Cincinnati Fatima Conference 2025

Father Michael Rodríguez was ordained a priest of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas in 1996. He is the third in a family of six children. He attended major seminary at the Pontifical North American College in Rome and completed his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Early in his priesthood, he served as the Vocation Director for the Diocese of El Paso. Father speaks fluent English and Spanish and is proficient in German and Italian.

Father’s weekly sermons are posted at St. Vincent Ferrer Foundation, where you can subscribe for new sermon notifications.

He is regularly featured on Ask Father and at our conferences. We invite you to watch his personal testimony, “How I Left the New Mass and Found Tradition” and his six-part series on The First Saturday Devotion.

Father Matthew Haynos is a traditional Benedictine priest.

Father Joshua Jacobs, SSPX, is currently pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Walton, KY.

Father was ordained on July 7, 2017 at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, Dillwyn, VA.

Christopher Ferrara earned his Baccalaureate and Juris Doctor degrees from Fordham University. He is President and Chief Counsel of the American Catholic Lawyers Association. His articles have appeared in The Latin Mass and The Remnant, Catholic Family News, The Fatima Crusader, and other publications. He authored several books, including Liberty: The God That Failed, and The Secret Still Hidden, and co-authored The Great Facade. The results of his historic debate with Giuseppe de Carli at the Fatima Challenge conference in Rome (May 2010) forever changed the landscape of the Fatima controversies.

Many of Christopher’s articles are posted at The Fatima Center’s website, where you can also watch “Church and State,” a bi-weekly show featuring Dr. Brian McCall and Christopher Ferrara.

You can watch “The Message of Fatima: The Great Reset in Christ,” his recent talk from the Rome Life Forum (October 2023) or get this talk in booklet form.

Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Hannover, Germany. She now lives in the U.S. and is the widow of Dr. Robert Hickson, with whom she was blessed with two beautiful children.

Dr. Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany and has been writing articles on religion and politics for the U.S.

In 2014, she published a collection of essays to honor her husband on his 70th birthday, which is titled A Catholic Witness In Our Time. She is currently working on translating a book from German into English on the Rome-Moscow-Fatima connections.

Marianna Bartold is the host of the Genesis 315 podcast and author of Fatima: The Signs and Secrets and Guadalupe: Secrets of the Image.

A longtime contributor to “Catholic Family News,” she also published “The Catholic Family’s Magnificat Magazine” and served as an editor of “Sursum Corda” (now “Latin Mass Magazine”).

As a Catholic, a journalist, and a researcher, Marianna’s mentors included Fr. Charles Fiore, O.P. and Fr. John Hardon, S.J. In 1995, she founded the Keeping It Catholic (KIC) Faith, Family, and Home Education Network. A lifelong Michigan resident, Marianna is a wife and mother of six. Her current project is a book on Our Lady and the Apocalypse.

Monique is one of the hosts for “Fatima Today” – a weekly podcast which looks at all events through the lens of Our Lady’s Message. Her zeal for spreading the Faith is contagious and she joyfully hands on her knowledge of the Faith and Fatima. Many of you may recognize her voice as she frequently answers calls at The Fatima Center. 

Monique is married, has four children, and has been involved in homeschooling for twenty years. Teaching her children led her to a far greater knowledge and love of the Faith than she had in her youth.

She attended her first Fatima Conference in 1999 in Hamilton, Ontario, where she first met Father Gruner. Since then, she has sought to learn everything she can about Fatima and is convinced that Our Lady’s Message is the only hope for the world.

David Rodríguez serves as the Content Director for The Fatima Center. After graduate school in electrical engineering, he spent several years in a diocesan seminary and as a novice in a Cistercian monastery before earning his Master’s in Theology from the University of Dallas.

David has spent over twenty years working in parishes, directing religious formation, hosting call-in shows on Catholic Radio, leading Catholic pilgrimage tours, and supporting Catholic non-profits aimed at recovering and restoring the traditions of our Catholic Faith. He is married and has seven children.

Many of David’s talks are posted on The Fatima Center’s website. We encourage you to view his micro-conferences series “Fatima: Why The Time Is Now.” If you would like to help host a Fatima micro-conference in your area, please contact us at info@fatima.org.

Joanna Swords is one of The Fatima Center’s initial volunteers. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. After working as a Registered Nurse for nearly 23 years, she came to work for The Fatima Center (1998). Over the past 26 years she has worked in a variety of areas, including developing the volunteer program, shipping and international distribution, event coordination, directing workshops, and developing new literature.

Andrew Cesanek has a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (University of Massachusetts). A supporter of The Fatima Center since 1989, Andrew left a successful career as a Software Engineer at Motorola to dedicate himself entirely to putting all of his skills at the full-time service of Our Lady’s Apostolate in 2000. Andrew has studied the Fatima Message extensively, becoming an expert on Fatima research material. He has served meticulously as content editor and proofreader for the Apostolate’s many print and web based resources.

James Hanisch serves as a staff writer and author for The Fatima Center. He began working with Father Gruner in 2012. He also serves as a moderator and content editor for its social media platforms.