Featured Stories | October 25, 2025
“May each of us allow the love of Christ to illuminate our minds and shape our hearts. In this way, the tradition we have received can speak anew to the challenges of our time and the light of the gospel can continue to find fresh expression in the life of the Church and in the world.”
-Cardinal Christophe Pierre
From October 23-24, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology hosted a symposium titled “The Sacred Heart Poured Out for the World.” It was an exploration of Sacred Heart spirituality and its relevance for the Church’s mission today, bringing together seminarians, faculty, staff, ecclesial leaders, theologians, clergy and lay participants for reflection and dialogue.
“This symposium is dedicated to exploring,” said Cardinal Christophe Pierre in his opening words. “EXPLORING – I like this word. We are exploring Sacred Heart spirituality in its full dynamism as both a path of interior transformation and a source of missionary energy for the Church’s engagement with the world. These are not two separate realities. Rather, they belong together as two movements of the same heart: one that draws us inward into the mystery of God’s love and one that sends us outward in service to our brothers and sisters.”
Cardinal Pierre is Apostolic Nuncio to the United States and was at SHSST for several days to take part both in the symposium and in the annual Collegial Gathering of Brother Bishops.
Recognizing the “two movements of the same heart,” as the Cardinal noted, the first day of the conference centered on the theme of personal conversion — conforming one’s heart to the Heart of Christ. The second day addressed the social implications of this spiritual transformation. What does the spirituality of the Sacred Heart – what does Christ’s heart – ask of us as?
“These days of study, prayer and reflection are not an end in themselves,” concluded Cardinal Pierre. “They are an important part of the Church’s ongoing journey of discernment and mission. Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology has chosen well to root this symposium in both theological depth and pastoral urgency. The theme, ‘The Sacred Heart Poured Out for the World’ is not only a beautiful image, it is a summons!
“May each of us allow the love of Christ to illuminate our minds and shape our hearts. In this way, the tradition we have received can speak anew to the challenges of our time and the light of the gospel can continue to find fresh expression in the life of the Church and in the world.”
Thursday’s presenters included Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Madison and Fr. James Kubicki, SJ. Fr. Kubicki’s book, A Heart on Fire: Rediscovering Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” was regularly referenced in Bishop Hying’s presentation on “The Relation of the Sacred Heart to the Paschal Mystery and God’s Divine Mercy.”
“We’re blessed to have Fr. Jim Kubicki here with us,” said the bishop. “My reflection for today’s talk is precisely his book on rediscovering devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It’s both intimidating and humbling to talk about somebody’s book with the author sitting in the front row. But Father, you meditate on the symbols of the Sacred Heart and you connect the Sacred Heart profoundly to the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, the pascal mystery which is the very center of our faith. When you look at an image of the Sacred Heart, you see the cross on top of it, the cross through which Jesus poured out his precious blood to save us and forgive us. You see His heart bleeding, bleeding from an open wound… No matter how many thousands of times we pass in front of a crucifix, we can never look at it with indifference.”
Picking up on Bishop Hying’s presentation, Fr. Kubicki said that “Sacred Heart devotion is not new. It’s not something that started with St. Margaret Mary. I think we can make a very strong case that it goes to the beginnings of Christianity. And from the beginning, the Church had a devotion to that cross of Jesus and the wounds of Jesus…
“I’ve often said that this [Sacred Heart devotion] is not just one devotion among many. It’s not so much OUR devotion as it is God’s devotion to us, giving us his only son who offered himself on the cross, who offers himself to us in the Eucharist. It’s His devotion to us. Our devotion is simply a response to His.”
Living the devotion
On the second day of the symposium, each of the speakers touched on the lived experience of devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Speaking about Rerum Novarum, Dilexit nos, and Dilexi te, as well as the writings of Fr. Leo John Dehon, Dr. Jeremy Blackwood, associate professor of Systematic Theology at SHSST, said that in these works one can see that the Pope Leo XIII, Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV and the founder “share a common anthropology, one in which our heart must participate in Christ’s heart and we must live that out in our relationships with all other persons in the entire created order.”
Fr. Eduardo Nune Pugliesi, SCJ, a professor at the SCJs’ Faculdade Dehoniana in Taubaté, Brazil, spoke about the Sacred Heart as it is found in the official prayers of the Roman Rite. Fr. Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, director of the North American Dehon Study Center, presented on the specifics of how Dehonians live the devotion.
“The great contribution of our founder to the understanding of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is that this devotion must lead us to social transformation,” said Fr. Joseph. “We have to listen to what is going on socially and give an answer. When you talk to SCJs you will hear concepts like oblation, reparation and solidarity. Solidarity in our Rule of Life is a central concept… Fr. Dehon emphasized that the reign of the Sacred Heart has to be inserted in souls and societies. This is his vision and now the vision that the Priests of the Sacred Heart try to carry out.”
Dr. Paul Monson, SHSST academic dean and associate professor of Church History, closed the symposium with a lighthearted, yet serious reflection on Footnote 99 of Dilexit nos in which the Spiritual Directory of the Priests of the Sacred Heart is cited.
View the livestream recordings of the symposium speakers at the following links:
PHOTOS: Click here to view photos from the two days
