Contact: Kevin Wandra,
404-788-1276

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 29, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- WHAT – An international tele-press conference that will feature a panel of prominent Catholics who will discuss issues related to the Ordinary Synod on the Family. Such topics include:

• The need for a perspective that deepens respect, compassion and sensitivity when considering the pastoral care of those with same-sex attractions;
   
• The consideration of changing the Catholic Church's teachings on marriage and family life;
   
• How African Bishops have vowed to speak with "one voice" at the upcoming Synod and oppose any threat to the family and the values that it bears;
   
• The ongoing appeal to oppose the ideas put forth by Cardinal Kasper and others to change the Church's teachings regarding the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics

The distinguished panel will draw from issues raised in six books published by Ignatius Press and a film distributed by Courage International, appropriately timed with the Synod on the Family:

• LIVING THE TRUTH IN LOVE: Pastoral Approaches to Same-Sex Attraction;
   
• ELEVEN CARDINALS SPEAK ON MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY: Essays From a Pastoral Viewpoint;
   
• GOD OR NOTHING by Cardinal Robert Sarah;
   
• CHRIST'S NEW HOMELAND – AFRICA: Contribution to the Synod on the Family by African Pastors;
   
• TEST EVERYTHING: Hold Fast to What is Good by Cardinal George Pell;
   
• REMAINING IN THE TRUTH OF CHRIST: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church
   
• DESIRE OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS film

Several panelists in the tele-press conference will also be participating in a Pre-Synod Conference on Friday in Rome titled Living the Truth in Love: Addressing the pastoral needs of men and women with homosexual tendencies. Information about this conference can be found here: www.truthandlove.com.

WHO – Panelists confirmed to participate in the tele-press conference include:

• Dr. Janet Smith, co-editor of LIVING THE TRUTH IN LOVE and the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
   
• Fr. Paul Check, executive director of Courage International, Inc., a ministry that provides support for Catholics who experience same-sex attraction.
   
• Father Joseph Fessio, founder and editor of Ignatius Press, which is the primary English-language publisher of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's writings and the publisher of Catholic World Report. Fr. Fessio wrote his dissertation under the direction of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (then-Professor Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger).
   
• Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press.
   
• Timothy G. Lock, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist in full-time practice, working within a Catholic anthropology assessment, psychotherapy and psychological consultation.
   
• Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., founder of the Ruth Institute, an interfaith organization that addresses the lies of the sexual revolution.
   
• Andrew Comiskey (M.Div.), a former homosexual and founder and director of Desert Stream/Living Waters Ministries, a multifaceted outreach to the sexually and relationally broken.

Panelists invited to participate, but not yet confirmed include:

• Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
   
• Cardinal George Pell, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican.

Moderating the panel will be Dr. Pia de Solenni, Associate Dean of The Augustine Institute.

WHEN – 10:00 a.m. ET Thursday, Oct. 1.

WHERE – Tele-press conference line. Register here:
www.yourconferencecenter.com/confcenter/PinCode/Pin_Code.aspx?100866&o=UhmehcnGOYGwAq.

For more information, please contact Kevin Wandra (404-788-1276 or KWandra@CarmelCommunications.com) of Carmel Communications.