Joanna Bogle gives an engaging presentation about the fascinating, little-known life of Caroline Chisholm, Catholic reformer and friend of emigrants in the Australia of the 1840s. Caroline travelled to Australia with her husband and family in 1838. Very soon she realised that little help was given to migrants, especially women, who often, as a result, ended up in prostitution. She set up a system to enable them to find respectable work, by the end of the 1840s she had assisted over 11,000 migrants, often without official support and working tirelessly to raise public awareness. She was often s ..read more

Watch the video below for our latest Zoom presentation from Leanda de Lisle, who gave a wonderful portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. For the audio only listen via the player below or go to our podcast to listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify ..read more

Nicholas Breakspear was elected pope in 1154, but his story started long before that. The son of a local churchman near St Albans, he would battle his way across Europe to defend and develop Christianity, facing war in Scandinavia and the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. But it was after he took the throne of St Peter as Adrian IV that he would face his greatest threat: Frederick Barbarossa, who was determined to restore the Holy Roman Empire to its former greatness. In this talk, given recently at our Annual General Meeting, Adrian Waddingham opens the archives to tell the story of a man ..read more

At more than thirty-one years (1903-1935), Cardinal Bourne’s is the longest reign of any Archbishop of Westminster. Today, with the possible exception of his turbulent relationship with Bishop Amigo of Southwark, Bourne is virtually unknown. That obscurity is unmerited. His time at Westminster covered some of the most momentous events of the modern English Catholic Church: the Education Question, Modernism, the First World War, the Irish Troubles and Treaty, the emergence of the Labour Party, the General Strike, the growing menace of the European dictators and the stirrings of ecumenism and C ..read more

In 1780, as a protest against the First Catholic Relief Act of 1778, a petition was brought to Parliament in London which sparked the Gordon Riots.   Some days later a small crowd was seen near the Catholic mission in Bath and over the next 48 hours or so disturbances took place which were speedily squashed by the military.  There are many contrasts with the more serious riots in London but also parallels.  Professor Steve Poole of Bath University gives an interesting and entertaining account of these events in Bath which led to the imprisonment of 8 rioters, 7 of who were subse ..read more

The First Catholic Relief Act in 1778 led to the  Gordon Riots of 1780 which lasted for a week and were of great ferocity in London where many major public buildings including the Bank of England, the prisons of Newgate and Fleet, the house of Lord Mansfield and Langdale Gin Distillery were attacked and burned.  The Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Challoner, had to flee for his life.   Beginning as a protest march to present a petition against the passing of the Relief Act, the rioting soon became disassociated with direct anti-Catholicism, and became mob violence, aimed at freeing pris ..read more

Only accession to the throne remains as an impediment to full participation in public life for in England today Catholics today, whereas 400 years ago it was a treasonable offence to celebrate or attend Mass, punishable by the death penalty.   Fr Doolan gives a summary of the main clauses of the several Catholic Relief Acts which passed into British law between 1788 and 1976, together with the background leading to these changes in legislation. He details successively the First Catholic Relief Act of 1788, the Second of 1791, the Third of 1829, and further acts of 1926 and 1976. &nbs ..read more

Dr Johnson outlines the situation for English Catholics on the eve of emancipation experienced from the point of view of the clergy and seminarians in the exiled colleges in Europe, principally the Lisbon College. The mid 18th century was the nadir of English Catholicism at home and abroad.  It saw the collapse of the English College at Douai and all missionary colleges in Europe with the exception of Lisbon College.  Without the influence of external events such as the French Revolution and Irish immigration the English Catholic community may well not have survived.  Dr Simon J ..read more

Bishop Brownlow  was born the son of an Anglican clergyman.  He was influenced by evangelical preaching and then was drawn towards Catholicism.  He corresponded with John Henry Newman, and wrote numerous books and pamphlets on the Catholic faith after his conversion.  As a priest in the diocese of Plymouth, and as Bishop of Clifton he preached and worked tirelessly for the spreading of the Gospel.  This is a fascinating introduction to this Victorian Catholic gentleman and priest who deserves to be better known.  Dr Giles Mercer KSG is  a trustee of the Clift ..read more

Francois Longuet was one of several French émigré priests who came to Reading in the wake of the French Revolution. He founded a new chapel in Reading, the first purpose-built one since the Reformation, which he called The Chapel of the Resurrection. Basing her talk on letters extant between Longuet and his Bishop, Lindsay gives a fascinating insight into this unusual and, in the end, tragic life. To listen to the talk click on the arrow below or click to the image to find the talk in our podcast ..read more