All Kinds of Catholic

A special episode from Carfin Grotto, Scotland’s national Marian Shrine. For more than a hundred years, this has been a place of prayer, pilgrimage and finding ‘a sense of peace.’ Today, John explains how the site continues to grow and develop, building on Canon Taylor’s original vision and lifting up the breadth of our Catholic faith. In particular, the faith of Joe Wilson, a local teenager, was...

This is a special episode to mark the Adoremus Eucharistic Congress. Hear what pilgrims had to say on the road as they made their way through five days of walking towards the Adoremus events in London. While preparing for Liverpool’s Adoremus events, Sister Moira shares what Eucharist can mean in our lives, especially when we recognise that ‘God is in the mess of the world.’ The walking pilgrims w...

Megan, an American Catholic, shares her struggles with attending Mass regularly, the fear of ‘what if there is nothing in the next life ,’ and how to be both happy and faithful to the teaching of the Church as a gay young woman. She describes the practices and people who help: music and singing in the church choir, the kindness of family and friends. And importantly, ‘In some of my darkest times,’...

An episode to coincide with the feast of St Thérèse of Lisieux on 1st October. Roisin explains how the devotion she and her friend Sheila have to St Thérèse has led them to organise a new annual event, now in its third year. On the second Sunday of July, in Knock, the important Marian shrine in Ireland, they arrange an international pilgrimage day of devotion to St Thérèse. Roisin shares how the d...

A special episode marking 40 years of service provided by the Cardinal Hume Centre in London. Sister Maria Parcher tells us about her journey to becoming a Daughter of Charity and how she was there at the beginning of this project founded to serve the needs of younger homeless people in Westminster. George O’Neill, the Centre’s CEO, joins our conversation to explain what has changed and what is th...

Luis, an American Catholic, explains how rediscovering his faith, and ‘building a channel’ to share that faith, are two interwoven strands in his life. Hear how Luis uses AI with care, to educate about the gospel, the liturgical seasons and the saints. He is especially concerned to reach those for whom an in-person encounter feels too hard as a first step. Find out more Luis’ Holy Reels ministry A...

Jacintha shares how her faith has been shaped by important encounters with others, through academic study, nursing, teaching, and now ‘being with’ companion members of the National Board of Catholic Women. Living with a chronic illness, as well as finding joy and beauty, Jacintha’s experiences reach into the messiness and suffering of life. She explains how, on accompanying each other in these mom...

In this conversation, Anne-Marie, a palliative care doctor says that for her, death, while sad, is ‘ultimately not the end of the person’s spiritual life, of the soul.’ She explains what she has found helps to support people who are nearing the end of life, and their families. Anne-Marie shares the questions many people ask when they know ‘time is short’, and how people who are dying can take on a...

The second of a two-part conversation with Roy Peachey. Although he admits being late to recognise our Catholic understanding that ‘parents are the first, the primary, educators of their children,’ Roy explains how his family have benefitted from home-schooling, with the support of others. Inspired by the start of the letter to the Ephesians, Roy unpicks the story of our journey ‘from before the f...

The second of our 2-parter from the We Believe festival. Some All Kinds of Catholic pod guests are back! First, behind-the-scenes conversations with Alex, Ethel and Helena, members of the Catholic Podcaster Network, exploring who we are, what we do and why: ‘You can be sat there thinking, Is anyone listening?’ Then a chance to follow along on the mini St Francis pilgrimage, in the 800th year since...

The first of a two-part conversation with Roy Peachey. Starting out as an Anglican, Roy describes some hard knocks that ‘shook my faith.’ Then he made Catholic friends among teaching colleagues who ‘were very impressive.’ Via hospitality and good conversations at Ampleforth, Roy became a Catholic although at first in a somewhat minimalist way. Now ‘happy to be in,’ Roy describes how his Catholic f...

When Paul was received into the Catholic Church at sixteen, he had to ‘abjure all heresies and recite the Nicene creed by heart.’ Then he followed a couple of different paths before sorting out where he thought God wanted him to be. Paul paints icons now and he shares what he knows about making them, and what the complex imagery teaches us about our faith. When he is working on an icon, it is psal...

This episode is the first of two brought to you from the We Believe Festival, recorded over the weekend. Listen in to hear about the goodness, truth and beauty of our faith, expressed at the festival though liturgy, talks, music, dance and being together. Pod guests explain why they came, what they found, and how their faith is sustained in daily life. One contributor, Carlos, said, ‘We can see ho...

Emily shares her journey from a Catholic childhood and years as an altar server, through primary school teaching, to her current work supporting parishes and schools with social action. Hear about the Sunday afternoon parish Mass Emily helped to develop for people with additional needs and learning disabilities. ‘God has taken me in a different direction,’ she says. ‘I’m now meeting new people all...

In this conversation, Gail shares how gathering together with other Catholic people has borne so much fruit for her life and her faith. At age 11, on a retreat, she fell in love with Adoration, ‘It was all dark, with candles, and just the Blessed Sacrament, a brilliant white on the altar...’ Last summer through talking to fellow volunteers at the We Believe Festival, Gail was encouraged to begin s...

Diego joins the podcast from Uruguay, where he lived next door to a basilica. Giving glimpses of Catholicism and the distinct theology of Uruguay and South America, he shares examples of practices that are important to his own faith. Diego sees devotion to Our Lady, being present with the poor, visiting those in prison and the elderly, ‘not as an obligation but as a joyful act of charity toward br...

Andy grew up in the west of Scotland, where sectarianism meant he never met a Catholic until university — and then he married one. He describes happy but sometimes difficult times for the family: ‘In the sacrament of marriage really what I signed up for, was to be there when things weren't so good.’ Hear about Andy’s journey into the Catholic Church in Edinburgh, his parish development work, and h...

Jim shares his plans to spend a year on mission, deepening his faith, building prayer into his daily life and spending time alone in the mountains ‘like the desert fathers.’ He reflects on the blessing of living in Walsingham and feeling that he is under Our Lady’s protection there. When asked, Jim says he believes there is a revival of our faith coming: ‘I know loads of really good young people w...

Alex shares how she felt called to return to Mass. When she did, still in her work uniform, she encountered the Lord there and met a community of young adults. She says, ‘That’s how life changed for me.’ Alex brings her imagination into her own prayer and scripture reflection. Hear how she shares her gifts, helping others encounter the Lord too, in particular through her scripture reflections podc...

A conversation with four people who belong to the thriving parish of St Peter and the Winchester Martyrs, now celebrating its centenary year. Virginia, Oscar, Patrick and Lesley share how their faith has been nourished and challenged and the ways in which they are inspired to contribute to the vibrant life of the parish and the wider community. They explain how the witness of the Winchester Martyr...

An outdoor, walking-talking episode! Joanna, who leads Catholic History Walks in London, leads us though some of the history that connects us with ‘the Catholic faith we share with our ancestors.’ In understanding something of our history and being able to talk to others about it, Joanna says that, ‘we may be opening up their hearts and minds to something much larger and more beautiful…that connec...

Jo Siedlecka is the founder of Independent Catholic News. She shares how she finally returned to her faith after observing the quiet witness of others in different parts of the world, caring for street children and refugees. She says, ‘They were people with a faith. They were motivated by something more than just altruism.’ Jo gives us a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work of curating a free d...

Sophie explains how as a teenager she made a decision to listen carefully to the Mass and decide if it was ‘something I want to be part of my life.’ For her, sharing faith with others is driven by wanting to share the love of God with them. Drawing on St John Paul II, Sophie points out that communicating about faith online is important but in the digital space ‘what we’re missing is that real, emb...

Claire grew up in the South Wales valleys in a family with no faith – although later she was able to see how God was already at work in her life. Her journey to the Catholic Church took a long time, beginning in the Anglican church, feeling called to ministry, then thirty years of being away from church altogether. But on becoming a Catholic in her fifties, Claire says, ‘I’ve never looked back.’ S...

Father Matthew tells us how it began: a closed church, a couple looking for a new spiritual home, a letter to the family at the Manor House, and a year-long experiment that is growing into a thriving Ordinariate congregation. Today St Mary's Catholic church has two Sunday Masses, many parish activities, and a 99-year lease on the church building. Five members of the parish community join the conve...