The Wise and the Wherefores

Canon Victor Darlington, Episcopal Vicar for the South East in the Archdiocese of Southwark, talks to Ruth Gledhill of The Tablet about racial justice in Southwark and the wider church. It comes on the eve of the Synod in Rome and as Canon Victor and the archdiocese prepares for a seminar on 28 October on promoting racial and cultural inclusion in schools and communities. Canon Darlington leads th...

The synod process has the potential to bring about greater unity among Christians, the incoming leader of Taizé has said ahead of Saturday’s ecumenical prayer vigil before the synod meeting begins in Rome.  Brother Matthew (Andrew Thorpe) is the first Anglican to be appointed Prior of the Ecumenical Christian monastic fraternity in France, which has been organising a prayer vigil in St Peter’s Squ...

In this Tablet podcast, assistant editor Ruth Gledhill talks to Tony Sheen, who has been well-known through the London Catholic community and beyond as the Westminster diocesan coordinator for the Catholic international development charity Cafod . He retired last week after 17 years of hard and committed work. Tony’s energy and enthusiasm for tackling injustice and raising the plight of people all...

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP on overhauling church governance, the problems in Hexham and Newcastle and how the synod can bring about a ‘revolution’. The Church’s Radical Reform podcast series is sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Studies at the University of Durham in partnership with The Tablet.  Producer: Silvia Sacco Editor: Jamie Weston 

Ruth Gledhill and Christopher Lamb discuss the appointment of Argentinian Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and what this means for the synodal and other reforms of Pope Francis. Read more about Christopher’s chat with the Archbishop in The Tablet. https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/23316/francis-finds-his-striker-cardinal-designate-v-...

In the mid-nineteenth century, a relic of the Bishop and Martyr, Saint Thomas Becket, a piece of his skull, was given to Northampton Cathedral by Monsignor George Talbot, a secretary to Pope Pius IX. He had received the relic from the bishop of Veroli, Bishop Mariano Venturi. In a letter written in period Italian, from Bishop Venturi to Mgr Talbot in 1852, Venturi says it is is a relic of the ‘glo...

Professor Myriam Wijlens is a theologian and church lawyer who is playing a pivotal role in advising the global synod process. She understands church reform: how it happens, what is possible, and what isn’t possible and was one of the first women called to be involved in the synod organising committee. In this episode, she takes me through what has happened in the synod so far, including the groun...

In this Tablet podcast, assistant editor Ruth Gledhill talks to Dr Natalie Watson, theologian and editor, about the coming Tablet trip to Turkey, where classical civilisation can be found alongside the sites of the earliest Christian churches along with the locations of some of the earliest and most significant events of the early Church. We start with three nights in Istanbul, one of the world’s...

Our panel here is hosted by Ruth Gledhill, The Tablet’s Assistant Editor, and consists of Dr Michael Hahn and Dr Eleanor McLaughlin who run the MA programmes in Christian Spirituality and in Theology, Imagination and Culture, respectively, at Sarum College in Salisbury. Michael is a medieval theological historian working on the early Franciscan mystical traditions, and Eleanor is a theologian work...

Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet , talks to Dr Ruth Segal and Dario Kenner of Cafod about the recent report, Sowing the seeds of poverty: how the World Bank harms poor farmers. The report accuses the World Bank of promoting agricultural models that benefit large-scale agribusiness at the expense of poor farmers, arguing that id demands “regulations and laws that support the expansion...

Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet , talks to Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder of international school feeding charity Mary’s Meals . Mary’s Meals grew out of a charity called Scottish International Relief, which was set up after Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother Fergus took aid from their home in Argyll to Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992, during the conflict. The global...

A three-year ‘synodal’ process is taking place in the Catholic Church that culminates in two Synodal gatherings in Rome in October 2023 and a year later in 2024. The overall theme is “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”.  Christopher Lamb  hosts this live webinar where he reflects on where the synodal discussions are leading the Catholic Church with guests Dr Elissa Roper , a...

Leadership in uncertain times Credible leadership is a critical feature of the synodal journey with Catholics across the globe calling for lay women and men to be more involved in decision-making. The synod is pointing to a renewed model, away from the top-down, command and-control style of the past to one which includes diverse voices and charisms in forging the future mission of the Church. In t...

How can we decide a fair allocation of healthcare resources during a pandemic? Hosted by Dr Sarah Walsh of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, this event features contributions from Dr David Kirchhoffer, Director of the Queensland Bioethics Centre at Australian Catholic University; Dr Bernadette Tobin, Acting Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, an...

Professor Anna Rowlands of Durham University has been seconded to the Vatican to work with the Synod office and the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. Here, she talks to Ruth Gledhill about what this new role involves and what has already emerged from the ‘listening phase’ of the Synodal process - a major ‘lament’ of which turns out to be a universal plea for better sermons.

Timothy Costelloe is the Archbishop of Perth, the President of the Australian Bishops’ Conference and part of the team preparing the global synod summit. As a senior figure in the Australian Catholic Church, he has been deeply involved in synodality, and what it means for the Church. An expert listener, he is an example of a bishop who adopts and lives the synod style of the Church. In this episod...

Bill Wilson was, with Dr Bob Smith, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He wrote the Big Book and the Twelve Steps and Traditions, used by millions of recovering alcoholics to stay sober, one day at a time, and now adapted for use by many hundreds of self-help groups around the world. While AA is not allied to any sect, denomination or organisation, a belief in a ‘higher power’ is a core part...

The Tablet’s Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb talks to Ruth Gledhill about the Pope Francis, the reforms he has undertaken and what he still hopes to do. Read Chris's article on the tenth anniversary of his election in The Tablet. 

Pope Francis’ visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and his ecumenical pilgrimage to South Sudan are powerful examples of the role faith can play in peace building. In an historic first, Francis will be joined in South Sudan by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Christopher Lamb,  The Tablet ’s Rome Correspondent, spoke to Arc...

Catherine Pepinster was editor of The Tablet, the international Catholic weekly, throughout the papacy of Benedict XVI. Here she discusses his time as pope, his shock resignation and his legacy with Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet.

The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the age of 95 was not unexpected. Pope Francis had indicated he was gravely ill from advancing age during his General Audience last Wednesday when he asked for prayers. He was the first pope to resign while in office in six centuries. Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet, talks to Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb about the death of Benedict, h...

A commonly held fear about the synod process is that it will allow division and disagreement to veer out of control. Several bishops and priests don’t wish to engage with synodality as they worry it will disrupt the peace. Is this fear justified? In this episode, I go inside a synod gathering in Sydney, Australia, where an explosive moment of disagreement almost derailed the whole process. Halfway...

The sixth podcast in Christopher Lamb’s series looks at “The German Challenge”. If you read some of the commentaries about the German synodal pathway, you might be forgiven for believing that the Church in Germany is planning a second Reformation. Der Synodale Weg, “the synodal path”, has faced heavy criticism for the way it is approaching the question of reform. The Germans have decided to focus...

Cardinal Mario Grech is the man Pope Francis has placed in charge of the worldwide synod and in this episode. In the latest episode of his series, The Church’s Radical Reform, Christopher Lamb talks to him about the tensions that had been unleashed by the process.  The synod was never going to be plain sailing and disagreement among bishops about the direction of the Church has now spilt out...

Much of the media focus on the synod has been on western churches with the underlining question centred on how the process can reverse declining congregations and respond to the abuse crisis. But what does it all mean for Africa, a part of the Catholic world where churches are overflowing and vocations booming? Is the synod having any impact? In this episode, I put these questions to two leading C...