Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend

06/11/2026

Today, we consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Parishes and individuals around the country are encouraged to join the U.S. Catholic bishops in this historic occasion, beginning with this Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus written for the consecration.

Why do we consecrate to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? In the first such act in 1899, when Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he writes in his encyclical, Annum Sacrum: “Since there is in the Sacred Heart a symbol and the express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ that moves us to love one another, it is fit and proper that we should consecrate ourselves to his most Sacred Heart – an act that is nothing else than an offering and a binding of oneself to Jesus Christ.”

Likewise, in Saint John Paul II’s Message for the Centenary of the Consecration of the Human Race to the Divine Heart of Jesus, he reflected on the need for a missionary spirit of the Church that flows from consecration to the Sacred Heart: “Consecration thus understood is to be joined to the missionary activity of the Church herself, because it answers the desire of Jesus' Heart to propagate in the world, through the members of his Body, his total dedication to the kingdom, and to unite the Church ever more closely to his offering to the Father and his being for others.”

As we conclude this Novena to the Sacred Heart, we reflect with Pope Francis in Dilexit Nos. “There are moments when [Jesus] speaks to us inwardly, calls us and leads us to a better place. That better place is his heart. There he invites us to find fresh strength and peace: ‘Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest’ (Mt 11:28)” (no. 43).

Let us go forth with this renewed sense of strength and peace, consoled by the great love that Jesus has for us and transformed by the missionary fire of his Sacred Heart.

06/10/2026

The Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, has made the following assignment of clergy:

Reverend Daniel Mould, FSSP, to Administrator, St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Parish, South Bend, effective May 24, 2026.

Reverend Patrick Ernst, to Parochial Vicar, St. John the Baptist Parish, South Bend, effective June 12 to August 23, 2026.

Reverend Johnathon Hickey, to Parochial Vicar, St. Jude Parish, Fort Wayne, effective June 16, 2026.

Reverend Noah Isch, to Parochial Vicar, St. Mary Parish, Huntington, and SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Huntington, effective June 16, 2026.

Reverend Samuel Martinez, to Parochial Vicar, St. John the Baptist Parish, Fort Wayne, and Co-Chaplain at Bishop Luers High School, Fort Wayne, effective June 16, 2026.

Reverend Greenan Sullivan, to Parochial Vicar, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Fort Wayne, effective June 16, 2026.

06/10/2026

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, “the Little Flower,” profoundly understood the gentle and humble heart of Jesus. In contemplating how to be transformed by Christ's love, she reflected that “What pleases [Jesus] is that he sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope that I have in his mercy… the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more suited one is for the workings of this consuming and transforming Love” (Letter 197 to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, 1896). Let us join with Saint Thérèse in praying for our hearts to be humble like Jesus.

Saint John Paul II notes that only once in Scripture does Jesus refer to his own heart, when he instructs us to learn from his humility and gentleness in Matthew 11. The Holy Father concludes that our Lord stresses these features “as if to say that only in this way does he wish to win us to himself” (Catechesis, June 20, 1979).

The saints, facing the challenges of their age, looked to the heart of Christ as a model to respond with humility and grace. Saint Claude de La Colombière reflected on the attitude of Christ’s heart in his greatest hours of suffering: how during his passion, his heart remained firmly directed to God, and despite the betrayal of Judas and the abandonment of his apostles, Christ did not respond with hatred or indignation – but forgiveness. Saint Claude resolved to “present myself anew to this heart free of anger, free of bitterness, filled instead with genuine compassion towards its enemies” (Spiritual Exercises in Lyon, 1674).

Devotion to the Sacred Heart allows us to put aside our pride and respond to the challenges of life. Saint Vincent de Paul teaches us: “We should remember that [Christ] himself said that by gentleness we inherit the earth. If we act on this, we will win people over so that they will turn to the Lord. That will not happen if we treat people harshly or sharply” (Saint Vincent de Paul, Common Rules of the Congregation of the Mission, 1658).

Reflect on how you are acting on Christ’s teachings to love humbly and gently. Then, conclude with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux’s prayer: “O Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make my heart like Yours!”

06/09/2026

Let us ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus for strength and increased faith with this prayer by Blessed Miguel Pro, S.J.

In Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis describes the consoling nature of devotion to the Sacred Heart as “flesh and blood in the Church’s pilgrimage through history;” a mutual sharing of suffering between Christ and us (no. 157). Because Christ bore our sin in the wounds of his passion and death on the cross, we console him for our affronts. Because we also raise up our suffering to Christ, we ask him to console us.

The heart of Christ has always been a source of consolation for the Church. We hear Jesus’ great love for us in Scripture, as when he reassures us of the Father's care in the Sermon on the Mount. We are consoled with God’s intimate love when we are told how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and “even the hairs of your head are all counted” (Matthew 10:30).

Saint Francis de Sales teaches that all our names are written on the heart of God: “Surely it is a source of profound consolation to know that we are loved so deeply by our Lord, who constantly carries us in his heart” (Sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent, February 20, 1622).

Pope Francis tells us that when we contemplate the heart of Christ and his self-surrender even to death, we are consoled in Christ’s love for us: “The grief that we feel in our hearts gives way to complete trust and, in the end, what endures is gratitude, tenderness, peace; what endures is Christ’s love reigning in our lives” (Dilexit Nos, no. 161).

Just as we find consolation in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so too should we pray for others so that they might also encounter the consoling love of Christ. Every day, Padre Pio would pray the Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the intentions of all who asked him to pray for them, ending each intention with “Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.” Consider entrusting your intentions to the Sacred Heart as Padre Pio did.

06/08/2026

“Receive the oblation of the holy people, to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”

With these words in the Rite of Ordination, Bishop Rhoades placed the bread and wine into the hands of the five newly-ordained shepherds for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend — Father Patrick Ernst, Father Johnathon Hickey, Father Noah Isch, Father Samuel Martinez and Father Greenan Sullivan — commissioning them to feed their flocks. It was but one of many beautiful moments from the Mass of Ordination to the Priesthood on Saturday, June 6, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne.

Read more:

  “Receive the oblation of the holy people, to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the […]

06/08/2026

As we consider the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ’s great love for humanity, we reflect on how we have fallen short of his love and the need to atone for our sins. We also take this moment to repent as a nation for the sins of our country’s past. Let us pray for forgiveness and healing from the harms caused by our nation’s original sins of slavery and racism. A central element of devotion to the Sacred Heart is reparation – the practice of making amends for the wrongs we have done, asking Christ to forgive our sins and convert our hearts to love as he loves. Let us pray with St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, as we atone for our sins and consecrate ourselves to the heart of Jesus.

In Pope Pius XI’s encyclical, Miserentissimus Redemptor (on reparation to the Sacred Heart), the Holy Father connects our love for Christ with the realization that the wounds we inflict on others are the same wounds inflicted on Our Lord on the cross. He states, “Anyone possessed of great love for God, and who looks back to the past, can dwell in meditation on Christ, and see him laboring for man, sorrowing, suffering the greatest hardships, ‘for us men and for our salvation’... The more the faithful ponder all these things the more clearly they see that the sins of mankind, whenever they were committed, were the reason why Christ was delivered up to death” (no. 13). The image of the pierced heart of Christ has its meaning in our sinfulness, and when we devote ourselves to the Sacred Heart, we are compelled to repair the damage we have done.

There are many ways we can offer reparation to the Sacred Heart. When we go before Jesus in the Eucharist, Pope Pius XI recommends making a Communion of Reparation or a Holy Hour for the atoning of sins (Miserentissimus Redemptor, no. 12). We also see a lack of fraternal love today, especially in our politics and conversations with one another. Read Pope Francis’ encyclical on fraternity and social friendship, Fratelli Tutti, and reflect on how to build a culture of encounter together.

06/08/2026

On June 11, the bishops of the United States will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

We invite you to prayerfully participate by watching the livestream from the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando, Florida. Join Catholics across the country for a historic moment in the life of our nation and the Church.

📅 Thursday, June 11, 2026
🕓 4:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. PT

Watch live:

The U.S. bishops consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart o...

06/07/2026

The love poured out from the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a constant source of renewal for the missionary spirit of the Church and our call to universal holiness. Servant of God Fr. Jules Chevalier, who founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1854, recited this daily prayer to remain close to the Sacred Heart.

The devotion of the wounds of Christ as the fountain of life and holiness dates to the earliest Christians. The Church Fathers interpreted the blood and water flowing from Christ’s side as a profound mystery, fulfilling His promise to provide living water (John 4:13–14; 7:37), which symbolized the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on the Church and the cleansing waters of baptism. We see an early correlation to the heart of Jesus in the words of Origen of Alexandria, who said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (In Num. homil. 12, 1: PG 12, 657).

In the 13th century, Saint Bonaventure connected the salvation that flows from the pierced heart of Christ to the sacramental life of the Church, reflecting that the price of our salvation flows “from the hidden wellspring of his heart, enabling the Church’s sacraments to confer the life of grace” (Lignum Vitae. De mysterio passionis, 30).

Pope Francis encouraged the devotion of the pierced heart of Christ as the fountain of life for the Church’s mission. The Holy Father taught that “in contemplating the pierced heart of the Lord, who ‘took our infirmities and bore our diseases’ (Mt 8:17), we too are inspired to be more attentive to the sufferings and needs of others, and confirmed in our efforts to share in his work of liberation as instruments for the spread of his love” (Dilexit Nos, no. 171).

When Jesus revealed his heart to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, he imparted 12 promises to all who venerate his Sacred Heart. One promise is that Jesus will “bless the home in which the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.” When we place the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a prominent place in our homes, we signify that Jesus is king and the center and source of love for all.

06/06/2026

Congratulations to our five newly ordained priests!

Today, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades ordained Fr. Patrick Ernst, Fr. Johnathon Hickey, Fr. Noah Isch, Fr. Samuel Martinez, and Fr. Greenan Sullivan to serve as priests in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

We give thanks to God for their generous "yes" to His call and for the many years of prayer, formation, and discernment that have led to this joyful day. Please join us in praying for our new priests as they begin their ministry, that they may be faithful shepherds after the heart of Christ.

06/04/2026

On June 11, 2026, the U.S. bishops will consecrate the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. All Catholics are encouraged to join the bishops in praying for the unity and healing of our country.

When contemplating the Sacred Heart as the source of justice and love, we connect Christ’s love for us with our love for others. As Pope Francis said in Dilexit Nos, “Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters. There is no greater way for us to return love for love” (no. 167). As we meditate on the love Christ has for us, let us pray this Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Love and Mercy.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, who reflected on the Sacred Heart wrote, “I received from my God excessive graces of his love, and I felt moved by the desire to respond to some of them and to respond with love for love” (Autobiography, no. 55). Both Pope Francis in Dilexit Nos and Pope Leo XIV in Dilexi Te teach us that our encounter with the love of Christ’s heart allows us to build up God’s kingdom in this world. Pope Leo emphasizes that “God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest” (Dilexi Te, no. 16).

Consider who is rejected, vulnerable, or living in fear today. How does the Sacred Heart invite you to respond to the needs and suffering of others? You can get involved with your local Catholic Charities, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, or a Catholic Campaign for Human Development funded group. You can also use this resource, Catholic Social Teaching Mustard Seed Commitments, to make small, sustainable commitments to care for your neighbors. Finally, consider praying for all elected officials that they may have the guidance and wisdom to create a just, peaceful society that honors the human dignity of all people living in our nation.

Find more resources at diocesefwsb.org/america-250