‘Catholic News’ is a podcast carrying interviews with a diverse range of people – lay people, religious and clergy – involved on the front line of the Catholic Church’s work in England and Wales.
8th August 2023
Phil McCarthy is the man behind Pilgrim Ways – a digital resource that provides walking routes to key pilgrimage sites in each of our dioceses. An author, and former CEO of the Caritas Social Action Network, he has created a ‘pilgrim way’ for each diocese – from the cathedral of that diocese to one or more of its shrines.
“These are routes are not just for Catholics to deepen their faith,” says Phil. “They’re for everyone to experience pilgrimage within a Catholic setting.”
The Pilgrim Ways website offers a number of resources to assist in preparing for a walking pilgrimage. It has an interactive map, provides GPX files for the routes that can be downloaded to mobile phones, and there are ‘Pilgrim Passports’ that you can get stamped along the way, not to mention certificates at the end to show that you’ve completed the walk.
Interestingly, the title for the project is Hearts in Search of God, and is inspired by a quotation from Pope Francis where he reminds us that in every pilgrim beats a heart in search of God – whether old or young, sick or in good health, or just a casual tourist.
Visit pilgrimways.org.uk to access the routes and resources. Our interview with Phil McCarthy was first broadcast in our Summer 2023 ‘At the Foot of the Cross‘ podcast.
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2nd June 2023
In this Catholic News podcast, we’re joined by Bishop Peter Kihara Kariuki, Bishop of Marsabit, and Isacko Jirma, Director of Caritas Marsabit.
Marsabit is a semi-arid location 500km north of the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. The local Catholic diocese spans almost 80,000 square kilometres without a single river passing through.
The Horn and East Africa has suffered its worst drought in 40 years. In Marsabit, where 80% of people rely on livestock for their income, their animals have died and their crops have failed.
Bishop Paul and Isacko discuss the pastoral challenges and the social action projects needed to help more than 300,000 people escape food insecurity.
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25th May 2023
Rachel’s Vineyard is a healing ministry for those who are suffering from the trauma of abortion, or have been closely connected to someone who is – whether they’re siblings, grandparents, aunts, cousins. Rachel’s Vineyard recognises that abortion impacts the wider family and community. The organisation also supports those that have worked in the abortion industry and struggle with the part they have played in abortion decisions.
Rachel Mckenzie is the director of the Birmingham-based charity and spoke to us back in June 2022 about the ministry and the growing numbers of people seeking help:
“I tell them firstly that they’re not alone and that they are already loved, and they can get forgiveness, they haven’t committed the unforgivable sin and they just need a place where they can work through that pain and be supported along the way.”
Post abortion trauma is central to the theme of Day for Life 2023.
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25th May 2023
Recently, Archbishop Bernard Longley was a keynote speaker at a unique interfaith event that examined how followers of the world’s major religions viewed eternity, and how a knowledge of eternity can help us to make the most of the life that we have now.
Organised by The Centre for the Art of Dying Well and the Institute for Theology and Liberal Arts at St Mary’s University, the Archbishop of Birmingham gave the Christian perspective, explaining that “the starting point for understanding eternity is in our relationship with the person of Jesus Christ – God’s eternal son.
“We believe through his life, his death and the resurrection – his rising form the dead that grace by grace, God has shared with humanity the fruits of eternal life.”
In the Catholic tradition, at the moment of death, the Archbishop said that: “prayers are offered which not only bring comfort and consolation to the departing soul, but also give reassurances of life – that life which is to come at the end of this earthly life.”
The five other main speakers alongside Archbishop Longley were: Rabbi Yossi Jacobs, The Chief Minister of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill Synagogue; Simon Romer, Teacher of Buddhism; Anjana Shelat, Midland region coordinator of Hindu Mandir Network UK, Trustee at Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple; Dr. Gopinder Sagoo, from the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewa Jatha community in Birmingham, and Mohammad Asad MBE, lead Imam at Birmingham Central Mosque.
This Catholic News podcast carries an interview with Archbishop Longley recorded a few days before the event. Use the embeded player at the top of this page to listen or use the subscribe links below.
It was part of the bi-monthly ‘Art of Dying Well’ podcast. Listen here.
You can subscribe to our Catholic News podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Amazon/Audible or Spotify.
18th May 2023
To mark the 57th World Communications Day, this Catholic News podcast looks at Pope Francis’ message for the day and the challenges of emerging technologies with Bishop John Arnold.
Bishop Arnold is the Lead Bishop for Communications for the Bishops’ Conference.
As well as discussing the theme for World Communications Day, Speaking with the heart. ‘The truth in love’, we also discuss the need to embrace emerging technologies with an ethical mind, to ensure human beings don’t suffer on the path to ‘progress’.
World Communications Day is celebrated in the parishes of England and Wales on Sunday, 21 May 2023.
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12th May 2023
Sunday 14 May, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, marks the International Day of Prayer for Eastern Christians.
It’s an opportunity to come together to pray for peace in the world – especially in the Middle East. But with so many noble causes competing for our attention, why is it important for us to pray for the Christians of the East with whom we share an indelible link?
And how can we find out more about these Christian communities and the challenges they face? That’s the subject of this Catholic News podcast.
We’re joined by Dr Harry Hagopian, an International Lawyer with experience in conflict resolution and a consultant on the Middle East North Africa region. Importantly, Harry is an Armenian Christian and was a former Assistant General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches.
“When we pray for the Christians of the East, what we should say is, ‘May thy will be done’ and ‘thy will’ is also the will of the Christians there. They are a self-sustaining community. They have their own problems, they have their own challenges, but they also know their solutions better than we do sitting in the West watching EastEnders or Coronation Street advising them what they should or shouldn’t do. That is not being in solidarity. That is religious colonialism.
“What we need to say is, ‘I’m with you. We share one common thing, which is Jesus Christ, and therefore I pray so that you have the will, the power and the strength to continue your witness and do what you do, which is continue your life as we do here, but in different circumstances.'”
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8th May 2023
Speaking to us shortly after Sunday Mass the day after the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla, Cardinal Vincent Nichols looks back on a day of celebration that showcased plenty of elements familiar to Catholics.
Six Catholic prelates attended the historic coronation, including the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Apostolic Nuncio representing the Holy See, and Cardinal Nichols himself who conferred a blessing on King Charles.
The Cardinal prayed that God may pour upon the King “the riches of his grace, keep you in his holy fear, prepare you for a happy eternity, and receive you at the last into immortal glory.”
On this ‘Catholic News’ podcast, Cardinal Nichols reflects on a remarkable and historic occasion, talking about his role, the Catholic elements of the service, not least the Coronation Choir singing William Byrd’s ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’ from the Mass for Four Voices, and why we should pray for the King.
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27th April 2023
Bishop Tom Neylon, Lead Bishop for Asia for the Bishops’ Conference, has recently returned from a week-long trip to Pakistan from 9-16 March.
He visited a number of projects funded by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need and met with the faithful, priests and bishops in the major cities of Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore and Faisalabad.
The Catholic faithful experience various challenges in Pakistan but the practice rate is extraordinary – over 70% attend Mass.
On this Catholic News podcast, we interview Bishop Neylon about his experiences and encounters.
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31st March 2023
Archbishop John Wilson tells us of his ‘shock’ when he learned Pope Francis had been admitted to hospital with viral bronchitis. Thankfully, the Pope is on the mend and is scheduled to be discharged from Gemelli hospital on Saturday morning.
In this short Catholic News interview, the Archbishop of Southwark reflects on two memorable encounters with Pope Francis and tells us why it’s important we keep praying for the Holy Father.
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22nd March 2023
On today’s Catholic News podcast, Archbishop John Wilson joins us to talk about the launch of CARITAS Southwark – a new diocesan Caritas social action charity to help those in need across the south east.
Archbishop Wilson is keen to work collaboratively:
“This is not about a takeover. This is about creating a network whereby there can be a real celebration of good practise, and where new initiatives, especially in parishes and schools, can find support and direction from existing organisations and charities within the church, so that our diocese, within which there is enormous social need, can really start to put the practical gospel of love, of neighbour into practise in a new way.
“Starting small. We’re sowing little seeds, but from little seeds come mighty oaks. And mighty oaks give shelter, especially to those who suffer and are in pain and in need. We come with faith and we come with a real desire to sow seeds today that will bear fruit in our practical love of those in need.”
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This is Archbishop John Wilson, the Archbishop of Southwark, and I’m very pleased to share news today of the launch of our Caritas Southwark network, which is a new thing for us in the Archdiocese. Today, thanks be to God, following a long process of consultation with people in our parishes and our schools, we’ve been able to formally launch Caritas Southwark as an agency of the diocese to put the Gospel into practise – to make the Gospel flesh. To reach out to the weakest and the poorest and those in need in our communities and ask the question, what can we do? How can we serve? How can we be the loving presence of Christ, that sees with the heart of Christ and the eyes of Christ, with the compassion of Christ, and meets the needs of people – whether it’s to do with food poverty or issues around refugees, whether it’s things to do with care of the elderly, we’ve got projects that we want to explore that look at how we help our young people, especially those who might be tempted, into areas that involve knife crime.
We’re very, very keen to work collaboratively and in partnership and also to explore new ways of how we might work together. We’ve got very good relationships with Pact, for example, that works with prisoners in supporting the link between prisoners and their families. We’ve got good links with the Manna Society (a day centre for homeless people near London Bridge), which is based here in the diocese and which the diocese already supports.
So this is not about a takeover. This is about creating a network whereby there can be a real celebration of good practise, and where new initiatives, especially in parishes and schools, can find support and direction from existing organisations and charities within the church, so that our diocese, within which there is enormous social need, can really start to put the practical gospel of love, of neighbour into practise in a new way. Starting small. We’re sowing little seeds, but from little seeds come mighty oaks. And mighty oaks give shelter, especially to those who suffer and are in pain and in need. We come with faith and we come with a real desire to sow seeds today that will bear fruit in our practical love of those in need.
In terms of the challenges to our Caritas project, they’re two-fold. One is to actually get enough people to be inspired – to be involved. That’s why we need volunteers from our parishes and from our schools working collaboratively with other partner organisations. But we need people to be fired up with a love for Christ that wants to put their faith into action, into practise.
We need people to realise the skills that they have and the talents that they have, and to hear their baptismal call. Because this is not to be a clericalist thing. This really needs the baptised in our diocese, the lay people, the lay faithful of our diocese, to really hear the call of the Lord Jesus, to put their faith into action in a most beautiful way.
One of the challenges is that we need to be able to raise up a desire within people to put faith into practise. A second challenge is to begin to discern the areas where need is to be met. So in our diocese, which is a big diocese across all of South London and Kent and the Medway unitary authority as well, there is great social need. There is poverty in parts of South London, there is homelessness. There are all kinds of ways in which people are isolated, they feel lonely, they find it difficult to access services, many of them are struggling.
There are one-parent families, there are people living with real material needs who can’t provide enough electricity and heating for their house, who can’t clothe their children. So there’s a level at which we can really build relationships on a small scale, one by one, to reach out to people who are in practical need.
Compare that, for example, with parts of Kent. Dover is in our diocese. A few months ago, I visited the lifeboat station at the Port of Dover and heard of the incredible work that they have been doing to rescue people who have taken an incredible decision to try and escape persecution, hardship, war in many cases, and cross the Channel. This has been a source of great controversy. There are great political issues at stake here, which to me, really don’t face the crucial issue, which is we have people before us who are in desperate need. And if we lose sight of the desperate need of the people, we lose sight of our conscience as a country. So it was incredible to hear the testimonies of those who work on the lifeboats in Dover. They simply said, “Our mission has always been and will always be to save people in danger at sea. We don’t ask who they are or where they’re from.”
I was really, really impressed by that. And they faced a lot of criticism, the lifeboat association, the RNLI, for this work, and to my mind, they are doing incredible work, as are the churches and different community organisations that work to welcome and support refugees in that part of the world.
So, for me, it’s really, really important that when we think about the needs of the other, that other has a face and that other has a name and that other has a family, that other could be me one day, it could be you one day. And if we lose sight of that, we may as well just give up and stop living. Because if we lose sight of our common humanity, what is the point of being alive?
It’s absolutely essential that we recognise that we are our brother and sister’s keeper. At the heart of any issue is a person. And if we lose sight of the person, then we begin to work in a way that is inhuman and that is intolerable. We must always, at the heart, see the person and value and love the person.
The challenges across our diocese are varied. What we want to begin to do is to discern how we move forward locally, using the talents in our schools and our parishes to provide for our community beyond our churches, beyond those who worship. This is not just to be something that is at the service of ourselves. We want to be present in our communities with the love of Christ. However those needs manifest themselves and whatever people come with those needs, we want to be able to say, we will do our best to help.
Our local parishes work in partnership with local refugee groups. And that’s very, very important. I think this needs a collaborative approach. It needs people to stand together and it needs people to speak together. And I think the key response is always to cut through politics. Politics matter, of course they do, but politics have to be at the service of the human person and the dignity of the human person.
Politics that isn’t at the service of the dignity of the human person is inauthentic. Of course, there are other considerations in all of this. I appreciate that. I’m not naïve. But when a person is in need, the presenting requirement is that we reach out to them.
That, to me, is the fundamental truth of the Gospel. That when a person is in need, my response as a Christian, my response as a human being, is to reach out in love and in support. And there will be issues around all of that which will need resolution. They need humane resolution, not simply isolating people or cutting them off or rejecting them or transporting them elsewhere. That doesn’t help anybody. Global solutions need countries to speak to each other and they need partnership and they need a compassion that puts into practise real solutions, not simply knee-jerk reactions that seemingly solve a problem at the expense of the dignity of human life. That, to me, is just preposterous.
The invitation for people to collaborate with us is very, very open. If you’re listening to this message and you think, “Well, look, I’d like to do something for people in need,” please get in touch with your local parish, please get in touch with our Caritas office. If you have a skill that you want to share, whether you are a person of faith or not, if you have a big heart and you want to put love into practise, then we’d be delighted to work with you. This is about us together in our communities for the common good, pooling our resources, pooling our talent, sharing what we have, giving of what we have so that others who don’t have can receive more – simple as that.
For me, there’s a very basic philosophy at work here, which is sometimes we can do something which is never going to be everything but it’s more than nothing. Nothing is not the answer. Something is the answer – even if it’s not everything. So we have to have vision and we have to be able to look beyond the impossible to find the possible.
27th January 2023
This audiobook, recorded and produced in collaboration with the Catholic Truth Society (CTS), sees us re-visit the ‘Victims of the Nazis’ series to shine a light on a truly remarkable woman – Edith Stein – who we know and venerate as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born on the Feast of St Wilfred, 12 October 1891, in the then German town of Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland), Edith Stein was a German Jew who descended to the intellectual heights of atheism, converted to Catholicism and, as a Discalced Carmelite nun, ascended to Mount Carmel to the crystal peaks of mysticism.
Her life on earth ended in the gas chambers of a Nazi concentration camp – which she entered unresisting as an offering to God. Spiritually a giant, in body she was small and frail. At first meeting she often disappointed those who had known her only by her fame as a major contemporary philosopher.
She has many devotees around the world and was declared a saint by Pope Saint John Paul II on 11 October 1998.
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This book was written by Monk Matthew and published by CTS in 2010. It is taken from a collection of texts, published in ebook form, titled: Edith Stein, Marcel Callo, Titus Brandsma: Victims of the Nazis. This audiobook version is read by Monica Nash.
Duration: 38 minutes
ctsbooks.org
You can visit the CTS website for more on this and other great publications.
25th January 2023
Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Chairing his first Holy Land Co-ordination, spoke to us on the eve of his return home from Amman, the capital of Jordan.
He had just spent five days leading a pilgrimage of Bishops from 11 countries around the holy sites of Jordan, as well as visiting some of the Catholic parishes and projects active in the country.
Jordan today hosts more displaced people than almost any other country, offering support for those fleeing violence in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, through the provision of accommodation, skills-training, medical facilities, pastoral care, and advocacy.
“Jordanian people have a real gift for welcome,” said Bishop Hudson. “Their welcome to the refugees is deeply touching and they have a deep desire to welcome more pilgrims too. It’s a land of joy in the sense that whenever you encounter people, you sense the joy in their hearts.”
The Holy Land Co-ordination, based this year in Amman, Jordan, took place from 14-19 January. It is 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.
It has been one of the biggest Holy Land Co-ordinations I’ve known – and I’ve been on about five of them. I was counting, at our final meeting this evening, I think we were 35 people sitting in a large circle with bishops representing about eleven different countries – it has been a fantastic week. It began with going to the ordination of two young priests. It was really heart-warming to arrive into such an atmosphere and see a beautifully full church.
The next day saw us go down to the River Jordan, to the newly-developed baptismal site – the very place of the Baptism of Our Lord. There was an almost festival atmosphere with the church completely full and the same number of people outside. They reckoned there were some like 6,500 – 7,000 people there. There was an atmosphere that we recognise from our own experience in England and Wales, where people are so happy to be able to come together for that sort of celebration when COVID prevented them doing it for so long.
The following day we had just as touching an experience, but completely different when we spent the morning with Iraqi refugees, and I’ll say a little bit more about that later on, but that was deeply touching.
Then we went out to different parishes – about seven different parishes. Bishops, priests and some of the lay members of the Co-ordination go out to different parishes. I went about 100km north of Amman, where we’ve been based, to go and celebrate Mass in the parish of Ajloun – and deeply touching it was. The contrast between the 6,500 – 7,000 of the day before and the 40 or so people who were in Ajloun was deeply touching. Just as precious in their smallness, and I could see how much it meant to them when I said, “we’ve come to let you know that you’re not forgotten, because we all belong to the one Body of Christ and we will always hold you in our hearts”.
The next day, the whole Co-ordination went somewhere completely different – a third of the way down the country to a place called Madaba. There we had a really excellent and informative presentation from Caritas, where they were telling us everything that they’ve been doing for refugees. And then we went into an actual school and we had addresses from different members of the school, telling us everything that they’ve been doing to welcome refugees and also local Jordanian Christians and some Muslims into their school.
Then we had one of the most memorable moments from the scriptural topographical aspect of being in Jordan, which was to go up Mount Nebo, which is of course, the place where Moses viewed the Promised Land for the first time. We came off the mountain to go and meet with young people from the Patriarchate in Jordan. The Patriarchate in Jordan has organised a very effective youth leadership scheme and we were all very impressed by their presentation of their work and their vision of youth formation for children and young people across the country of Jordan.
We had an evening with ambassadors the following day and then, on our last full day, it was deeply touching to go and meet children with disabilities and the adults looking after them. Something of an appropriate climax to the week was for us to be able to sit down with the Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and we were able to have a ‘question and answer’ session with him about life, not just in Jordan, but across the whole Holy Land. On our last afternoon, we spent time with Christian parliamentarians working in parliament in Amman – one coming up from Madaba, one based in Amman – came to talk about their vision of Christian life in Jordan.
Q. What will be the main messages that you, as bishops, will be bringing home from the Co-ordination?
What I take away from this week in Jordan is that Jordan is a land of many contrasts. It’s a land of welcome, it’s a land of joy. We experienced that welcome with the welcome extended towards us. Jordanian people have a real gift for welcome. Their welcome to the refugees is deeply touching and they have a deep desire to welcome more pilgrims too. It’s a land of joy in the sense that whenever you encounter people, you sense the joy in their hearts. There was real joy about the liturgies we experienced, there was simply a joy of encounter.
We found a great deal of joy at the pilgrim sites as well, where they were communicating their joy in all that they’ve done to develop those places in order they hope to welcome more pilgrims to this part of the Holy Land.
It struck me as well, from quite early on, that it’s a land of sadness too. There’s a lot of sadness in the eyes of the people you meet. Understandably in the eyes of the refugees – Iraqi refugees, who’ve been here seven or eight years and have been trying time and time again to get a visa, to start a life in another part of the world.
There was a lot of sadness, as well, in the parishioners I met in the parish that I went to for that Mass. When I was talking to the young adults, I asked them, “when you think of those you were at school with here in this town and the young people who were your friends, how many of them have gone away to another country?” And the three people said, and they’re all in their early to mid 20s, they said, “do you know… its almost everybody.” But they said, “we’re going to stay.” The joy, which always contrasts with the sadness, came out and they said it with real joy. One said, with a beautiful smile on his face, “my parents are here, so of course I’ll stay.” Another said, “I’m trained to be a doctor and I want to be a doctor to the people here in Jordan, so I’m staying.” So you get this interplay of joy and sadness all the time.
I think, as well, one of the key takeaways for me is the fact that Caritas are doing absolutely wonderful work to welcome refugees, but they’re feeling under-resourced and they’re feeling that there have been so many waves of different refugee needs that they’re not getting as much resource as they did.
In the parishes, the dominant theme was how many of the parishioners are really poor, so that there is a lot of poverty here as well. So if I take away an image of welcome, of joy, but also sadness and one of poverty, actually. Jordan is a place that has been extraordinarily generous in its welcome but is feeling stretched and is beginning to feel a shortage of resources. I would also want to say, very forcibly and positively, that Jordanian people have an instinct for treating their fellow human beings with dignity. This came to me when I was asking the bishop, who is the vicar for this part of the Holy Land for Jordan, I said to him, “Why is Jordan so generous towards refugees?” He said, “Well, it’s because we’re always generous towards the stranger,” and he said it was a beautiful smile on his face. When I probed a little further, in light of what we’d heard from Caritas, and in light of what I heard about the poverty in the indigenous population, he said, “Yes, we have real difficulties because there’s 25% unemployment.” We heard that there’s 50% unemployment among young adults, young people in Jordan. He said, “Jordan’s very, very short of water.” But then he said, and that beautiful smile came back, “But somehow we manage – somehow we manage to welcome all these people.”
I came away from that conversation reflecting on the dignity with which Jordanian people welcome everybody who comes to them and welcome, particularly, those in need. It really contrasts with the lack of dignity that we’ve seen, and which was actually highlighted in the Advent message of Local Ordinaries for the Holy Land when they were talking about the indignity that comes with the upsurge of violence on the West Bank in recent months with the growth of illegal settlements. There has also been the highest Palestinian death toll in 20 years, so the contrast is very, very marked, actually.
As I stand back from all of that, and prepare to pack my bags to go back home, something that comes to me very forcibly, really, is that countries with plenty need to try to find ways of sharing some of their plenty with a country like Jordan, which is doing everything it can with utmost generosity to welcome those who are in much greater need than they are themselves. Also, let’s face it, countries with plenty need to ask themselves, “Can we not take some of the refugees which Jordan has given shelter to?”
I was deeply impressed by Jordan, deeply impressed by the people of Jordan, deeply impressed by the quality of welcome that we’ve experienced here, and which they show to others.
The words that I will take away in my heart will be, “what dignity.”
