This week on Register Radio Dan Burke and the Register's Senior Editor Joan Frawley Desmond discuss Pope Francis and military options in Iraq. Also, Jeanette DeMelo talks to Register writer Joseph Pronechen about the upcoming Register College Guide.

Military Operations in Iraq

Joan Frawley Desmond is the Register’s senior editor. She is an award-winning journalist widely published in Catholic, ecumenical and secular media. A graduate of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family, she lives with her family in Menlo Park, Ca, in the San Francisco Archdiocese. She's been following the U.S. policy response to developments in Iraq.

“The most important, most recent comments Pope Francis made were on his flight back from Korea,” Desmond said. “He was asked in a kind of impromptu press conference whether he was supporting US military involvement in Iraq. He emphasized three points,” Desmond continued, and those points were stopping unjust aggression, the importance of the international community acting collectively, and protecting innocent religious minorities.

Desmond shared Pope Francis’s actual quote and discusses how other religious leaders have spoken out for the international community to take action.

“The Holy Father and others have been very clear that the rights of all religious minorities need to be taken into account,” Desmond said. “That has always been one of the Church’s fundamental missions.”

There have been a number of issues going on in Iraq, including the lack of government involvement in the northern part of the country and the conflicts between different sects within the country. 

The Knights of Columbus are supporting persecuted Iraqis with a matching fund.

Listen to the full interview on this week’s Register Radio.

The Register’s College Guide

Joseph Pronechen has been a Register staff writer since 2005. His articles have appeared regularly in a number of national publications including Columbia magazine, Faith and Family, Catholic Digest, and Marian Helper. His religion features have also appeared in Fairfield County Catholic and in one of Connecticut’s largest news dailies. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees and formerly taught English and courses in film study that he developed at a Catholic high school in Connecticut. For 10 years, he has written the Register's College Guide that's published every September.

“We want to connect those Catholic colleges faithful to the Magisterium with excellent educational possibilities to our readers so they know where they are and where they can go,” Pronechen said.

The process for getting into the College Guide involves each college answering a series of questions relating back to the faithfulness to the Church and Magisterium. It’s not just a list of negatives or do and don’t, but also shows the Catholic opportunities the student body are offered, such as spiritual opportunities, Mass, confession, and clubs.

The questionnaire is included in the Guide, which will be released with the September 10 print edition and on the website under resources. This year, there are 38 colleges included.

To hear more about the College Guide, including some highlights, be sure to listen to this week’s Register Radio.

Listen to this week’s show online or on your mp3 player.