55: At what price a pact with China? With Benedict Rogers
The Vatican’s precarious diplomatic relations with Communist China is the core subject of discussion in this fascinating 55th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Presenter Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Benedict Rogers, a human rights activist and author of The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny. Rogers, a former An...
33m Jul 20, 2023
33m
54: The hubris of changing the words of Jesus, with Fr Dwight Longenecker
In the Bible, Jesus Christ teaches that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but the Anglican Archbishop of York has now distanced himself from the language of divine revelation, declaring it to be “problematic”. In this 54th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, former Anglicans Fr Dwight Longenecker and Dr Gavin Ashenden unpack the reasons why Our...
35m Jul 13, 2023
35m
53: The affirmation of sin, with Edward Pentin
The veteran Rome correspondent Edward Pentin returns to Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss with Dr Gavin Ashenden the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, of the forthcoming Synod on Synodality, which has been published by the Vatican ahead of the first of the sessions in October. Together in this 53rd episode they consider the contents of the documen...
43m Jul 06, 2023
43m
52: June, the Month of the Sacred Heart, with Justin Brierley
In this 52nd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Justin Brierley, the freelance writer, speaker and broadcaster who has become known for creating dialogues between Christians and non-Christians. They discuss Justin’s forthcoming book, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, which will be published in September, and they also r...
44m Jun 23, 2023
44m
51: The Paedophile Agenda of the Supra-National elites, with Kimberly Ells
In the 51st episode, Gavin Ashenden has joined by Kimberly Ells. In 2013, she joined an international organization working to protect the interests of children and families at the United Nations. During her first exposure to UN proceedings in New York City, she was surprised to discover policies being adopted on the basis of the promotion of sexual rights for children. Beyond the immediate as...
32m Jun 15, 2023
32m
50: Facing the new authoritarianism, with Ryan Christopher
Ryan Christopher returns to Merely Catholic to discuss the highly motivated political lobby groups behind the swingeing changes to law and culture. Mr Christopher, the director of ADF UK, a faith-based legal advocacy organisation defending fundamental freedoms and human dignity, tells Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 50th episode of the podcast series for the Catholic Herald that Western societies ar...
45m Jun 09, 2023
45m
49: Confronting "the Machine": a strategy for Church renewal, with Paul Kingsnorth
In the 49th episode of Merely Catholic, Paul Kingsnorth joins Gavin Ashenden to talk about his journey from environmentalism, on an exploration through Buddhism and paganism which led him to Christ. Hailed as one of the most incisive and perceptive thinkers of his generation, Paul Kingsnorth examines the fragility of Western culture and the emergence of what he terms ‘the machine’ – the delega...
48m Jun 02, 2023
48m
48: Pachamamas are an insult to God, with Alexander Tschugguel
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined for this episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, by Alexander Tschugguel, who in 2019 achieved global fame when he took an icon of a pachamama earth goddess from the Carmelite Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, near the Vatican, and threw it into the River Tiber. A convert from Lutheranism, Mr Tschugguel explains why it was idolatr...
47m May 25, 2023
47m
47: Out of the shadows and into the light of truth, with Georgia Gilholy
The freelance journalist and commentator Georgia Gilholy joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 47th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. A writer for wide range of publications, including The Spectator, The Critic and the Catholic Herald, Miss Gilholy describes her personal journey into the Catholic faith from the certitudes of doctrinaire atheism. She explains h...
30m May 18, 2023
30m
46: Freedom of speech and why it matters, with Ryan Christopher
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined for this 46th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, by Ryan Christopher, the director of ADF UK, a faith-based legal advocacy organisation defending fundamental freedoms and human dignity. They discuss the rapid erosion of freedom of speech and its causes and what might be done to reverse such a trend as well as how to defend and up...
45m May 11, 2023
45m
45: Monarchy, modernity and the dictatorship of relativism
On the eve of the coronation, as we enter a new Carolingian era, Gavin Ashenden reflects on the challenges posed to the absolutist claims of monarchy and faith, by the revolutionary forces of relativism and secularism.
33m May 05, 2023
33m
44: In Pursuit of Holiness in Chicago
On hearing the word Chicago, many people might think either of the dramatic musical of that name or else make associations with 1930s gangsters. In this latest edition of Merely Catholic, we go to Chicago to interview Fr Ryan Brady, a local downtown city priest. In the shadow of arguments, about sex, power, scandal, and money we hear from him a different but familiar vision for the future of th...
38m Apr 20, 2023
38m
43: The long Good Friday, with John Pontifex
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 countri...
34m Apr 06, 2023
34m
42: Politics and the Catholic faith, with Jacob Rees-Mogg
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 abort...
40m Mar 30, 2023
40m
41: Surviving Turbulent Times, with Eduard Habsburg
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 per...
41m Mar 16, 2023
41m
40: Ezekiel’s Fuzzy Logic, with Fr Patrick Pullicino
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’...
36m Mar 09, 2023
36m
39: The Latin Mass Life Raft, with Dr Joseph Shaw
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 ide...
48m Mar 02, 2023
48m
38: The New Evangelisation, with Sherry Weddell
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...
44m Feb 23, 2023
44m
37: Wokery, the ‘religion’ of the new Puritans
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 1...
45m Feb 16, 2023
45m
36: The Criminalisation of Prayer
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 Vaugha...
49m Feb 09, 2023
49m
35: Simon Johnson, Master of Music
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 Or...
44m Feb 02, 2023
44m
34: Steve Ray’s Personal Pilgrimage
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...
44m Jan 26, 2023
44m
33: Farewell Cardinal Pell, ‘a great defender of the faith’
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 “dictato...
34m Jan 19, 2023
34m
32: Behind the scenes with Archbishop Gänswein’s Nothing But The Truth
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 Tru...
35m Jan 12, 2023
35m
31: The creative generosity of Pope Benedict XVI
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 al...
49m Jan 05, 2023
49m
30: Re-imagining English Catholicism
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...
44m Dec 15, 2022
44m
29: In defence of ex-Anglicans
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 ...
36m Dec 08, 2022
36m
28: Choosing Between Sanctity and Therapy: rediscovering the authenticity of the Church
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 ...
52m Dec 01, 2022
52m
27: The spirit and meaning of Vatican II
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...
47m Nov 24, 2022
47m
26: Another day, another doctrine
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, philosophi...
39m Nov 17, 2022
39m
25: William Shakespeare, the secret and faithful Catholic
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 f...
34m Nov 10, 2022
34m
24: The Fiasco of Catholic Education
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, Thi...
38m Nov 04, 2022
38m
23: The Role of Religion in Politics
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.
38m Oct 27, 2022
38m
22: The Power of the Rings
 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 spiritu...
39m Oct 21, 2022
39m
21: The Beast of Bethulia Park
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 ...
28m Oct 06, 2022
28m
20: Put not your trust in Princes
 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 vetera...
34m Sep 29, 2022
34m
19: Defender of the Faiths
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...
33m Sep 22, 2022
33m
18: God Save the King!
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...
33m Sep 15, 2022
33m
17: The Black Cleric Cancelled by White ‘Anti-Racists’
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 ideolog...
32m Sep 08, 2022
32m
16: The Call to Holiness
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...
24m Sep 01, 2022
24m
15: Sacred or Sinister: the Pope’s Opus Dei initiative
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...
37m Jul 28, 2022
37m
14: When Faith is Sacrificed to Fashion
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 se...
41m Jul 21, 2022
41m
13: Possessed by Ideas
The actor and political activist Laurence Fox joins Dr Gavin Ashenden to discuss the sinister ideologies behind the seemingly relentless quest to destroy faith, family, freedom, marriage and the innocence of children in society today. In this 13th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Fox sets out the reasons why he felt it was necessary for Reclaim, the polit...
35m Jul 15, 2022
35m
12: The Revival of Catholic Anthropology
In the 12th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to the highly distinguished European political scientist Professor John Loughlin, a Fellow at Blackfriars, Oxford, an Emeritus Fellow and former Tutor at St Edmund's College, former Director of the Von Hügel Institute, and a Senior Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Politi...
39m Jul 07, 2022
39m
11: A Spiritual Battle
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined from Chicago by Melissa Villalobos, the recipient of the miracle that led to the canonisation of Cardinal St John Henry Newman in 2019, for the 11th episode of the Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald. They discuss the possible ramifications of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion up to b...
30m Jun 30, 2022
30m
10: The English Catholic Inheritance
Father Dwight Longenecker returns to Merely Catholic for the tenth episode of the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, this time talking to Dr Gavin Ashenden about the English Catholic inheritance and what it means to both Britain and the world in the early 21st century. In this fascinating conversation, Father Longenecker, fresh from a pilgrimage tour of England, offers the perspective of ...
33m Jun 23, 2022
33m
9: Those Summer Knights
Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to the multi-talented Edmund Adamus about his work with A Fertile Heart, an easy-to-follow Relationships and Sex Education programme which is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic faith, and about his forthcoming role with the Sovereign Order of Malta. In this ninth episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, their wide-ranging discussion...
35m Jun 16, 2022
35m
8: A Can of Reformist Sardines
Dr Jules Gomes, the Rome correspondent of Church Militant, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this eighth episode of our Merely Catholic podcast series for the Catholic Herald. They reflect on the new appointments to the College of Cardinals which mean that almost two thirds of its members have now been appointed by Pope Francis. Dr Gomes identifies the workings of a politically-radical reformist age...
29m Jun 02, 2022
29m
7: The Unbelief in the Church
In the seventh podcast of the Merely Catholic series, Dr Gavin Ashenden talks to Ralph Martin about the ‘all-out civil war’ that has broken out in the Catholic Church largely between those who wish to accommodate contemporary mores and those who believe the Church must hold fast to the teaching of two millennia. Dr Martin, an esteemed U.S. theologian and author of the 2020 book The Church in C...
36m May 26, 2022
36m
6: The Politics of Abortion
The leak of a draft opinion that Roe vs Wade may be soon overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court has inflamed political tensions throughout America and led to attacks on Catholic churches and the disruption of Masses. The judgement is not only controversial because it created the federal legal framework for the 62 million abortions in the United States performed since 1973 but also because of its...
37m May 19, 2022
37m