‘At the Foot of the Cross’ is a monthly podcast from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales bringing you the latest news, project updates, events, prayer and more. We discuss our workstreams, from pro-life issues, Catholic life and worship and social action, to heritage and patrimony, environmental concerns and international aid and development.
31st March 2023
Holy Week is a very sacred time for us as we follow Christ from his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem to the foot of the Cross – the name of this very podcast – as sorrowful bystanders to His Passion. On Easter Sunday, we roll back the stone of the empty tomb and share in the joy of the Resurrection.
Our regular guest, Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference, takes us day-by-day through Holy Week and encourages us to play a full part in the Chrism Mass and Sacred Triduum.
We pay tribute to the much-loved retired auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, David McGough, who died recently at his home in Tean, Staffordshire, aged 78.
We also wish a happy retirement to Bishop Tom Williams, an auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Liverpool, safe in the knowledge that he’ll still be very present and active in the city of his birth and ministry.
There’s a word on the Coronation of King Charles III and, of course, we keep the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in our prayers as he continues to recover from bronchitis.
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25th February 2023
We’ve held our February podcast back a week so we can justly and solemnly mark the tragedy of the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, the Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the UK gives us an extended interview as we remember all those who have died and pray for peace and the laying down of arms.
You can listen to this piece at the end of our podcast.
Episode 11 begins with a review of the Synod’s European Continental Assembly that took place in Prague from 5-12 February. Our Director of Mission, Fr Jan Nowotnik, was part of a four-person team that travelled to the Czech Republic, led by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, to participate in this important phase.
Lent has started and, as such, we continue to look more deeply at John’s Gospel with Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference. We immerse ourselves in those three great catechetical gospels.
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27th January 2023
A new year, a new ‘At the Foot of the Cross’ podcast. Much has happened since we were last with you. A prayerful focus on the last days of Advent and the O Antiphons was followed by the joy of the Word Made Flesh – the coming of Christ at Christmas. That, in turn, was followed by some very sad news.
On 31 December, our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died, aged 95, in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. He had received the last rites a few days before so we knew to prepare ourselves for what was to follow. He is now with the Lord and we continue to pray for the repose of his soul.
Canon Christopher Thomas, our General Secretary, joins us in the studio to offer his personal reflections on Pope Benedict as well as to give a moving description of the Lying in State and Requiem Mass in Rome. We hear, too, from Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
On to Sacred Scripture and as Lent fast approaches, we’re preparing to conclude our audio Bible series by ‘Reading John in Lent’. The Gospel According to St John is our final installment and will be read from start to finish each weekday of the season. Canon Chris gives over a section of this podcast for a thought-provoking introduction to John’s Gospel.
We conclude by hearing from one of our bishops, as we always do. January sees bishops from around the world join together for the Holy Land Co-ordination – an annual meeting of the Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land. It focuses on the three Ps: Prayer, Pilgrimage and Persuasion and was based this year in Amman, Jordan, from 14-19 January.
Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Chairing his first Holy Land Co-ordination, spoke to us on the eve of his return home from Amman.
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21st December 2022
Our final ‘At the Foot of the Cross’ podcast of the year features a whistle-stop review of the year with our General Secretary, Canon Christopher Thomas.
As we move prayerfully through the final octave of Advent, and with our O Antiphons audio series live and online, in this podcast, we look towards Christmas and the coming of the Word made Flesh.
Canon Chris discusses some of the events that have framed our year – the tragedy of the war in Ukraine, the Bishops’ first plenary meeting in Wales for 18 years, the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the visit of the relics of St Bernadette. He concludes with a final reflection for Advent, encouraging us all to pray at the crib this year – particularly for peace in troubled times.
Finally, it’s over to Bishop Peter Brignall, the Bishop of Wrexham for a wonderful five-minute Christmas message.
All this and more on December’s ‘At the Foot of the Cross’.
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30th November 2022
November’s ‘At the Foot of the Cross’ really is pushing its luck, coming in on the last day of the month. Profound apologies, but, hopefully, it’s well worth the wait.
Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference joins us and kick-starts the podcast by reviewing elements of the Bishops’ November plenary meeting at Hinsley Hall, Leeds. He talks about the visit of the relics of St Bernadette Soubirous – the young French girl who saw the Virgin Mary eighteen times in a series of apparitions that took place in cave on the outskirts of Lourdes, a place much-loved by pilgrims from England and Wales. The relics toured England, Wales and Scotland for two months and have been visited by tens of thousands of people.
We then discuss the vital need to promote a culture of vocation in the Catholic Church in our countries and reflect on the Bishops’ plenary resolution on the subject.
Canon Chris wraps his slot by talking about Advent and the O Antiphons that we hear in our liturgy on the last seven days of the season.
We then hear from the man who has just been announced by Pope Francis as a new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Southwark – Monsignor Philip Moger.
And if that wasn’t enough, we have a lovely Advent reflection from Bishop Paul Swarbrick. The Bishop of Lancaster takes a November evening stroll with us around the grounds of Hinsley Hall.
All this and more on November’s ‘At the Foot of the Cross’.
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
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27th October 2022
We have two interesting years ahead of us in the life of the Catholic Church. 2025 is a Jubilee Year where the theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. In the lead-up, not only do we have a two-part Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome in 2023 and 2024, we also prepare for the Jubilee with two years of focus and formation.
On today’s ‘At the Foot of the Cross’, we’re lifting the lid on the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. Sacrosanctum Concilium on the Sacred Liturgy, Lumen Gentium on the Church, Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation, and Gaudium et Spes on the Church in the Modern World. This is very much a short overview, given by our General Secretary, Canon Christopher Thomas, to encourage further reading and engagement.
Also on the podcast, we speak to the CEO of Caritas Salford, Patrick O’Dowd, about the cost of living crisis and the impact on people in the north west.
We finish by hearing from one of our bishops. Bishop Patrick McKinney is our Lead Bishop for Interreligious Dialogue and gives us a reflection on the importance of dialogue with followers of other religions.
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
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23rd September 2022
An awful lot of water has passed under the bridge since our summer At the Foot of the Cross podcast. In a month in which we lost our longest-serving monarch, it’s only fitting that we start by discussing the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Tributes, mourning, Requiem Masses, Bishops’ messages of prayer and condolence – there has been an outpouring of grief across our nations culminating in the funeral of The Queen on Monday, 19 September. Our regular studio guest, General Secretary Canon Christopher Thomas, offers his personal reflections on a much-loved sovereign and a woman of faith and longevity.
Canon Thomas also discusses the continental phase of the synodal process and looks forward to the jubilee year of 2025 and how the preceding two years will be spent leading up to it.
September saw two special ‘Sundays’ in the Church’s calendar – Evangelii Gaudium Sunday and Education Sunday. In addition, the last Sunday of the month is given over as a world day of prayer for migrants and refugees enabling us to stand in solidarity with them, pray for them and celebrate their contribution to our communities. Our Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees, Bishop Paul McAleenan, joins us to reflect on Pope Francis’ message for the day and talks about how the Church helps those in genuine need and those seeking a better life on our shores.
It can’t have escaped your attention that we’re deep into the Season of Creation – a full month in which we celebrate God’s great gift of the natural world and how we can be better custodians of it, in the face of the climate crisis. Bishop John Arnold of Salford, who has our environment brief, joins us to discuss our environmental work and to discuss the Bishops’ updated teaching document on the subject – the soon to be released ‘Call of Creation’.
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29th July 2022
Welcome to At the Foot of the Cross – a monthly podcast from the secretariat of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. This episode is something of a summer offering, covering July and August.
We’re joined by our regular guest Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary here at the Bishops’ Conference. We start with the two-year Synod process and talk about the National Synthesis and an initial reflection from our Bishops called Seeking Our Hearts’ Desire. Both documents have now been submitted to the Synod office in Rome.
The relics of St Bernadette visit England and Wales in September giving the Catholic community a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pray in the presence of one of our much loved saints – bringing the spirituality and charisms of Lourdes to our shores.
Then we look at a new date in our Catholic calendar. The Third Sunday in September, formerly called Home Mission Sunday, is now “Evangelii Gaudium Sunday”. Named after Pope Francis’ first (solo) Apostolic Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel, the day presents the opportunity to celebrate the beauty of our faith and our affirm our commitment to witness to the fullness of life in Christ.
Finally we turn our attention to a new document from our Committee for Marriage and Family Life. It’s called The Joy of Love and looks at the main themes of the 2016 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Bishop David Oakley tells us more about the document and how we can use it.
All this and more in our July/August At the Foot of the Cross podcast.
Image: Charnoff on Wiki Media (CC BY-SA 4.0)
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
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9th June 2022
At the Foot of the Cross looks at the Pope’s announcement that he will create 21 new cardinals at the end of the summer, one of whom is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments – our very own Archbishop Arthur Roche.
A former Bishop of Leeds, Cardinal-elect Roche will be elevated to the rank at a consistory on Saturday, 27 August 2022. Our General Secretary, Canon Christopher Thomas, congratulates his predecessor and explains what a consistory is and what will happen in August.
We also discuss the National Synod Day that was held in the Archdiocese of Southwark on 1 June – an occasion where 20 bishops, alongside clergy and lay people, reviewed prayerfully the draft of the national synthesis that will ultimately be sent to Rome.
Day for Life is celebrated in our parishes on Sunday, 19 June and it seems an opportune time to give you an example of where the grant money goes. We have an interview with Rachel Mackenzie from Rachel’s Vineyard, an organisation helping women, and men, recover from the trauma of abortion.
We conclude by looking back on the Holy Land Coordination with outgoing chair, Bishop Declan Lang. The annual gathering of bishops from across Europe and around the world stands in solidarity with the Christians of this complicated region to assure them they’re not alone. The bishops gathered in Jerusalem from 21-26 May.
All this and more in June’s At the Foot of the Cross.
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
Feed: cbcew.org.uk/feed/podcast/at-the-foot-of-the-cross
19th May 2022
May’s At the Foot of the Cross looks back on the Bishops’ visit to Cardiff for their first plenary meeting in Wales for 18 years.
Canon Christopher Thomas, General Secretary here at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, joins us to talk about the historic meeting and its fruits. We discuss, specifically, a statement titled Returning to Mass at Pentecost. As COVID restrictions have been lifted, most of us are now in a position to return to church. We address what we mean when we talk about the ‘Sunday Obligation’.
Canon Thomas also looks back on an important day of prayer for survivors of abuse. It was marked on Tuesday, 17 May and a group called The Isaiah Journey – a group that includes survivors – produced resources that were not only used on that specific day but are available and relevant for the whole year.
We also listen to a Scripture reflection from the Book of the Apocalypse. Chapter 21 looks at the the new heaven and the new earth – the new Jerusalem.
Finally Collette McGovern from our Policy and Research team joins us to talk about Day for Life – an important day in the Church’s calendar when we celebrate the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. Day for Life this year falls on Sunday, 19 June and focuses on care for older people.
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
Feed: cbcew.org.uk/feed/podcast/at-the-foot-of-the-cross
29th April 2022
It’s Eastertide and time for the second episode in our new monthly podcast series At the Foot of the Cross.
In early May, our Bishops are meeting in plenary away from their usual venue of Hinsley Hall in the Diocese of Leeds. This time, the Bishops spring gathering takes place in Cardiff – the first time they have met for a full plenary in Wales for 18 years.
On this podcast we’re joined by Canon Christopher Thomas, our General Secretary, himself a proud Welshman, to talk about not only what the Bishops will be discussing but also the history of the Catholic Church in Wales.
Next in the running order is a Synod update from Fr Jan Nowotnik, our Director of Mission.
Then we have a very poignant Easter reflection from Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The community follows the Julian Calendar so they have marked Holy Week and celebrated Easter a week later than us.
Finally we open our bibles at the Acts of the Apostles and listen to a Scripture reflection from Fleur Dorrell from the God Who Speaks initiative.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite to follow our daily Scripture podcasts for Easter, Reading Acts in Easter.
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
Feed: cbcew.org.uk/feed/podcast/at-the-foot-of-the-cross
21st March 2022
Welcome to the first podcast of a new monthly series called At the Foot of the Cross.
Each month we’ll bring you updates from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Whether it’s the Church’s response to a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or an aspect of Catholic life and worship like the progression of our new Lectionary, we’ll bring you the latest on ‘At the Foot of the Cross’.
Each episode will offer a Scripture reading and reflection as well as suggested points for prayer.
When there’s something of national import, we’ll also have news from the offices, agencies and directorates that work to serve the bishops and dioceses of England and Wales.
Today we’re joined by Canon Christopher Thomas, the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference.
The tragedy of the Ukraine war and the Church’s response, the penitential season of Lent, the desire to see more of the faithful back in our Churches as we approach Easter – these are our focal points in March.
But let’s start with the very basics. We ask Canon Thomas the simple question: What is a Bishops’ Conference?
You can subscribe to our At the Foot of the Cross podcasts using your podcasting platform of choice. Subscribe using Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and TuneIn.
Feed: cbcew.org.uk/feed/podcast/at-the-foot-of-the-cross
