monsignor David D. Brockman, STL, JCL (Rector, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish — of which Sacred Heart Church is a part)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Raleigh
Why belong here
Sacred Heart Church is the historic heart of Catholicism in Raleigh — a small, beautiful downtown parish intimately connected to a much larger, multicultural Cathedral community. Visitors can worship in English or Spanish at Sacred Heart's intimate daily Masses and then join the wider parish for weekend liturgies and the full sacramental and formation life of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish, which spans RCIA, marriage formation, youth and adult faith formation, a renowned music program with three choirs (Cathedral Choir, Spiritual Choir, and Coro Hispano), and social-justice and Hispanic ministries. For those who value continuity with North Carolina's Catholic heritage — the diocese was born here in 1924 — and a downtown stone church within walking distance of the State Capitol, Sacred Heart offers a uniquely rooted place to belong.
Mass times at Sacred Heart
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 3:00 PM – before the 5:00 PM Vigil Mass (English and Spanish) at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, 715 Nazareth Street
- Monday 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM (English) at Sacred Heart Church
- Tuesday 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM (English) at Sacred Heart Church
- Wednesday 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM (English) at Sacred Heart Church
- Wednesday 6:30 PM – 7:00 PM (Spanish) at Sacred Heart Church
- Thursday 6:30 PM – 7:00 PM (Spanish) at Sacred Heart Church
- Friday 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM (English) at Sacred Heart Church
- Advent and Lent: bilingual evening Penance Services at the Cathedral (dates announced on the parish website)
- Private confessions available by appointment through the parish office at (919) 832-6030
Adoration times
- First Fridays: 11:00 AM Holy Hour at Sacred Heart Church (English)
- Weekly Tuesday: 7:00 PM Hora Santa at Sacred Heart Church (Spanish)
- Quarterly week of Adoration at Sacred Heart Church (e.g., September 8–12, 2025; November 10–14, 2025; June 8–12, 2026) — Monday 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM; Tuesday–Thursday 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM; Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
- Lenten Fridays 2026 (February 20, 27; March 6, 13, 20) 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM in All Saints Chapel, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral
Sacred Heart Church — Overview
Sacred Heart Church, at 200 Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh, is the historic Catholic parish of the state capital. Founded in 1879 and housed in its present stone church since 1924, it was the cathedral of the Diocese of Raleigh for 93 years. Today it is an active worship site — daily Masses in English and Spanish, weddings, and funerals — within Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish.
- Founded 1879; present church built 1922–1924
- Cathedral of the Diocese of Raleigh from December 1924 to 2017
- Now part of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish
- 200 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27603
History
Catholics in Raleigh worshipped in a former Baptist church in the 1860s and then in the Briggs Hardware store before Father James White bought the Pulaski-Cowper mansion in 1879 and founded the parish. The current stone church was built under Father Thomas Griffin in 1922–1924. When the Vatican erected the Diocese of Raleigh in December 1924, Father Griffin persuaded Rome to seat the cathedral in the capital. Sacred Heart served as mother church for a diocese that grew from roughly 6,000 Catholics in 1924 to more than 215,000 by 2010, and housed ministries such as the Sunday Spanish Mass started in 1978.
- 1879 — parish founded at the Pulaski-Cowper mansion
- 1909 — Father Griffin and four nuns found the parish school and high school
- 1922–1924 — present Neo-Gothic stone church built and dedicated
- December 1924 — Sacred Heart named cathedral of the new Diocese of Raleigh
- 1978 — parish buildings added to the National Register of Historic Places
- 2017 — Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral dedicated; Sacred Heart becomes a weekday and special-event site within the new cathedral parish
Architecture and Sacred Spaces
The church is built of irregular rough-hewn ashlar stone with raised mortar joints in a Neo-Gothic style: pointed arches, lancet windows, mock buttresses, a corner tower with spire, and a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus above the main entrance. The sanctuary is famous for its dark-blue ceiling dotted with gold stars, restored in a $500,000 renovation in 1998 that also brought back the original floor, kneelers, and the bishop's throne.
- Neo-Gothic stone church, completed 1924
- Seating for about 300
- Rectory (1917), Dominican convent (1927), school building (1938) share the stone style
- Dark-blue and gold-star ceiling, restored 1998
Cathedral of the Diocese of Raleigh (1924–2017)
For 93 years Sacred Heart served as the cathedral — the seat and mother church — of the Diocese of Raleigh, which covers 54 counties of eastern North Carolina. The diocese was the last in the continental United States when it was erected, and Sacred Heart quickly became too small: by the 2010s, with parish membership around 6,000, eleven weekend Masses were needed to fit the people in.
- Mother church of the Diocese of Raleigh (1924–2017)
- Smallest Catholic cathedral in the continental United States (~300 seats)
- Succeeded by Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in 2017
Part of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish Today
Since the dedication of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral on July 26, 2017, Sacred Heart has functioned as the historic downtown worship site of the larger cathedral parish. All Sunday and Holy Day Masses are now celebrated at Holy Name (715 Nazareth Street); Sacred Heart retains daily Masses, weddings, funerals, weekday Adoration, and the parish's Spanish devotions.
- Rector: Monsignor David D. Brockman, STL, JCL
- Parochial Vicars: Fr. John Vedanayagam, MSFS; Fr. Juan Manuel Díaz Álvarez
- Deacons: Mike Alig, José Juan Banda, Michael J. Doyle, Glenn Dudek
- Parish shared website: www.raleighcathedral.org
Pastoral Staff
The cathedral parish is served by Monsignor Brockman, two parochial vicars, four deacons, and a large lay staff with directors of Liturgical Ministry, Music, Faith Formation, Marriage Formation, Hispanic Ministry, Social Justice, Communications, Finance, and Facilities, plus parish coordinators for Baptism, Funerals, Sacramental Records, the Gift Shop, and the Database. Past rectors include Monsignor Thomas Paul Hadden, the first Black rector of a Catholic cathedral in the United States, and Monsignor Jerry Lewis, who launched the parish's first Sunday Mass in Spanish in 1978.
- Msgr. David D. Brockman — Pastor/Rector; ordained 1990; Prelate of Honor named by Pope Benedict XVI, 2008
- Fr. John Vedanayagam, MSFS — Parochial Vicar
- Fr. Juan Manuel Díaz Álvarez — Parochial Vicar
- Four deacons and a full lay pastoral staff
Faith Formation, RCIA, and Sacraments
The parish runs a full Faith Formation program (Pre-K through 8th grade) under a Director of Religious Ed and Safe Environment coordinator. Adults enter the Church through the RCIA, directed by the Director of Liturgical Ministry. First Penance and First Communion are prepared for in February and spring, with sessions offered in both English and Spanish; the parish also welcomes baptisms (coordinated through the receptionist), marriages (Director of Marriage Formation), and funerals.
- Faith Formation for youth (Pre-K–8)
- RCIA for adults — English and Spanish
- First Penance in February; First Communion in spring
- Marriage preparation and administration
- Baptism, funerals, and sacramental records coordinated by parish staff
Music and Liturgy
Music is central to parish life. There are three principal choirs: the Cathedral Choir (traditional repertoire with organ, heard at the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass), the Spiritual Choir (gospel-rooted, accompanies the noon Sunday Mass, a tradition connected to the parish's historic Black Catholic community), and the Coro Hispano (with instrumental ensemble, at the 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM Spanish Masses). A monthly diocesan Latin Mass is also celebrated at Holy Name on First Sundays at 4:30 PM.
- Cathedral Choir & organ — Sundays 10:30 AM
- Spiritual Choir — Sundays 12:30 PM
- Coro Hispano & instrumental ensemble — Sundays 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM
- Sacred Music Scholar program and Cathedral Organist on staff
- Monthly Latin Mass — First Sundays 4:30 PM
Hispanic Ministry and Outreach
Hispanic ministry — coordinated by Francisco Salas and others — undergirds the parish's two weekday Spanish Masses, the Coro Hispano, weekly Spanish Adoration and Rosary, First Penance in Spanish, and Masses in Spanish at the Cathedral. Social Justice ministries, directed by a staff director, carry out the parish's broader outreach to those in need in the Raleigh area, in concert with diocesan charities.
- Weekly Spanish Masses — Wed & Thu 7:00 PM at Sacred Heart; Sundays 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM at the Cathedral
- Coro Hispano
- Tuesday Spanish Rosary (6:30 PM) and Tuesday Hora Santa (7:00 PM)
- Director of Social Justice Ministries and Director of Hispanic Ministry on staff
Cathedral School and Heritage of Catholic Education
Catholic education at Sacred Heart began in 1909 when Father Griffin and four nuns founded Sacred Heart Parochial School and Sacred Heart High School. Both eventually relocated to new buildings on Hillsborough Street, with the high school becoming Cathedral Latin High School and later Cardinal Gibbons High School. The grade school — Cathedral School, Pre-K through 8th — earned a National Blue Ribbon of Excellence in 2007 and has moved to the new cathedral campus. In 1953, Bishop Vincent S. Waters integrated all diocesan schools; Cathedral School merged with the Black St. Monica school the next year and became one of the first integrated schools in North Carolina, an identity still reflected in the parish's Spiritual Choir and noon Sunday Mass.
- Sacred Heart School founded 1909; fed Cardinal Gibbons High School
- Cathedral School (Pre-K–8) — National Blue Ribbon, 2007
- Integrated in 1953–54 under Bishop Waters
- Spiritual Choir and noon Sunday Mass tradition
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Father James White1879
Founded Sacred Heart Parish by purchasing the Pulaski-Cowper mansion and celebrating Mass in its former ballroom.
- Father Thomas Griffinearly 1900s–1924
Founded Sacred Heart Parochial School and Sacred Heart High School in 1909 with four nuns; oversaw construction of the present stone church (1922–24) and successfully argued before the Vatican that the new diocese's cathedral should be in Raleigh.
- Monsignor Jerry Lewisby 1978
Began a Sunday Mass in Spanish at Sacred Heart with the help of Amy Alba and Cora Bilano.
- Monsignor Thomas Paul Hadden
First Black rector of a Catholic cathedral in the United States.
- Monsignor David D. Brockman2018–present
Rector of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Parish (which includes Sacred Heart Church); previously Vicar General of the Diocese of Raleigh.