CHECK IT OUT: You can listen to this post as a mini podcast – available exclusively on this page:
Well, here we are again at the end of another week that has moved with break-neck speed. Lots of stories. Too many to cover. Some links and highlights:
- Nearly 1,000 US priests have now signed a letter asking the synod fathers to defend the Church’s teaching on marriage and family at this October’s concluding portion of the Synod on the Family.
- British pop band Ooberfuse has released a music video intended to highlight the plight of Christians in Iraq, which features Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Warda of Erbil, Iraq. Fox News has the background on the video. You can watch it here:
- It’s FIVE DOLLAR FRIDAY AGAIN! If you like our work, please help us cover our expenses with a tax-deductible contribution. As little as five dollars makes a big difference when all our readers chip in! Thank you! For more on Five Dollar Friday, go here:
- Two stories this week about Marian prayer and the battle against the Islamic threat have garnered huge interest. The first is our ongoing Novena to Our Lady of Fatima for the conversion of Muslims. The second is yesterday’s story on the possible Marian miracle in Nigeria, where, following Bishop Doeme’s vision of Christ giving him a rosary as a weapon to destroy Boko Haram, there are widespread reports that the Islamic terrorist group — known for its campaign of unspeakable brutality, slaughter, rape, and kidnapping — is beginning to lose ground.
- It’s time for a changing of the guard at Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of Catholic charity groups around the world currently headed by Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras. At their assembly in Rome this month, new officers are slated for election, with Cardinal Tagle of Manila and Maronite Archbishop Joseph Soueif of Cyprus vying for the top spot. One keynote speaker will be Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian theologian known as the “father of liberation theology.” This is an interesting choice, considering that we’ve already covered the connections between Caritas Internationalis and the communist World Social Forum, which is also pro-abortion and pro-homosexual. Earlier this week, we highlighted a recent interview with Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking defector from the Soviet intelligence apparatus, who has been warning for many years that liberation theology was a KGB invention to further their influence in Latin America. This is a claim that Fr. Gutierrez — who received the President’s Medal at Fordham this week at what may be the peak of an unlikely rehabilitation of his career — flatly denies.
That’s all we’ve got for this week’s roundup. What were your favorite stories this week? What are you going to be watching in the week to come? Let us know in the comments.
Steve Skojec is the Founding Publisher of OnePeterFive.com. He received his BA in Communications and Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2001. His commentary has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Crisis Magazine, EWTN, Huffington Post Live, The Fox News Channel, Foreign Policy, and the BBC. Steve and his wife Jamie have eight children. You can find more of his writing at his Substack, The Skojec File.