All Kinds of Catholic

Send us a text Episode 85: Nell is another Catholic woman who is an astrophysicist. She shares how she experiences her faith, preferring evening Mass when the stars are out. While travelling to new places for study, she explores being welcomed and worshipping God in different contexts. Popping in to church to light a candle for someone is important to Nell – and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral ge...

Send us a text Episode 84: Special Epiphany episode with Jacqueline, Claudia and Laura, Catholic women from the world of astronomy and astrophysics. They share how they each hold together the questions of science and faith, especially when it comes to the story of the Epiphany. Find out what these three women think about when they look up at a dark, starry sky - with wonder, and faith but also gre...

Send us a text Episode 83 In this episode, Jenny describes being involved in the work of building peace, after years of conflict in a Pacific island country. She reflects on the culture she found there, in which listening, not speaking, was fundamental. She contrasts this experience with the learning we need to do in the West, to try to become a synodal Church. While ‘Prayer and openly talking abo...

Episode 82 Special Christmas episode: a conversation and Christmas carols. Anne and Mark share their thoughts and experiences of angels. Mark reminds us that angels are both with us and in the presence of God, ‘They’re here and they’re there at the same time.’ Seeing an image carved on a tomb years ago taught Anne to think of angels, not ‘like a fairy with pretty wings,’ but as ‘fierce’ and ‘prote...

Episode 81 This episode comes from a parish in the Leeds diocese. Fr Michael and Fiona explain how the parish, and the people in it, help each other to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit. Father Michael shares how through the work of the Parish Mission team, 'We are trying very hard to be outward facing as well as looking for growth within the church.'  Fiona says, 'It certainly is an excit...

Episode 80 Carol shares how she grew up in a home where concern for social justice was part of being a Catholic. As a young woman she continued learning to view the world ‘through the lens of the Gospel.’ Working for small organisations, listening to the voices of vulnerable women – and through her own difficult experiences - Carol explains how she became alert to how women had been treated in the...

Blake, a Catholic in America, shares the family circumstances that led him to really pray from the heart, for the first time. In charting his faith and his life so far, he describes feeling attuned to spiritual pain in people and places. He recounts how, through working for a faith-based organisation, he has 'seen directly with my eyes' the calming effect that the presence of Christ has on people....

John shares how the Lord called him to share the Gospel on local radio and now through a podcast from a studio at home in Limerick, Ireland. He credits his wife, Ann, with helping him to ‘stick with’ his faith when he was ‘inclined to go the way the world was going.’  We talk about John’s courage in finding ways to share the Catholic faith with others where they are in today’s world. New All Kinds...

Send us a text Episode 77 As a Catholic, when is it okay to compromise? Matt shares how his faith and his politics inform each other and how he understands compromise - and red lines. He believes wholeheartedly in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist – and also belongs to an ecumenical queer church community. He sees community as important to Catholic people, and a part of upholding dignity...

Rebecca shares how she has claimed for herself a relationship with God. Living by the guidance of Luke 7:7  Ask, search, knock , has led her into a wealth of rich experiences and a 'passion for' her faith. For example, she describes her work as a volunteer at Radio Maria England where she helps to 'let people know what is happening in the Church.' Find out more Radio Maria England Radio Maria in t...

Eddie shares his journey from his earliest memories of prayer, being tucked in bed by his mum, to how he prays now with an icon and a candle early in the morning. Journeys on foot, the silence of monasteries and especially sharing stories around a table; these are the things that give him a taste of the kingdom of heaven. Find out more about Eddie's books Looking Ahead with Hope - Stories of human...

Sue explains how she wanted to really 'do something with her life' on reaching forty. Invitations and opportunities followed and Sue has embraced them all - including volunteering with Mary's Meals and 'relearning my faith through my children.' Sue shares how devotion to Our Lady is a big part of her faith journey too - and the special reminder of Mary that she carries with her now. Find out more...

In this episode, Fiona and Martyn share their experiences of evangelising - and being evangelised. Years ago, Martyn says he ‘knew I wanted to become a Catholic, but I hadn't really discussed the topic with my family,’ and Fiona, despite being a ‘quite ludicrously devout child…very much fell out of love with the Church.’ They explain what they have learned since then about sharing the Gospel with...

An episode with special guests Sister Marie-Kolbe Zamora, a Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity, visiting from America, and Jenny Hayward-Jones of CAFOD.  First, Sr Marie shares her insight that conversation is 'sacred space.' Then, illuminated by her theological expertise and her recent work at the Vatican, we share our thoughts about getting used to a new pope, the Synod of Bishops, and being...

Each time she has had to adapt to life in a different country, Phyllis shares how her faith has sustained her and helped her to put down roots. She explains that ‘the Holy Spirit just sends these little connections and the right people,’ especially at a time when she almost stepped away from the Catholic Church. Find out more Link to Celebrate Festival Rome Sweet Home, Scott Hahn A new episode, a...

A special episode from Padley Martyrs' Chapel. Gerard and Anne-Marie share the incredible history and spirituality of this 'thin place.' Amid the physical signs of our faith and its preciousness to previous generations, the importance of Mass shines through. We speak of the working of the Holy Spirit in the present as much as in the past. 'People come here to pray...they can pray easily here.' Fin...

Send us a text Episode 69 At the age of thirty, Joseph attended for the first time the Traditional Mass, the Latin Mass. He explains how the experience changed his life and 'filled a gap' that he hadn't realised was there. For Joseph, now Chair of the Latin Mass Society, this liturgy is the 'engine' of a Catholic worldview. Find out more Latin Mass Society Sacrosanctum Con...

Send us a text Episode 68: Following pilgrims walking from four corners of England & Wales, converging in Nottingham. Their pilgrim ways, named for the four evangelists, traced the sign of the cross on the land. The pilgrims speak of Catholic heritage, hospitality, the presence of God in nature, community, hope and love. One said, 'It's really good for the soul.'  Find out more...

Send us a text Episode 67: John was first an Anglican and then a Catholic. In this conversation, he gives us glimpses of a life filled with dialogue with people of other faiths, care for creation, an enduring love of music, family, and trying to put the Gospel into practice each day. All these things, John says, are 'joined in my head' with the mission of the church. Find out more Laudat...

Send us a text Episode 66 David describes a startling experience one Christmas day at Mass that showed him 'the abundance and realness of God's love.' Since serving a prison sentence, it is the charity, beauty and kindness of prisoners for each other that reminds him to 'choose to be a better man every day.' Prison radicalised him, David says. He now campaigns for change i...

Send us a text Episode 65 In this conversation about conversation, Clare lifts up the grace to be found in our everyday encounters with each other. Conversation is 'that place where we forge together our understanding ... where God makes God's self known.' While truth and joy stand out for Clare in scripture, she says that 'if you really want to know what it is to get to know G...

Send us a text Episode 64 Nana shares how experiencing the aftermath of armed conflict, and meeting some of the people affected, led her to working at CAFOD.  She once vowed, 'There's no way I'm going back into a church.' But here she reflects on how she has moved from anger to recognising that 'we are all peacemakers'. Nowadays people 'absolutely rooted in their...

Send us a text Episode 63 Michael shares his love for Our Lady, for Jesus, and for the Eucharist. In Medjugorje, in response to prayer, he met a ‘ministry buddy.’ Then, he says, 'Our Lady put very strongly on our hearts’ the beginnings of a ministry to the gay community. Continuing this work, despite struggle, judgement and criticism, Michael explains how feast days, like the Feast of the Ass...

Send us a text Episode 62: Jim, who is an American professor and a Catholic, tells the extraordinary story of uncovering his grandfather's connection to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This research took Jim to Nagasaki, 'the centre of Catholicism in Japan for centuries.' An awkward question from a Japanese Catholic there - a descendant of the 'hidden Christians&a...

Send us a text Episode 61 Anna shares how friends helped her to recognise the presence of God in her life, as a teenager. Through prayer, she finally answered the Lord's 'nudging' and became a Lay Dominican. Her faith is nourished by attending the Latin Mass where she feels she can 'focus' better, and building community through sewing vestments and keeping ancient skills a...