David Alton, the Catholic crossbench peer and former MP, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden to discuss the recent vote for abortion up to and during birth. They reflect on the hijacking by MPs of the Crime and Policing Bill to decriminalise abortion for any reason and at any stage in pregnancy, and also the passage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) through the House of Commons. In this 103rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, they talk about what might be done ...
Jun 26, 2025•47 min•Ep. 103
Lois McLatchie Miller, a Christian activist, was arrested in Brussel for wearing a billboard which read: “Children are never born in the wrong body.” She was detained alongside Canadian child protection advocate Chris Elston, known as “Billboard Chris” (@BillboardChris), after they were surrounded by an angry mob. In spite of the pair’s peaceful conduct, police arrested Ms McLatchie Miller and Billboard Chris rather than address the aggression of the crowd. Lois talks about her ordeal to Dr Gavi...
Jun 20, 2025•45 min•Ep. 102
Edward Pentin, the distinguished English Catholic journalist and veteran Rome correspondent, returns to Merely Catholic to discuss the conclusion of the pontificate of Pope Francis and the new reign of Pope Leo XIV. An acknowledged media expert on the workings of the papacy and of the Vatican in general, in 2015 he authored The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family , which was published by Ignatius Press, and five years la...
May 30, 2025•35 min•Ep. 101
The award winning former Catholic Herald editor William Cash joins Dr Gavin Ashenden from Rome to discuss the forthcoming conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis in this 100th Merely Catholic podcast. They discuss how Francis came to be elected, reflect on the invisible machinations already under way to choose the next pope, and they consider several of those members of the College of Cardinals who are drawing attention from the world’s media because they are “papabile”, or worthy to hold ...
May 05, 2025•40 min•Ep. 100
Journalist and author Simon Caldwell returns to Merely Catholic to discuss his new thriller, Lady Mabel’s Gold , with Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 99th episode. A standalone sequel to The Beast of Bethulia Park , the author’s 2022 debut, Lady Mabel’s Gold has been praised by former Catholic Herald editor William Cash as a “truly original novel with excellent writing, clever plot twists and a cast of memorable characters which put Caldwell at the front rank of Catholic novelists today”. Dr Ashenden ...
Apr 24, 2025•48 min•Ep. 99
Tim Dieppe, the head of public policy at Christian Concern, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 97th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss his new book, The Challenge of Islam. This book discusses the increasing influence of Islam in the UK and how non-Muslims might respond. Chapters include: “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?”, “Is Islam Antisemitic?”, “What's wrong with Multiculturalism?”, and “What’s wrong with Islamic Finance?” The book concludes with so...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 98
Conservative Party peer Lord (Nigel) Biggar CBE, the Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and an Anglican priest, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 96th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald . Lord Biggar, an Oxford-educated historian and author of the 2023 book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning , reflects on the plan by the Church of England to pay £100 million in reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade following ...
Mar 14, 2025•55 min•Ep. 97
Rod Dreher’s close friendship with U.S. Vice President JD Vance is the subject of this 96th episode of Merely Catholic , the podcast series for the Catholic Herald . He and Dr Gavin Ashenden discuss Mr Vance’s shocking accusation in a landmark speech at the Munich that the greatest threat to European security is not posed by Russia or China but by the European elites, and the extent to which Europe is “changing sides” with its ideological opponents of the Cold War. An American author who now liv...
Feb 24, 2025•24 min•Ep. 96
The rapid promotion by Pope Francis of Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new Archbishop of Washington DC has astonished many within the Catholic Church. Mark Lambert, the author of a popular blog called De Omnibus Dubitandum Est and a regular on the Catholic Unscripted YouTube channel, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 95th episode of Merely Catholic to analyse what might lie behind the motivations of the Holy See in choosing Cardinal McElroy to lead such an important see, placing the appointment in...
Jan 28, 2025•43 min•Ep. 95
Dr Calum Miller, a medical doctor working within the NHS, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 93rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald . Dr Miller graduated from the University of Oxford Medical School in 2015. As a researcher at the University of Oxford, he has published more than 30 academic papers in medicine, law, philosophy and ethics – examining such complex subjects as examined include foetal sentience, and abortion and mental health - and has won prizes fo...
Jan 21, 2025•48 min•Ep. 94
Following the enforced resignation of Justice Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury, numerous assessments have been made about his role in the post. Today, Gavin Ashenden is joined by an authoritative Anglican commentator from America, Canon George Conger. George is both an Episcopalian clergyman and a journalist. He is the author some 6,000 articles . His work has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and the Washington Post. He was senior corespondent for the Church of England Newspap...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 93
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 humani...
Dec 18, 2024•54 min•Ep. 92
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 ...
Nov 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 91
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 dis...
Nov 19, 2024•46 min•Ep. 90
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 sa...
Nov 08, 2024•55 min•Ep. 89
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 ...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 88
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 “do...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 87
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...
Sep 02, 2024•53 min•Ep. 86
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 real...
Aug 22, 2024•55 min•Ep. 85
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 exp...
Jul 30, 2024•50 min•Ep. 84
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 Con...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 83
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 ...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 82
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 respon...
Jun 24, 2024•50 min•Ep. 81
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 th...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 80
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 Catho...
May 31, 2024•50 min•Ep. 79
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...
May 24, 2024•44 min•Ep. 78
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.
May 17, 2024•42 min•Ep. 77
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 ...
Apr 05, 2024•51 min•Ep. 76
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 ch...
Mar 29, 2024•38 min•Ep. 75
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 Ca...
Mar 08, 2024•37 min•Ep. 74
