In a pastoral letter released for the 350th Jubilee of the Sacred Heart, Bishop David J. Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, has issued a call to Catholics to “take heart” amid today’s cultural and spiritual turmoil.
The letter, titled Take Heart! Do Not Lose Heart! Behold the Sacred Heart!, addresses a wide audience: those mourning personal loss, navigating societal division, or quietly struggling with faith fatigue.
“By losing heart,” he writes, “any sense of hope, strength, confidence or peace is increasingly diminished — or worse yet, taken from us.”
Bishop Bonnar draws from both Scripture and Church tradition, weaving stories of Moses’ exhaustion (Numbers 11), Saint Paul’s perseverance (2 Corinthians 4), and Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque’s 17th-century visions of Christ’s burning heart. These narratives, he says, aren’t abstract piety. They speak to the real, messy experience of contemporary life — from family tensions to institutional change in the Church.
The bishop ties this spiritual reflection to the wider Jubilee celebration, which runs through June 2025. He urges the faithful to turn again to images of the Sacred Heart found in churches and homes, describing them as “steady and powerful streams of love.” He calls the Sacred Heart “the most sublime fulfillment to which humanity can aspire.”
The letter also touches on broader cultural shifts, including the rise of artificial intelligence and digital overload. Bishop Bonnar warns that such advances, while not inherently wrong, risk dulling our capacity for empathy and meaning. “How sad when a loss of heart translates into a loss of faith, hope, and love,” he writes.
In response, he announces a diocesan-wide enthronement of the Sacred Heart set for September 28, 2025. Every parish will join in a unified act of devotion, which he hopes will “help us to take heart and resist the temptation to lose our heart as individuals, and or, as a faith community.”
The letter also affirms the work of religious communities with a Sacred Heart charism, including the Oblate Sisters and the Rogationist Fathers. Their presence, he says, reflects the heart of Christ in action.
Ultimately, Bishop Bonnar’s message is one of resilience. In the words of Psalm 34, which concludes the letter: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” For Bishop Bonnar, this is more than comfort—it’s a mission to embody that closeness, both in prayer and in public life.
