The Catholic Herald Podcast: Merely Catholic with Gavin Ashenden Merely Catholic
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- Religion & Spirituality
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On the Catholic Herald's weekly podcast, Gavin Ashenden and guests will reflect on what's happening in the Christian world; and shed some light on the most important cultural, spiritual and moral issues of the day.
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Catholic thought and the crisis of the West, with Michael J. Knowles
Michael J. Knowles, the American broadcaster, political commentator, actor and author, is the guest of Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 75th episode for Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald.
They discuss the many “diverse and eccentric” identities of American conservativism in the twilight of the Biden presidency and Mr Knowles’ work for the Daily Wire, the popular US news website and media company, amid the shifting sands of the cultural revolutions of the last decade. They also talk about the vital role of the Catholic Church in upholding objective moral truth in the crisis of relativism gripping the West. -
Banning conversion therapy, with Dr Patricia Morgan
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by Dr Patricia Morgan, the distinguished sociologist and author of the 2023 book Banning Conversion Therapy: The Missing Evidence, amid impending legislation to criminalise counselling, discussion, prayer and teaching based on orthodox Christian doctrine in spite of such changes representing a serious attack upon free inquiry and freedom of speech.
In this 75th episode for Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Dr Morgan sets such changes in the prevailing anti-family and anti-marriage ideology that has convulsed the West for more than 50 years. -
University lynch mobs and the right to life, with Madeline Page
Madeline Page of Right to Life UK joins Dr Gavin Ashenden this week to discuss shocking scenes at Manchester University when a violent mob descended on a meeting of the students’ pro-life group with the aim of closing it down.
Hundreds converged on the venue where a group of students met peacefully to spit at the women taking part and to shout “get raped” in their faces, with the police forced to intervene to prevent violent attacks on participants.
Dr Ashenden, in this 74th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic, asks Madeline what this was all about and what it signifies. -
Politically-incorrect Catholicism, with John Zmirak
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by John Zmirak, a senior editor of The Stream and author of the new Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism, to discuss the new novelties “gathering slime” in the West and within the Catholic Church.
Zmirak is the author, co-author, or editor of twelve books, including Wilhelm Ropke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist, The Grand Inquisitor (graphic novel) and The Race to Save Our Century and his essays, poems, and other works have appeared in First Things, The Weekly Standard, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, FrontPage Magazine, The American Conservative, The South Carolina Review, Modern Age, The Intercollegiate Review, Commonweal, and The National Catholic Register. He has contributed to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought. -
Canada’s new ‘Satanic panic’, with Anna Farrow
Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined this week by the distinguished Canadian journalist Anna Farrow to discuss Canada’s hysterical grief over mass graves which never existed.
Farrow, a Montreal based writer for the Catholic Register, describes how 96 churches came to be burned down after it was falsely claimed that the graves of 215 children had been discovered in the grounds of a former residential school in British Columbia that had been run by the Catholic Church on behalf of the Canadian government – but which years later failed to yield a single body.
In this 72nd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Farrow explains how anti-Catholic sentiment played a part in creating perhaps the gravest moral panic since the fabricated Satanic abuses convulsed western societies in the late 20th century. -
Asylum seekers and fake Christians, with Mgr Michael Nazir-Ali
The horrendous chemical attack on a woman and two children by Abdul Ezedi, an Afghan received into Christianity by Baptists in Jarrow, has reopened debate about the authenticity of the claims of some people who seek asylum on the grounds of religious conversion.
Monsignor Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Anglican Bishop of Rochester who became a Catholic in 2021, discusses some of the contemporary problems with the system with Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 71st episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald.
They also reflect on the Judaeo-Christian tradition of “welcoming and loving the stranger” and the theology that underpins it, and how such biblical injunctions should be interpreted in an age of the mass movements of populations.
Customer Reviews
Intelligent AND accessible
Wonderful podcast on current issues affecting the Church and Western culture. Intelligent without being arrogant and very accessible to the thoughtful listener. Dr Ashenden is an excellent interviewer and well-versed in so many issues in his own right. He conveys warmth, friendliness and genuine interest, all without rambling. I am so grateful to have found this fantastic resource!
Thank You
As a Protestant Christian my entire life with a newfound interest in Catholicism, and an even bigger interest in understanding truth, I’m thrilled to find this podcast. Thank you, thank you.
So thankful for this podcast!
Thank you for your articulate voice of reason, and for your powerful testimony.