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Fr Toby on how under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we are writing the next chapter



WORD FOR TODAY is broadcast live on Radio Maria on weekdays at 1:15pm and is rebroadcast at 12:15am and 5:45am the following day. In it our Priest Director Fr Toby offers a reflection, usually drawing from the Mass readings of the day. 

If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Following the success of our collaboration with Tricolore Theatre Company and the Catholic Association of Performing Arts, we are pleased to bring listeners more dramatised stories from local writers and performers. Tune in to hear the stories live on the radio! Podcasts of the programmes will be updated after the initial broadcasts.

JONAH THE DOG IN THE BOAT by BRIDIE STRINGERBroadcast: Tuesday 7th May 2024, 3:30pm

About the Writer: Following careers in telecommunications and NHS management, I undertook academic postgraduate studies in pastoral theology and was awarded a doctorate in 2010. I then became a university lecturer in reflective practice courses for those working in chaplaincies, and also for candidates in formation programmes for the ordained ministry of permanent deacon. I have actively participated in parish, deanery and diocesan pastoral councils over many years and been a catechist for children, young people and adults. I find creative writing helpful in pastoral ministry as it frees people to engage imaginatively with faith rather than burdening them with doctrine and orthodoxy which they might find difficult to engage with. Finally, I am a wife, mother of two loving daughters and grandmother of two amazing grandsons. In short, I am a good example of St John Henry Newman’s saying: ‘To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.’ Perfection still eludes me!  Readers: JONATHAN COOTE, KENNETH MICHAELS, NADIA OSTACCHINI

About the Readers:


JONATHAN COOTEAn actor for many years on stage, screen and radio, Jonathan’s favourite roles have included Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac, Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi and Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. His West End appearances include Yes, Prime Minister, The Audience, Witness for the Prosecution. At the National Theatre he has appeared in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Home, Emil and the Detectives, Our Country’s Good, As You Like It. When theatres re-opened after lockdown, he toured a one-man play called The Man with the Golden Pen as James Bond author, Ian Fleming. An immersive audio recreation of an 18th Century Chocolate House which he wrote and produced is currently running at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Television appearances include: Stephen, The Crown, Casualty.. Radio/Audio: Publish and Be Damn’d (BBC) Six Degrees of Assassination (Audible), The Diary Of River Song (Big Finish) and numerous audio books.  KENNETH MICHAELSKenneth Michaels is an actor and director and has worked in theatre, radio, television and film and has taught in several drama schools. As an actor he has toured extensively in the UK and Europe in works from Shakespeare to pantomime, Pinter to Agatha Christie.  Kenneth works as a specialist ESOL teacher, working with refugees supporting their English learning. He is also the Secretary of the Catholic Association of Performing Arts (CaAPA).  NADIA OSTACCHININadia is an actor, theatre producer, voice over artist, secretary & carer! She was born inLondon of Italian parentage, trained as an actor and is the Artistic Director of Tricolore Theatre Company whose first dual-language English/Italian storybook based on Jesus’s parables was published last year.  She has enjoyed Tricolore’s collaboration with Radio Maria for Eastertide Stories as well as Advent Adventures last year & looks forward to reading: ‘A Boy Called Porro’ to Radio Maria’s younger listeners over the radio this Christmas. Website: www.tricolore.org.uk  

We now turn our attention to those known as the Apostolic Fathers, beginning with an overview of the Didache, a fascinating first century Church document describing the two ways: that of life... and that of death.

Patristic Pillars is a series on Radio Maria England, bringing the Church Fathers to life with Fr Joseph Hamilton.



Fr Joseph Hamilton is the Rector of the Domus Australia in Rome, and a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney Australia. Prior to his appointment at Domus, he served as private secretary to George Cardinal Pell, until the Cardinal’s untimely death. Fr Joseph completed his doctoral studies in Patristics at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and his license at the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” in Rome. Prior to entering seminary he worked as an investment banker. Having left the economy of Mammon for that of Salvation, he studied at the Pontifical North American College. A native of Ireland, he is a keen but mediocre (his words) surfer, and enjoys reading and cooking.



CREDO (currently hosting Patristic Pillars) is a programme that nourishes listeners in their Catholic faith. It airs live on Radio Maria every weekday at 4pm and is rebroadcast at 4am the following morning.

If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

In collaboration with Blackfriars Cambridge and the Thomistic Institute and hosted by the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, Radio Maria England is pleased to bring this wonderful lecture by Fr Gregory Pine OP to our listeners, Is It Possible to Be Perfect? The lecture was given at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs on the 1st of May 2024.



CREDO is a programme that nourishes listeners in their Catholic faith. It airs live on Radio Maria every weekday at 4pm and is rebroadcast at 4am the following morning.

If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fr Toby on the Feast of Sts Philip and James, saints who show us little themselves and lots of Christ.



WORD FOR TODAY is broadcast live on Radio Maria on weekdays at 1:15pm and is rebroadcast at 12:15am and 5:45am the following day. In it our Priest Director Fr Toby offers a reflection, usually drawing from the Mass readings of the day.

If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.

Fr Toby on why love and commandment is a better combination than melon and mackerel.


WORD FOR TODAY is broadcast live on Radio Maria on weekdays at 1:15pm and is rebroadcast at 12:15am and 5:45am the following day. In it our Priest Director Fr Toby offers a reflection, usually drawing from the Mass readings of the day. 

If you enjoyed this programme, please consider making a once off or monthly donation to Radio Maria England by visiting www.RadioMariaEngland.uk or calling 0300 302 1251 during office hours. It is only through the ongoing support of our listeners that we continue to be a Christian voice by your side.