Following on from Plato and Socrates, in the second in our series on why truth still matters, Fr Alban McCoy, OFM Conv, and Ruth Gledhill, assistant editor of The Tablet, discuss St Thomas Aquinas. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-tablet/message ..read more

Journalist Ruth Gledhill is in conversation with Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian Fr Alban McCoy OFM Conv in the first in a new series of podcasts. Subscribe to The Tablet. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-tablet/message ..read more

Award-winning writer and former Financial Times journalist Jimmy Burns’ latest book A Faithful Spy, based on previously undisclosed personal private papers of former MI6 and MI5 officer, Walter Bell, gives a remarkable insight into the working of British Intelligence. In this Tablet podcast, Emily Buchanan of the BBC talks to Jimmy Burns about the book and some of the startling things that he uncovered during his research. In this article in The Tablet Jimmy Burns gives further insight into the life of Walter Bell. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-tablet ..read more

The 2023 synod summit in the Vatican ended with a series of openings for reform, including on the role of women, training of priests and a re-think of the church’s sexual teaching.  For those in the hall, a vast majority agreed that the synod process and style — which saw cardinals and lay people gathered around tables listening to each other — is how church business should be done in the future.  But what happens next? Synod 2023 is the first of two assemblies, with another due in October 2024.  In this episode, I talk again to Myriam Wijlens, who took part in the synod as an e ..read more

In October 2023 we began a series of articles on Family Matters, the first of which was by our very own Editor, Brendan Walsh. Brendan wrote movingly and candidly about his experience of first-time fatherhood in his early 60s. Other articles followed covering themes of adoption, welcoming strangers into your family, the death of a child, being a mother with cancer, an unconventional upbringing, and grandfathers. Three online webinars accompany this series, the first of which was on 8 November with Brendan Walsh and Carina Murphy, who was diagnosed with cancer five year ..read more

The reflections of Fr Timothy Radcliffe have been one of the highlights of the October 2023 synod assembly in the Vatican. The English Dominican friar led the synod participants on a retreat before the synod gathering and offered wise reflections and spiritual guidance. Some have called him the “spiritual father” of the synod.  In this episode, I sat down with Fr Timothy to discuss the synod process and how to navigate disagreement in an increasingly polarised world and church. Fr Timothy led the worldwide Dominican Order from 1992-2001, the first English friar to do so. He knows the univ ..read more

In Losing a Kingdom, Gaining the World, Dr. Ambrogio A. Caiani tells the story of the Catholic Church in the modern age. Beginning with the aftermath of the French Revolution and the democratic rebellions of 1848, Caiani follows the Church's evolution that sees three popes being forced out of Rome, the secular power of papacy being destroyed, a disastrous series of concordats with fascist states in the 1930s and the Church’s retreat into a fortress of unreason. As Catholicism lost its temporal power it made huge spiritual strides expanding across the globe and gaining new converts in Amer ..read more

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 the Commissions for Promoting Racial Justice and Cultural Inclusion, Education and Caritas, Archdiocese of Southwark. The archdiocese covers some of the most racially diverse areas of the UK. In th ..read more

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 Square on 30 September. This event will be the starting point for the synod and a three-day retreat, which participants will participate in before the synod’s formal opening on 4 October.  Talk ..read more

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 around the world has been infectious. He has built an extensive bank of volunteers across Westminster. In this episode, he talks about how he became involved with Cafod as a volunteer, how this p ..read more