John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, the international Catholic charity helping persecuted Christians, is the guest on this 43rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. He tells Dr Gavin Ashenden of how the charity began with one priest reaching out in solidarity to Christians behind the Iron Curtain before enlarging and spreading to more than 130 countries. He describes the work undertaken by Aid to the Church in Need and he sets out how Christians are bei...
Apr 06, 2023•34 min•Ep. 43
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, discusses his strong Catholic faith with Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 42nd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald. They also talk about such issues as the relationship of religion to politics, the “continual trajectory for anti-Christian values” present in public life, the campaign to decriminalise abortion and the ban on prayer near to clinics, as well as cancel culture, Covid, the family and child care, ...
Mar 30, 2023•40 min•Ep. 42
Dr Gavin Ashenden this week talks to Eduard Habsburg, Hungary’s Ambassador to the Holy See, a member of the former ruling family of Austria-Hungary and a man still known today by his traditional title of Archduke Eduard of Austria. They talk about the remarkable family which ruled over the Holy Roman Empire, shaping European politics for 800 years; about contemporary European politics, and perhaps most currently, about the archduke’s new book, The Habsburg Way: Seven Rules for Turbulent Times . ...
Mar 16, 2023•41 min•Ep. 41
The Rev. Dr Patrick Pullicino returns to “Merely Catholic”, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald , to talk about the presence of science in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel. Fr Pullicino, a retired NHS consultant neurologist who now serves as a priest for the Archdiocese of Southwark, speaks to Dr Gavin Ashenden, in this 40th episode, about his 218-page thesis on “The Science of Ezekiel’s Chariot of YHWH Vision as a Synthesis of Reason and Spirit”. He reveals that “Fuzzy Epistemology”, a ...
Mar 09, 2023•36 min•Ep. 40
The guest for this 39th episode of Merely Catholic , the podcast series for The Catholic Herald , is Dr Joseph Shaw, the chairman of the Latin Mass Society and a former member of the Philosophy faculty at Oxford University. He tells Dr Gavin Ashenden that the reasons offered for the ongoing suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass just 15 years after its liberation were largely spurious and ideologically-motivated and are probably driven by actors not yet clearly in view. They also discuss the ...
Mar 02, 2023•48 min•Ep. 39
Sherry Anne Weddell, the pioneering American Catholic evangeliser, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 38th episode of “Merely Catholic”, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald , to discuss the renewal of the Catholic Church in an age of unbelief. Weddell, a convert to the faith from a Southern Baptist background, is co-founder and co-director of the Catherine of Siena Institute and the creator of the first charism-discernment process designed for Catholics. She trains and leads an international...
Feb 23, 2023•44 min•Ep. 38
Andrew Doyle, the comedian, broadcaster and writer, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 37th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, to discuss the rise of new ideologies broadly described as “wokery”. Doyle, author of the 2022 book The New Puritans , compares the followers of destructive new ideologies with old school religious fundamentalists, particularly of the 17th century, noting such shared characteristics as social hysteria, uncompromising moral self-righteous...
Feb 16, 2023•45 min•Ep. 37
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce is the guest on this week’s episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. The pro-life counsellor was arrested and charged by police in December after she admitted to them that she “might be” praying silently in her head outside a closed abortion facility in Birmingham. The Crown Prosecution Services have since dropped the charges but Miss Vaughan-Spruce intends to apply for a court verdict on whether she was breaking any laws. She talks to Dr Gavi...
Feb 09, 2023•49 min•Ep. 36
In this 35th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald , Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Simon Johnson, the Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral and a man described as “one of the most versatile musicians of his generation”. Mr Johnson is a virtuoso organist with extensive work in choral direction, composition and arrangement and for 13 years he also served as the Organist and Assistant Director of Music at St Paul's Cathedral. Together they explore what liturgical mu...
Feb 02, 2023•44 min•Ep. 35
This week Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Steve Ray, the acclaimed American author of Crossing The Tiber and Upon This Rock , among other titles, and a man hailed as one of the most effective Catholic apologists of the present generation. In this 34th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald , Mr Ray recalls how he left the Baptist faith of his youth to become a dedicated and highly-motivated Catholic after, like St John Henry Newman, he studied the writings of such Fathe...
Jan 26, 2023•44 min•Ep. 34
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by Edward Pentin, the distinguished English Catholic journalist and veteran Rome correspondent, to discuss the triumphs and tribulations of Cardinal George Pell, a giant of the Catholic Church who died suddenly last week following routine surgery. Cardinal Pell is recalled as a man of integrity, orthodoxy and compassion, a stalwart opponent of the “dictatorship of relativism” who dined with the poor and homeless, and a reformer who dared to sweep out an Auge...
Jan 19, 2023•35 min•Ep. 33
Ever since the misleading and fourth rate film The Two Popes appeared on our screens, the public has been understandably hungry to know what the relationship between the pope emeritus, Benedict 16th, and the current pope, Francis, was really like behind the scenes. Somewhat to our surprise, Archbishop Ganswein, chaplain and secretary to the pope emeritus has written a book, Nothing But The Truth , set to be released immediately after the funeral of Benedict 16th. Is this going to be a tell-all m...
Jan 12, 2023•35 min•Ep. 32
In the first Merely Catholic podcast for 2023, Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Monsignor Andrew Burnham to discuss one particular aspect of the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, who died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95. In this 31st episode, the former Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet pays tribute to the late Pontiff for establishing the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, an act which allowed the corporate reception of entire Anglican communities and permitted them also to bring with them ...
Jan 05, 2023•50 min•Ep. 31
Dr Serenhedd James joins Gavin Ashenden for this 30th episode of Merely Catholic to talk about why it has been difficult to be both fully English and fully Catholic; whether it matters or not that the coronation of King Charles is going to involve oaths that don’t reflect the reality of the social and religious context; and perhaps most importantly, has the time come for the Catholic Church to take responsibility for being the principal and most coherent Church in these islands as Anglicanism di...
Dec 15, 2022•44 min•Ep. 30
Monsignor Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Anglican Bishop of Rochester who became a Catholic in 2021, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 29th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Now a member of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Monsignor Nazir-Ali sets out his views of synodality and he answers some of the criticisms aimed at him by a minority of Catholic activists whose views about the 2021-2024 Synodal Process is somewhat different. The pair al...
Dec 08, 2022•36 min•Ep. 29
In this, the 28 episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Dr Scott Hahn, one of the foremost Biblical scholars in the Catholic world today. Dr Hahn is based in the USA where he holds a number of prestigious academic posts. He has written a range of bestselling books including The Lamb’s Supper , Reasons to Believe and Rome Sweet Rome . In a wide ranging talk they look at Dr Hahn’s new book on “Holiness” and how ethics and belief are affect...
Dec 01, 2022•52 min•Ep. 28
In the 27th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Gavin Ashenden reflects on the gulf between the so-called “spirit of Vatican II” and the contents of the documentation agreed by the participating Church fathers. He is joined by Catholic commentator Mark Lambert, author of a popular blog called De Omnibus Dubitandum Est and a regular with Dr Ashenden on the Catholic Unscripted YouTube channel, and together they try to “shed some light” on the spirit of the Se...
Nov 24, 2022•47 min•Ep. 27
As the Anglican Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, makes the case for the Church of England allowing same-sex marriage, Father Dwight Longenecker, the acclaimed U.S. author and speaker, talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about what is understood by marriage in the Catholic Church. This 26th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald , includes a searing sociological, philosophical and theological analysis of the problems inherent in trying to redefine an ancient institution and ...
Nov 17, 2022•40 min•Ep. 26
Catholic author Joseph Pearce was strongly sceptical of claims that William Shakespeare was secretly a Catholic until he began to examine the evidence and followed where it led. Now an author of three books in support of the Bard’s Catholicism, Pearce tells fellow convert Dr Gavin Ashenden, in this 25th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, that the evidence for Shakespeare’s faith is practically irrefutable. He argues that the circumstances of Shakespeare’s lif...
Nov 10, 2022•34 min•Ep. 25
Katherine Bennett, a South London school teacher of more than 20 years’ experience, lays bare the crisis of faith convulsing Catholic education as teachers increasingly capitulate to a radical secular consensus. In this 24th episode of Merely Catholic , the podcast series for the Catholic Herald , she tells Dr Gavin Ashenden of how such new and destructive ideologies as Critical Race Theory, Third Wave Feminism and those underpinning the ever-expansive LGBT+ agenda are now finding their ways int...
Nov 04, 2022•38 min•Ep. 24
In this 23rd episode of Merely Catholic, Dr Gavin Ashenden speaks to former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe about the tectonic shifts in her (former) party's leadership. They also discuss the role that religion plays in modern politics, and whether the apparent drive for a more secular parliament is having a dampening effect on politicians who wish to express their spirituality.
Oct 27, 2022•38 min•Ep. 23
JRR Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings , is arguably the most read book in the world today. It is also a myth infused by the author’s deep Catholic understanding, imagination and faith. In this 22nd episode of the Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald , Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Tolkien aficionado Ferdie Rous, the managing editor of same title, about the spirituality underpinning this great work of English literature. In their conversation, they also discuss the ...
Oct 21, 2022•39 min•Ep. 22
Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to the journalist Simon Caldwell about his debut novel, The Beast of Bethulia Park, in this 21st episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald. The book, due to published by Gracewing later this month, has been described as a “wonderful” psychological thriller underpinned by Catholic themes. It tells the story of a young and idealist priest who is pitched into a dark world of sexual obsession, danger and death when he becomes embroiled in a campai...
Oct 06, 2022•28 min•Ep. 21
Giorgia Meloni has stunned the liberal West by her election as Prime Minister of Italy after openly espousing the values of traditional marriage and the family, of Catholic Christianity and of womanhood and patriotism. Should her election be seen as a sign of hope? Dr Gavin Ashenden thinks so. But in this 20th episode of Merely Catholic , the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, the veteran journalist Peter Hitchens explains the reasons why he is altogether more pessimistic about the prospect...
Sep 29, 2022•34 min•Ep. 20
Can King Charles III continue the legacy of his mother by serving as an exemplary Christian monarch or will he find common cause with a secularist society against Christian values, particularly morality and the right to life? In this 19th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Pierpaolo Finaldi, the chief executive of the Catholic Truth Society, about the pressures that the new King will inevitably face when he attempts to accommodate th...
Sep 22, 2022•33 min•Ep. 19
Dr Gavin Ashenden, a former Royal Chaplain, offers his own insightful and extremely well-informed perspectives on the death of a Queen and the coming of a King in this 18th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Queen Elizabeth II, recalls Dr Ashenden as he reflects on Her Majesty’s personal faith, was a perfectly discreet Christian monarch who was “full of the love of God” and whose gifts ensured the survival of the monarchy into the 21st century. Britain under ...
Sep 15, 2022•33 min•Ep. 18
This is a fascinating conversation between Dr Gavin Ashenden and the Rev. Calvin Robinson, the mixed race Anglican cleric cancelled by his own bishop for expressing the opinion that the Church of England is not “institutionally racist”. Rev. Robinson, now a popular GB News presenter, reveals in this 17th episode of the Catholic Herald’s Merely Catholic podcast series how destructive new ideologies are permeating parts of the Christian Church. He describes how such radical ideas are creating a ne...
Sep 08, 2022•32 min•Ep. 17
The Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about the visit of the relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes to England, Scotland and Wales that runs from Friday September 2nd to Tuesday November 1st. In this 16th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Bishop Davies explains precisely what is understood by a relic. He also observes that down the ages saints have always been great evangelisers who have revealed the raw power of Gospel and...
Sep 01, 2022•24 min•Ep. 16
Opus Dei found unwelcome fame and undeserved notoriety at the hand of the infamous but hugely successful novelist Dan Brown. It has returned to the public stage this week, not in the form of the imaginative parody the Da Vinci Code presented, but because of the pope’s most recent letter. Entitled ‘Ad charisma tuendum’ “For the safeguarding of the prelature of the charism of Opus Dei”, the pope has stipulated that whoever leads Opus Dei in future will never be a bishop. Does this papal initiative...
Jul 28, 2022•37 min•Ep. 15
Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative Cabinet Minister and MEP for the Brexit Party, speaks to fellow Catholic convert Dr Gavin Ashenden, in this 14th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald about the future of the Church of England to which they both once belonged. Miss Widdecombe says Anglicanism is terminally afflicted by a tendency to imitate the mores of secular society, irrespective of how insufferably and hysterically “woke” such positions might be, leaving...
Jul 21, 2022•41 min•Ep. 14
