About Sacred Heart · Wadesboro, North Carolina
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is a mission parish of St. James the Greater in Hamlet, North Carolina, located in the town of Wadesboro, the county seat of Anson County, in the southern Piedmont. It belongs to the Diocese of Charlotte and currently gathers its small but devoted Catholic community for a single English Sunday Mass at 8:30 a.m. at 205 South Rutherford Street. Under the pastoral care of Fr. Fidel Melo, who also serves as pastor of the mother parish in Hamlet, Sacred Heart carries on more than three quarters of a century of Catholic worship in this historically Protestant corner of the Carolinas.
- Established
- 1946
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Rector
- Reverend Fidel Melo
- Diocese
- Diocese of Charlotte (Roman Catholic)
Why belong here
Sacred Heart offers a quiet, close-knit Catholic home in a small Southern town where Catholics have worshipped since at least the 1940s. As a mission of St. James the Greater in Hamlet, it shares a full-time resident pastor with the mother parish, so visitors and parishioners receive personal, consistent pastoral care rather than a revolving door. The parish's Sunday morning English Mass, followed by confessions, makes weekly worship accessible, and its landmark Gothic Revival church — built with the support of the Horne family and designed by Charlotte architect James Malcolm — gives the community a real, beautiful sanctuary of its own within the historic Wadesboro downtown.
Mass times at Sacred Heart
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM (before Mass)
History of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Wadesboro
Sacred Heart traces its origins to the small Catholic families of mid-twentieth-century Anson County. Before the parish had a church, Mass was offered in a local Wadesboro theater and, earlier still, in the homes of the Horne and Farrelly families. A wartime influx of Catholic military trainees to Anson County in the 1940s finally made a permanent church feasible, and Bishop Vincent S. Waters of the Diocese of Raleigh agreed to build one. With the Horne family as principal benefactors and Charlotte architect James Malcolm as designer, a Gothic Revival church was completed in 1946 and dedicated in September 1947. The same architect returned to design a parish hall in 1954. The parish became part of the newly created Diocese of Charlotte in 1972 and today operates as a mission of St. James the Greater in Hamlet.
- Pre-parish Mass celebrated in homes of the Horne and Farrelly families
- Later celebrated in a local Wadesboro theater
- WWII-era influx of Catholic military trainees to Anson County
- Bishop Vincent S. Waters of Raleigh agreed to build the church
- Horne family of Wadesboro were principal benefactors
- Charlotte architect James Malcolm designed the church (1946) and the parish hall (1954)
- Church dedicated September 1947
- Passed to the new Diocese of Charlotte in 1972
- Today a mission of St. James the Greater, Hamlet
The Horne and Farrelly Families — Founders of Catholic Life in Wadesboro
Two families sustained the Catholic faith in Wadesboro long before there was a parish. The Horne family of Wadesboro were connected by marriage to the Divine family of Wilmington: Sarah Divine Horne was the daughter of John F. Divine, the first general superintendent of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and the Divines were devout parishioners of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Wilmington. Their Wadesboro neighbors, Hugh and Margaret Farrelly, had come to Anson County from Ireland and raised ten children in town. Together the Hornes and Farrellys opened their homes for Mass, and it was largely the Horne family's generosity that made the construction of Sacred Heart Church possible in the 1940s.
- Sarah Divine Horne — daughter of John F. Divine, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad superintendent
- The Divine family attended St. Thomas Catholic Church in Wilmington
- Hugh and Margaret Farrelly — Irish immigrants to Anson County
- Both families hosted Mass in their homes before the church existed
Architecture and the Wadesboro Downtown Historic District
Sacred Heart is a Gothic Revival church completed in 1946 and designed by Charlotte architect James Malcolm, who also returned to design the parish hall in 1954. Erected at the edge of the Wadesboro business district — the same pattern followed by the town's mainline Protestant churches of the 1890s and early 1900s — the brick edifice is a contributing building in the Wadesboro Downtown Historic District, recognized for its architectural and historical significance among the town's twentieth-century houses of worship.
- Gothic Revival style
- Designed by Charlotte architect James Malcolm
- Completed 1946; dedicated September 1947
- Parish hall designed by Malcolm and built in 1954
- Contributing structure in the Wadesboro Downtown Historic District
Clergy and Pastoral Leadership
Sacred Heart is currently served by Fr. Fidel Melo, who on July 13, 2021 was appointed by Bishop Peter J. Jugis to be pastor of both St. James the Greater in Hamlet and Sacred Heart Mission in Wadesboro. He came to the assignment from the role of parochial administrator at St. Mary Help of Christians in Shelby. He succeeded Fr. Jean Pierre Swamunu Lhoposo, CICM, who had been pastor of the two parishes and was reassigned in the same announcement to become pastor of Divine Redeemer Catholic Church in Boonville. Because Sacred Heart is a mission of St. James, Hamlet, the pastor resides at and primarily serves the mother parish while ensuring Sunday worship continues in Wadesboro.
- Current pastor: Reverend Fidel Melo (since July 13, 2021)
- Previous pastor: Reverend Jean Pierre Swamunu Lhoposo, CICM
- Fr. Melo was previously parochial administrator of St. Mary Help of Christians, Shelby
- Pastor serves both St. James the Greater (Hamlet) and Sacred Heart Mission (Wadesboro)
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Reverend Jean Pierre Swamunu Lhoposo, CICMthrough July 13, 2021
Pastor of St. James the Greater, Hamlet and Sacred Heart Mission, Wadesboro; reassigned to pastor of Divine Redeemer Catholic Church in Boonville in the July 2021 diocesan assignment changes.
- Reverend Fidel Melofrom July 13, 2021
Transferred from parochial administrator of St. Mary Help of Christians in Shelby to pastor of St. James the Greater in Hamlet and Sacred Heart Mission in Wadesboro by Bishop Peter J. Jugis.