This week, Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Karen Anstiss, the service manager for Caritas Bakhita House, a safe house in London for trafficked and exploited women which is run by the Catholic Church. A former police officer, Miss Anstiss charts the origins of the project 10 years ago as part of a broader response to the “endemic and deeply embedded” global problem of an estimated 50 million people trapped in modern-day slavery, a scourge described by Pope Francis as a “wound in the body of humanity and therefore in the body of Christ himself” She goes on to describe the pioneering work of Bakhita House, which since 2015 has given sanctuary to 188 women, aged between 15 and 70, who are drawn from 49 countries and who are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual exploitation or serious sexual assault.
The Catholic novelist Fiorella De Maria discusses Catholic literature for Christmas with Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 91st episode of Merely Catholic. Fiorella tells how she wrote her first book in the summer after graduating from university before she went on to publish about a dozen books with San Francisco-based Ignatius Press and to win the Book Prize of Malta. Her works include acclaimed murder mysteries, biographies of saintly and heroic figures and even a recent foray into horror with This Thing of Darkness, a story she co-authored with KV Turley. She and Dr Ashenden discuss her inspirations, her observations about what makes a Catholic novelist, the threat of cancel culture. Finally she offers a few suggestions for good stocking fillers this Christmas. Check out our sponsor: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/c...
Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative Party minister, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 90th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury and the future of the Church of England. Miss Widdecombe, who, like Dr Ashenden was a member of the Church of England before converting to the Catholic faith, charts the leadership difficulties and challenges which have split Anglicans in the last 30 years and discuss the prospects of reconciliation. She and Dr Ashenden consider the strong possibility that the next leader of the Church of England and the Worldwide Anglican Communion will, for the first time in history, be a woman.
In this 89th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Rod Dreher talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about his new book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age. With increasing numbers of young people in the West seeking spirituality in esoteric religions or the Occult, Mr Dreher argues that the Church must act urgently to rediscover and better express the mysterious beauty of the Catholic faith that has animated and inspired the lives of so many saints. An American author who now lives in Budapest, Hungary, Mr Dreher is perhaps best known for The Benedict Option, his 2017 book about how Christians might prepare themselves for a new dark age. It was one of three New York Times best-sellers, with Live Not By Lives and The Little Way of Ruthie Leming.
Professor David Albert Jones, the director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 88th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. They discuss the rush to assisted suicide ahead of a crucial vote to legalise the practice in the House of Commons on November 29 and the horrible realities of what a change of the law will mean. Professor Jones is the winner of the Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics, and in 2017 he co-edited Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium with Chris Gastmans and Calum MacKellar.
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined for this 87th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, by Andrew Jacoby, an American businessman and entrepreneur. Mr Jacoby, who converted to the Catholic faith from the Judaism of his youth and the “hedonistic lifestyle” of his later years when he travelled the world as a musician, explains how he was ultimately drawn to the Church by “the truth”. He tells of his dalliance with “New Age” and Eastern esotericism, which took him down “down some dark paths” until he rediscovered the stories of the Bible and found that his perspective on life had been altered profoundly.
Dom Alcuin Reid, the distinguished Australian Benedictine who founded the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Fréjus-Toulon, France, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 86th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Dom Alcuin is an internationally-recognised expert on the liturgy, having published and lectured on the subject extensively. Among his works are The Organic Development of the Liturgy, which included a preface by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described. He and Dr Ashenden discuss the liturgical revolutions that have taken place in the last half century, the “overt persecution of that which is good and of God”, and how the “ideology and politics of a passing generation” may be in their dying throes.
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined on Merely Catholic this week by Dr Derry Connolly, the founding president of John Paul the Great Catholic University, California. Dr Connolly charts his journey from his youth in rural County Cork, Ireland, and a career in engineering and technology in Los Angeles to the moment when “God put it in my heart” to establish a “radically different” Catholic university in San Diego to harness the power of beauty to transform contemporary culture, and how he was able to realise his vision in spite of setting out with no funds. In this 85th episode of the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Connolly also discusses with Dr Ashenden what a Catholic university is, and how John Paul the Great might form Catholics for Hollywood. To find out more about John Paul the Great Catholic University visit: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/catholicherald/
The Rt Rev. Joseph Strickland, the former Bishop of Tyler, Texas, who was “relieved” of his duties by Pope Francis last year, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 84th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald They discuss his removal from office and the post-modern assault on truth in the Church and in the world, and other subjects including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Francis papacy and the Rupnik scandal. In the podcast, Bishop Strickland also explains why Christians have a fundamental duty to be heed and be obedient to the truth, warning the faithful that “false messages fall to dust”.
Our guest for this 83rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, is Fr Michael Ward, the English literary critic and theologian and an internationally recognised expert on the writings of CS Lewis. Perhaps best known for his 2010 book Planet Narnia, Fr Ward is an associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. He played the role of a vicar in The Most Reluctant Convert, the CS Lewis biopic. He has also reviewed films and plays for the Catholic Herald and other media. He talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about why Lewis continues to appeal to millions of Catholics and to discuss where Lewis’s theology would fit in today’s ecclesial landscape.
Holly Ordway joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 82nd episode of Merely Catholic to discuss the Catholicism of JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She is the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. Her book Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages (Word on Fire Academic, 2021) received the 2022 Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. Her newest book is Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Tolkien’s death on September 2nd, 202 and can be purchased from on Amazon US and Blackwell’s Books and Amazon UK.
Father Hans Zollner, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, theologian, psychologist, and professor at the Gregorian University. He is also one of the leading experts on safeguarding and the prevention of sexual abuse. In March 2023, Father Zollner resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, criticizing the leadership of the body in a public letter. In this 81st episode of Merely Catholic, Father Zollner discusses the issue of sexual abuse in the Church and how Catholics should respond.
George Farmer, the Oxford-educated investment banker, social media wizard and GB News board member, is our guest for this 80th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Mr Farmer, husband to the American social media influencer and author Candace Owens and the son of Conservative Party peer Lord Farmer, tells Dr Gavin Ashenden about his journey into the Catholic faith from an Evangelical background. They also discuss the crises facing Christianity and the West in the third millennium.
This week Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined from California by author James Crowell to discuss the work and vision of John Paul the Great Catholic University, an institute founded to harness the power of beauty to transform culture. They discuss the ambition of the university to shape “the next generation of artists and innovators with academic excellence, unparalleled creativity, and an authentic community centred on Jesus Christ”. Inspired by St John Paul’s demand for a new evangelisation, the Catholic film school aims to provide a hub to create culture by bringing together storytellers, artists, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs in the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness – and offer an antidote to an ugly and bleak post-Christian future. https://jpcatholic.edu/
Dr Gavin Ashenden this week speaks to fellow Catholic Herald associate editor and novelist Simon Caldwell about the recently published norms from the Vatican governing the discernment and handling of private revelations and associated mystical and supernatural phenomena. They discuss what the new norms represent and what has prompted the overhaul, the first since 1978. They also examine the purpose of private revelations and the dangers posed to the Church by those which are fraudulent. Caldwell, who has written frequently about private revelations, also talks for the first time about his forthcoming second novel, Lady Mabel’s Gold – the sequel to The Beast of Bethulia Park – and the character of Ana Guerrero, a schoolteacher who bleeds mysteriously from her head. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0852447000?ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE&social_share=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE
When Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010 he was welcomed on behalf of the youth of country by Paschal Uche, then a 22-year-old from Stratford, East London. Ten years later Father Pascal was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brentwood. In this 77th episode of Merely Catholic, Father Pascal talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about how he answered his call to the priesthood, his priestly formation, and about the exercise of the vocation to priestly ministry in the 21st century.
Michael J. Knowles, the American broadcaster, political commentator, actor and author, is the guest of Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 75th episode for Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. They discuss the many “diverse and eccentric” identities of American conservativism in the twilight of the Biden presidency and Mr Knowles’ work for the Daily Wire, the popular US news website and media company, amid the shifting sands of the cultural revolutions of the last decade. They also talk about the vital role of the Catholic Church in upholding objective moral truth in the crisis of relativism gripping the West.
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by Dr Patricia Morgan, the distinguished sociologist and author of the 2023 book Banning Conversion Therapy: The Missing Evidence, amid impending legislation to criminalise counselling, discussion, prayer and teaching based on orthodox Christian doctrine in spite of such changes representing a serious attack upon free inquiry and freedom of speech. In this 75th episode for Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Dr Morgan sets such changes in the prevailing anti-family and anti-marriage ideology that has convulsed the West for more than 50 years.
Madeline Page of Right to Life UK joins Dr Gavin Ashenden this week to discuss shocking scenes at Manchester University when a violent mob descended on a meeting of the students’ pro-life group with the aim of closing it down. Hundreds converged on the venue where a group of students met peacefully to spit at the women taking part and to shout “get raped” in their faces, with the police forced to intervene to prevent violent attacks on participants. Dr Ashenden, in this 74th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic, asks Madeline what this was all about and what it signifies.
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by John Zmirak, a senior editor of The Stream and author of the new Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, to discuss the new novelties “gathering slime” in the West and within the Catholic Church. Zmirak is the author, co-author, or editor of twelve books, including Wilhelm Ropke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist, The Grand Inquisitor (graphic novel) and The Race to Save Our Century and his essays, poems, and other works have appeared in First Things, The Weekly Standard, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, FrontPage Magazine, The American Conservative, The South Carolina Review, Modern Age, The Intercollegiate Review, Commonweal, and The National Catholic Register. He has contributed to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought.
Anette Ohlsson
How wonderful to hear this interview with two of my favourite Catholic speakers! I could listen to you all day. Thank you 🙏 I can really relate to the British view of catholics, since Im a Swede and it has been forbidden to be Catholic here up to the 1950s (only migrants were allowed to be Catholic). I will soon be a proud member of the church militant, armed and ready for my first communion and confirmation 12th of May 2024! A miracle to be here after a long journey. With sisterly love/ Anette
Anette Ohlsson
Gavin, this episode is only 3 minutes. Can you upload again please? 🙏
Ingrid Linbohm
At Assisi in October 1986 John Paul ll betrayed Jesus Christ by meeting with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and tribal religions, all of which are anti Christian. The hermeneutics of continuity is nonsense. Read Pope Pius X and then John Paul ll and Francis. Francis can't even agree with John Paul ll who appointed Francis to the office of Cardinal. Modernism claims its slaves ie John Paul ll, Benedict XVl and Francis. They follow the modernists John XIII and Paul Vl.