Sarah Hart may be a Grammy-nominated songwriter, but for her, Catholic music isn’t primarily about getting people to listen. It’s about getting them to sing.

Hart brought that message to southeastern Wisconsin during a recent visit that included music ministry with Heart of the Nation, a retreat for Catholic musicians, and a “Night of Peace” concert with fellow Catholic artist Francesca LaRosa at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in New Berlin.

The singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist has spent years writing music meant to be sung not only by accomplished musicians but by Catholics in the pews.

Hart, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, who lives in Nashville, was nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for her contribution to Amy Grant’s song “Better Than a Hallelujah.”

Her work also can be found in numerous hymnals throughout English-speaking countries. For Hart, those songs are meant not simply to be heard but to be sung by the people in the pews.

“The primary choir is the congregation. The primary choir is not the choir. They’re not the people in the loft. They’re not the people sitting off to the right of the altar. You are the primary choir,” she said. “Your song is a prayer. It’s not only OK to sing in church. You’re supposed to sing in church, [because] it does change something about your heart when you sing.”

She encourages people who listen to her and other musicians sharing their talents during Heart of the Nation to sing prayerfully and fully while at home. Her trips to perform in Milwaukee become extra special because of this chance to minister through Heart of the Nation, a platform that became a lifeline for Catholics during the COVID-19 pandemic and still is when people physically cannot attend Mass.

“It’s just such a beautiful ministry,” she said.

“You’re talking about people who are homebound, the elderly, but we also think about people with disabled children who find it very difficult to get to a Mass, [and] the whole online Mass thing has been a real gift to a lot of people.”

She even shared Heart of the Nation ministry opportunities with well-known Catholics around the area, offering music on a day that Marquette men’s basketball radio play-by-play voice Steve “The Homer” True proclaimed the readings. Yet life on the road helping convey God’s love through song isn’t easy. Hart said that Palm Sunday 2026 was the first time she had been able to attend Mass at her home parish in about a year.

“It’s difficult. It’s hard. All for the glory of God, but it is, it’s definitely difficult on the body and the spirit and the mind,” Hart said. “When I’m on the road, I try to do small things for myself. If I know that I have an hour before I have to be somewhere, I will find the cutest little coffee shop, and I will just go get some coffee and a pastry, and I will sit and I will call my husband.”

Her husband sometimes joins her in searching for coffee shops on the road. Hart also enjoys Wisconsin’s landscape, which reminds her of growing up in small-town Ohio.

“Places like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa are some of my favorite places to go,” Hart said, “because the land is so beautiful. If I’m playing at a rural church, I get a drive through the beauty of the world, and I can pull off the side of the road and just stand and breathe in a farm field.”

Creation deeply encourages Hart. Her songs become encouragement for the listener to sing to God while also receiving the Lord’s presence in their lives. She says that she and most Catholics who give their musical talents at Mass and beyond need that same encouragement coming back.

“Musicians don’t often get thanked,” she shared. “People complain to them when they didn’t like something that happened in the liturgy, but they’re not always complimentary. They don’t think to just go up to the music team and say, ‘Thank you so much for what you do. That was so beautiful. I so appreciate you volunteering.’ It’s hard work being a musician in the Church, and so we are all about centering your focus on God, why you do what you do, and making sure that you understand how much you are appreciated.”

“One simple comment can keep somebody going, can keep somebody on the path,” she said.

“I love to hear people sing, and I think that something happens when the people sing, and we take ourselves to a different level.”