Hopefully, the readers at CatholicCyber-Militia.com (all two dozen of you!) have been paying attention to the fact that this October there is going to be another synod going on.   This time it’s the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon. (That’s the full title; normally it’s just shortened to the “Amazon Synod.”)

And, if you’ve been paying attention, you know that some of the proposals being put forth in the working document (Instrumentum Laboris) of the synod are quite controversial.  Some have called them dangerous…or worse.

The concern for the impact which the Amazon Synod might have on our Church is significant enough that two leading prelates have issued an urgent prayer request.  Raymond Cardinal Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider have requested a “Crusade of Prayer and Fasting to Implore God that Error and Heresy do not pervert the coming Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon.”

Cdl. Burke and Bp. Schneider lay down a detailed description of the prayer and fasting request, the reason for making the request, and provide an extensive summary of the grave concerns they have about the material in the working document.

An excerpt:

Various prelates and lay commentators, as well as lay institutions, have warned that the authors of the Instrumentum Laboris, issued by the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, to serve as the basis for discussion in the coming Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazon, have inserted serious theological errors and heresies into the document.  

We invite Catholic clergy and laity to participate in a crusade of prayer and fasting to implore our Lord and Savior, through the intercession of His Virgin Mother, for the following intentions: 

• That the theological errors and heresies inserted in the Instrumentum Laboris may not be approved during the synodal assembly; 
• That particularly Pope Francis, in the exercise of the Petrine ministry, may confirm his brethren in the faith by an unambiguous rejection of the errors of the Instrumentum Laboris and that he may not consent to the abolition of priestly celibacy in the Latin Church by introducing the praxis of the ordination of married men, the so-called “viri probati”, to the Holy Priesthood. 

We propose a forty-day crusade of prayer and fasting to begin on September 17 and end on October 26, 2019, the day before the conclusion of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the PanAmazon. Anyone who first learns about the Crusade after the date of its beginning can naturally join the Crusade at any point.  

During the forty-day crusade of prayer and fasting, we propose to pray daily at least one decade of the Holy Rosary and to fast once a week for the above mentioned intentions. According to the tradition of the Church, fasting consists in eating only one full meal during the day, and additionally, one may eat up to two smaller meals. Fasting on bread and water is also recommended to those who are able to do so.  

It is our duty to make the faithful aware of some of the main errors that are being spread through the Instrumentum Laboris. By way of premise, it must be observed that the document is long and is marked by a language which is not clear in its meaning, especially in what regards the deposit of faith (depositum fidei). Among the principal errors, we especially note the following… 

The letter in its entirety can be found here:  Crusade of Prayer and Fasting to Implore God that Error and Heresy do not pervert the coming Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon or at the following link:

http://www.ncregister.com/images/uploads/BurkeSchneider.pdf