Whether or not it is a direct countermovement to so-called Pride Month, the initiative is undoubtedly countercultural.
Robert P. George’s initiative to rebrand June “Fidelity Month” is gaining steam among religious conservatives who share the Princeton professor’s desire to “rededicate” ourselves to our families, communities, country, and God.
“If polls are to be believed, there has been a precipitous decline in Americans’ belief in the importance of patriotism, religion, marriage and family, and community—values that, broadly speaking, have throughout our history united Americans despite our many differences,” George wrote on Twitter late last month. “By the authority vested in me by absolutely no one, I’ve declared June to be ‘Fidelity Month’—a month dedicated to renewing fidelity to God, spouses and families, our country, and our communities.”
Within a short time, Fidelity Month has gained traction: The webinar launch on June 1 attracted over 600 viewers, archdioceses across the country have endorsed the movement, and high-profile conservatives have expressed support. Mollie Hemingway and Governor DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw tweeted in celebration of Fidelity Month, while Peter Sonski, the American Solidarity Party’s presidential candidate for 2024, endorsed Fidelity Month in a press release. Outlets like Fox News, The Daily Signal, the National Catholic Register, The Blaze, and Public Discourse have covered Fidelity Month.
The Fidelity Month website has attracted tens of thousands of visitors this month, and it earned a perfect score of one hundred from the domain host GoDaddy, which is a calculation partially based on website engagement, social presence, and sales.
Deacon Michael Forrest, who was incardinated four years ago in Massachusetts, became involved with Fidelity Month after seeing a social-media post by George.
“What I love about Fidelity Month is that it doesn’t seek to achieve unity and peace by lowering the bar–by finding the lowest common denominator,” Forrest wrote to National Review. “Instead, it proposes a positive vision, seeking to lift us all up and draw us closer together as we all strive toward the common goal of greater fidelity.”
Jennifer Evans, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, told National Review she first learned of the Fidelity Month initiative from an article in the Mormon-owned publication Deseret.
“I absolutely believe our country has needed a positive movement to counteract the negative and often vile content thrown at us by the media and organizations, and the spreading of LGBTQ+ and Trans movements,” Evans wrote. “Whereas pride month is all about ‘look at me,’ Fidelity Month is about ‘look at us’ and what we can accomplish together for the good of all. Pride is about the loud minority whereas Fidelity is about the quiet majority.”
Although Fidelity Month might be perceived as a direct countermovement to Pride Month, Forrest believes that June is a “fitting time” for Catholics to celebrate fidelity because “it beautifully complements our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
Deacon John Barry, who designed the Fidelity Month logo, agrees that Fidelity Month is not “an adversarial campaign.”
“No one has ownership over the month of June, or any other month, for that matter. For Catholics, June marks the celebration of two important events: the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Feast of Corpus Christi,” Barry wrote to National Review. “Caribbean-Americans celebrate June as their national heritage month. June is also men’s health month, brain awareness month and national safety awareness month. The selection of June as a time to celebrate a virtue should not be considered adversarial.”
Zachariah Carter, a pastor and adjunct professor at Boyce College in Kentucky, says that Fidelity Month is “responding to some aspects of the so-called Pride Month,” but thinks that “we have seen a general collapse of the virtue of fidelity within marriage, institutions, and government.” Carter helped design the Fidelity Month website.
“I think we have needed something like Fidelity Month for more than a few decades,” Carter wrote to National Review. “If we feel this was our response to any cultural decline, it is because we are so downstream from people’s recognition of their responsibility towards God and neighbor that suggesting the virtue of fidelity is radically countercultural.”