By Bishop Patrick Neary
As a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Blessed Basil Moreau, our founder, placed his priests under the patronage of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I have a beautiful image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in my private chapel. It’s a reminder to me that my own heart must be open in love to all the people I encounter each day, wherever I find myself.
Diocese of Saint Cloud
When I was first named the bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud, I looked at the diocesan website while sitting at my favorite café in Portland, Oregon. I was immediately moved by the motto of our diocese to be Christ’s “Heart of Mercy, Voice of Hope, Hands of Justice.”
Pope Francis, in his encyclical “Dilexit Nos” (“He loved us”), emphasizes the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ and what it means for all of us as his disciples. In his words, “The heart of Christ is ‘ecstasy,’ openness, gift and encounter. In that heart, we learn to relate to one another in wholesome and happy ways, and to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle” (No. 28).
Flowing from meditation on the Sacred Heart, an overarching theme has emerged for our diocese in this new year: Accompaniment. At first hearing, one might think it only applies to music, where instrumental or vocal parts add harmony, depth and texture, making the music more engaging.
From the perspective of faith, accompaniment means that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we agree to offer the instrument of our heart, united to the heart of Christ, to become “living strings” who add harmony, depth and texture to the lives of everyone we meet, but especially to the lonely, the lost, the fearful, the poor and the persecuted. It is to reflect Christ’s merciful love by seeing, hearing and valuing each person we meet.
Accompaniment is also an invitation to form joyful communities of faith, anchored in the Eucharist, where we finally discover that we are the Body of Christ and brothers and sisters in the Lord. Together we go forth as disciples to seek out the lost sheep, to accompany them with love and compassion and to bring them home.
Accompaniment means using our material resources to support the robust mission of our diocese. I am truly grateful to all of you for your support for the 2026 Bishop’s Annual Appeal, which has as its theme: Hearts of Mercy, Agents of Compassion.
Accompaniment includes simply having fun together in celebration of all that is good. To warm our hearts in this cold month of February, we can look forward to the Men’s Conference, the Festival of Families and the Super Bowl (though I had hoped that this was the year for our Vikings!).
Soon we will begin our Lenten journey, which is all about the interior transformation and softening of our hearts — away from hardness, selfishness and self-centeredness — so that our hearts, through self-examination, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, can be more authentic, vulnerable and loving, like the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Thank you to each of you for having hearts so attuned to the heart of Christ and to the hearts of everyone you meet on your life’s journey.
Yours in Christ,
Bishop Patrick M. Neary, CSC