The Pearl of Great Price

Send us Fan Mail St Herman was a Russian Orthodox monk who had a very effective mission to the Aleut people of Alaska.  During a 'Fur Rush' when colonisation and exploration was fuelled by the seal fur trade he defended the rights of the native Aleut people 

Send us Fan Mail Today we look at the profoundly influential Danish philosopher Soren Kierkergaard.   The Father of Existentialism he was a profoundly Christian thinker.  Surviving his fathers harsh Lutheranism he would write some of the most profound criticisms of Christianity but also at times was quasi-mystical 

Send us Fan Mail An important meeting in post-war Germany, the first outdoor mega-mass and a landmark in Ecumenical Relations. The delegates also laid a foundation for a Church of Atonement near the concentration camp of Dachau

Send us Fan Mail The First Conclave of the Sistine Chapel - how did the Church develop this way of electing a Pope and what happens

Send us Fan Mail Bill Wilson said his spiritual experience of 'white light' cured him of his alcoholism.  We look at the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous and his relationship with Fr Ed Dowling. What are the Twelve Steps and how have they helped so many people

Send us Fan Mail Dr Grenfel sent by the Fisherman's Mission to Canada's North Atlantic Coast built up a remarkable mission attracting doctors, nurses and clergy from all over the world 

Send us Fan Mail Today we remember how three boats left Spain travelling West for the Indies and discovered the Americas 

Send us Fan Mail One of the finest philosophical minds of her age, Edith Stein went from Judaism to agnosticism to Christianity.  Edmund Husserl's assistant, she became a Carmelite Nun and was to die at Auschwitz. 

Send us Fan Mail Today we look at the life of St Aethelwold, who rebuilt the church after 300 years of Viking raids.  Also the unlikely assimilation of Christianity into the Vikings and how Bluetooth got its name 

Send us Fan Mail Mount Athos is a unique centre  for Orthodox Christianity,  today in 1913 the Russian Navy removed 800 monks.  We look at the traditions there and its claim to be Marys Garden

Send us Fan Mail Humane Vitae is the most controversial of papal encyclicals, restating the Church's opposition to artificial birth control. It also marked a moment in the shift of the authority of the Church.  It was Pope Paul VI last encyclical. Was it prophetic or a disastrous overreach? 

Send us Fan Mail The greatest of the Baroque composers was a man of profound Lutheran faith, we look at his life

Send us Fan Mail Today a British Archeologist discovered a standing stone from the Iron Age which had some remarkable inscriptions

Send us Fan Mail The Franciscan friar, Francesco Forgione took the religious name Pius when he entered his order.  He lived an unusual life of spiritual intensity and holiness and was strongly persecuted by his religious authorities for 20 years.  He would become one of Italy's most popular saints

Send us Fan Mail Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and icon of Christian resistance to the Nazis was executed.  Four months later his parents found out when a memorial service was broadcast on the BBC, 

Send us Fan Mail Indian Priest and psychotherapist Anthony De Mello sold over 2 million books on spirituality in his life time, fusing Christian Spirituality with Eastern traditions of Daoism and Buddhism. But after he died prematurely on June 2 1987 his work came under critical inspection by the Vatican. Why? 

Send us Fan Mail The most exciting discovery of modern Archaeology in a cave by the shore of the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea Scrolls is a huge discovery of nearly 900 manuscripts. Where did they come from and what do they tell us? 

Send us Fan Mail The 5th conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) was in the Mexican shrine of Aparecida. Did this mark a decisive shift to Latin America as a Source Church for the Global Church.  An Argentinian Jesuit, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio oversaw the final report.  He would become Pope Francis 

Send us Fan Mail On May 30 the confessing church in German finished its first synod and issued the Barmen Declaration. Bravely denouncing the Nazification of the Evangelical Church. They were inspired by Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoller

Send us Fan Mail Described as the Prince of Paradox, great wordsmith and communicator Chesterton had an interesting spiritual journey.  Unitarianism > Occult > Anglicanism > Catholicism.  Some of his books are now considered to be classics of apologetics, and his Father Brown detective series is more popular than ever.  A process for beatification is open. 

Send us Fan Mail Canon Law has developed over 2000 years and influence the development of many secular legal systems

Send us Fan Mail William Bernardo wanted to be a missionary to China after his evangelical conversion.  Moving to London to study medicine he was shocked by how many children were orphaned and lived on the streets 

Send us Fan Mail This encyclical on Church Unity, marked a different papal tone, with John Paul II calling ecumenism an imperative 

Send us Fan Mail John Wesley went from spiritual despair to renewal after experiencing a strange warming of the heart in Aldersgate London 

Send us Fan Mail Today Sam Sharpe was executed for inciting a Slave Rebellion, he is now a national hero in Jamaica.  A slave himself and a Baptist Deacon, this is his story