Grammy nominee Hart to co-lead Catholic singer-songwriter night in El Cerrito

Few artists who focus on Catholic music find themselves nominated for Grammy awards. Fewer within that group write songs that you regularly find in your hymnal or missal. Even fewer in that group share those songs in person at your church.

Former Grammy nominee Sarah Hart regularly offers that for audiences in the pews, as she has done for years sharing songs for the Holy Father and for tens of thousands inside stadiums hosting Catholic conferences.

“Expect joy. They should expect to leave feeling more joyful than they came,” Hart says to those who will hear her voice, guitar and piano alongside fellow Catholic singer-songwriters Steve Angrisano and Jesse Manibusan for St. John the Baptist Church's “Story and Song” concert on Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m. inside the parish gym in El Cerrito.

“Songs reach people for whatever reason, and they have new points of connection. It's all about making audience feel like they're up there with you, and you are part of each other's story.”

Hart's Grammy nomination came in 2010 for her contribution to Amy Grant's song “Better Than a Hallelujah.” It was perhaps a pinnacle songwriting moment, but her vocation is not focused on chasing the next Christian music hit.

“I'm always honestly thinking about, 'Can somebody sing this song? Is it written personally enough that somewhere, one person will be able to hear it, relate to it, feel something about it, have their heart changed or moved, or have some questions asked that they've never asked before?” she says about the songwriting process.

“I ask the question of myself, 'Does this song mean something to me? Does it matter? How will this affect someone?'”

A powerful and recent example comes from a song Sarah wrote on April 21, hours after the death of Pope Francis, “Well Done.” It stemmed from a search for solace and healing in her moment of grief.

“A pope who I played for live and hugged – I didn't want to let go of him,” Hart said. “It was only a song for me to write my sadness. It was like writing a thank you letter to him.”

Days later, Sarah found that sonic thank you letter being shared during Masses across the United States, reflecting how the pontiff touched the lives of Catholics and non-Catholics alike across the world with his compassionate ministry.

“He's been the pope of my heart. I think of all the beautiful Holy Fathers that we've had. He hit the nail on the head in terms of living like Christ and trying to be like Christ,” she said.

She recognizes, however, that her song offers a universal theme far beyond the pope’s passing.

“I've had so many people who have written me and said, 'We're going to sing that song this week for my mother's funeral. We're going to sing it for my son's funeral,'” she said. “It goes beyond the pope.”

That sense of connectedness to God, others and ourselves drives Hart in her ministry of songwriting, and in what she wants people to feel when she shares her songs in concert as she will on May 16.

“I hope that they will feel a sense of being the beloved. That's a big one for me,” she says.

“If everybody in the world knew how much they were loved by God, the world would be a much different place because we've sort of lost our understanding of who we are and whose we are. And if we all could feel that, we would be changed.”