The letter is entitled: “Take Heart! Do Not Lose Heart! Behold the Sacred Heart!”
NEWS RELEASE
June 13, 2025
Contact: Dennis Biviano, PR & Media Specialist, (330) 744-8451, ext. 320; dbiviano@youngstowndiocese.org
YOUNGSTOWN, OH – The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown announces the third pastoral letter written by the Most Rev. David J. Bonnar, Bishop of Youngstown entitled, “Take Heart! Do Not Lose Heart! Behold the Sacred Heart!”. This Pastoral Letter is inspired by Pope Francis’ last encyclical entitled Dilexit Nos (“He loved us.”), which discussed the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. Bishop Bonnar also wrote a reflection on the encyclical for America Magazine (January 2025): “The human heart and the Sacred Heart: What Pope Francis can teach us about a holy devotion.”
The pastoral letter will be available in printed form to parishes on June 27, 2025, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, corresponding with the end of the 350th Jubilee for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The full letter can be found online at https://doy.org/pastoral-letter-behold-the-sacred-heart. A Spanish translation entitled “¡Ánimo! ¡No se desanimen! ¡He aquí el Sagrado Corazón!” is in process and will be available on the same webpage.
Within the letter, Bishop Bonnar provides resources to encourage greater devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He announces: “On Sunday, September 28, 2025, we as a diocese will celebrate an enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in every church” in addition to a similar enthronement to be celebrated at the upcoming Clergy Convocation.
The enthronement ritual involves veneration (and sometimes installation) of an image of the Sacred Heart to affirm the kingship of Jesus in the life of those participating. Bishop Bonnar encourages priests and parishioners to display an image of the Sacred Heart in their personal prayer spaces so that “together, as a community of believers, we will behold the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I pray that the life and love that flows from the Sacred Heart will empower us to be a more loving and unified Church.”
A pastoral letter is an official letter a bishop writes to the faithful of his diocese and to the wider community. Like encyclicals and other documents issued by popes, pastoral letters are part of the Church’s magisterium, or “teaching office.” This third pastoral letter follows: Practicing Faith, Hope, and Love: Living the Virtues Together in Tough Times (2023), available in Spanish as Practicando la Fe, la Esperanza, y el Amor: Vivir las Virtudes Juntos y en Tiempos Difíciles (2023) and Confronting Darkness with the Light of Christ: Testify to the Light (2021).
