June Can Be a Month for BOTH the Sacred Heart AND Pride
Sacred Heart of Jesus by Dani M. Jiménez/AndHerSaints
Over the last few years, many Catholic leaders and commentators have publicly complained that the month of June has been “stolen” by the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate Pride. Many of their complaints argue that the Pride celebrations diminish what had traditionally been a month in the Catholic calendar reserved to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of course, such complaints are unfounded. June also is a month strongly identified with graduations, Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and weddings, and no Catholic leaders or commentators have ever complained that these celebrations overshadow devotion to the Sacred Heart. Singling out Pride as a culprit seems to reveal the anti-LGBTQ+ bias these Catholics hold.
Rainbow Sacred Heart image created by Whitney Swanson.
The Black Catholic Messenger website, a resource devoted to lifting up African American voices in the Catholic Church, recently posted an article by Tulio Hugins, who describes himself as “a Catholic who’s queer,” which offered a very Catholic alternative to view the false opposition that anti-LGBTQ+ Catholics have created between Pride and the Sacred Heart. Entitled “The Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for the Queer,” the article rebuts an anti-LGBTQ+ podcast episode in which two Catholic priests criticize LGBTQ+ people. His critique is very incisive, but I don’t intend to summarize it here. (If interested, you can read the post for yourself.). What I want to do instead is to highlight the Catholic alternative Hugins offers, which he expresses in the closing paragraph of his article:
“. . . Pride Month can be a time to grow in spirituality, especially by focusing on the devotion of the Sacred Heart. In June, I am reminded that the Sacred Heart of Jesus bleeds for the Queer. His passionate and sacrificial love for his creation overflows to reach those harmed and ostracized by those in the Church who refuse to look after those on the peripheries. His precious blood is a comfort that nothing can surpass, and as he carves himself into the hearts of those who suffer, he will never let them go.”
That beautiful paragraph speaks for itself.
—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, June 8, 2026
Thank you, Francis.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus has always been a symbol to me of Jesus’ love for me and the whole church/world. So happy you publicize this attempt to rob us of that. The “robbery” attempt is from the other direction.
A thought provoking post and article.
The image of a pie comes to mind. The way some say there’s not enough for everybody to have a slice. Certain people cannot have a piece. But what if the Sacred Heart is the pie? Pies have many ingredients. There is certainly room for fathers and graduates, for couples and those who celebrate Juneteenth, and for queer people as well. This Sacred Heart pie includes all of these and more.