HNS at Holy Trinity

The Holy Name Society at Holy Trinity (German) Church, once a thriving organization with hundreds of members, had over the last few years become dormant. As its members, who were drawn from the parish's German congregation, climbed in years, they found it increasingly difficult to keep the Society's activities going, and so eventually the confraternity existed only on paper.

Then, early in the year 2000, a group of men from the parish's Traditional Latin Mass community, impressed with the mission and goals of the Society, decided to revitalize it. Over time, word of their efforts spread and by June of that year, thirteen men formally sought admission into the Society and the first induction ceremony in decades was held in the upper church.

Holy Trinity's chapter of the Holy Name Society shares the same mission and goals with those located in other parishes around the archdiocese and is an active member of the Archdiocesan Union of Holy Name Societies (AUHNS). But because the confraternity at Holy Trinity is made up almost exclusively of men from the Traditional Latin Mass community, it has a unique character not found in these other parishes. With an emphasis on traditional Catholic prayer and spirituality, all of the Society's Masses are celebrated using the 1962 Missal, i.e., they are said using the Traditional Roman or "Tridentine" Rite (pre-Vatican II), and its ceremonies and periods of prayer and recollection use texts and hymns that are a mixture of both English and Latin.

From an organizational standpoint, the Holy Name Society at Holy Trinity is supported by these four pillars:

1.) Traditional Catholic Spirituality and Prayer,
2.) Catholic Education,
3.) Stewardship and Service, and
4.) Fraternity.

While attention is paid to all four of these pillars, the first and most important is Traditional Catholic Spirituality and Prayer. Under this pillar, the men of the Holy Name Society attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass together on every second Sunday, and they recite the Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus when the liturgy is over. The Society sponsors evenings of recollection during Advent and Lent and it organizes an annual retreat in the Spring. Its members are also encouraged to attend Mass daily and to perform devotions such as saying the Holy Rosary and making the Stations of the Cross.

For Catholic Education, the Society sponsors four presentations per year on topics of theological interest under the Fr. Francis X. Weiser, S.J. Lecture Series. Recent presentations have been titled, "What's In A Name. Why Catholics Should Revere God's Holy Name" and "The Desanctification of Modern Society."

Under Stewardship and Service, Holy Name men volunteer their individual services for a number of parish activities. Some of these responsibilities include sacristy work, custodial jobs, and ushering. The Society also works with the Society of Sts. Martha and Mary (the women's counterpart) to organize parish activities, such as the twice annual church cleaning.

Finally, Fraternity is covered both by social gatherings as well as by providing men, who share a traditional approach to their Catholic faith, with support and encouragement.