The Catholic Herald Podcast: Merely Catholic with Gavin Ashenden

Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined on Merely Catholic this week by Dr Derry Connolly, the founding president of John Paul the Great Catholic University, California. Dr Connolly charts his journey from his youth in rural County Cork, Ireland, and a career in engineering and technology in Los Angeles to the moment when “God put it in my heart” to establish a “radically different” Catholic university in San Diego to harness the power of beauty to transform contemporary culture, and how he was able to realise his vision in spite of setting out with no funds. In this 85th episode of the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Connolly also discusses with Dr Ashenden what a Catholic university is, and how John Paul the Great might form Catholics for Hollywood.  To find out more about John Paul the Great Catholic University visit: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/catholicherald/

The Rt Rev. Joseph Strickland, the former Bishop of Tyler, Texas, who was “relieved” of his duties by Pope Francis last year, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 84th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald They discuss his removal from office and the post-modern assault on truth in the Church and in the world, and other subjects including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Francis papacy and the Rupnik scandal. In the podcast, Bishop Strickland also explains why Christians have a fundamental duty to be heed and be obedient to the truth, warning the faithful that “false messages fall to dust”.

Our guest for this 83rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, is Fr Michael Ward, the English literary critic and theologian and an internationally recognised expert on the writings of CS Lewis. Perhaps best known for his 2010 book Planet Narnia, Fr Ward is an associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. He played the role of a vicar in The Most Reluctant Convert, the CS Lewis biopic. He has also reviewed films and plays for the Catholic Herald and other media. He talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about why Lewis continues to appeal to millions of Catholics and to discuss where Lewis’s theology would fit in today’s ecclesial landscape.

Holly Ordway joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 82nd episode of Merely Catholic to discuss the Catholicism of JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She is the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. Her book Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages (Word on Fire Academic, 2021) received the 2022 Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. Her newest book is Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Tolkien’s death on September 2nd, 202 and can be purchased from on Amazon US and Blackwell’s Books and Amazon UK.

Father Hans Zollner, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, theologian, psychologist, and professor at the Gregorian University. He is also one of the leading experts on safeguarding and the prevention of sexual abuse. In March 2023, Father Zollner resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, criticizing the leadership of the body in a public letter. In this 81st episode of Merely Catholic, Father Zollner discusses the issue of sexual abuse in the Church and how Catholics should respond.

George Farmer, the Oxford-educated investment banker, social media wizard and GB News board member, is our guest for this 80th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Mr Farmer, husband to the American social media influencer and author Candace Owens and the son of Conservative Party peer Lord Farmer, tells Dr Gavin Ashenden about his journey into the Catholic faith from an Evangelical background. They also discuss the crises facing Christianity and the West in the third millennium.

This week Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined from California by author James Crowell to discuss the work and vision of John Paul the Great Catholic University, an institute founded to harness the power of beauty to transform culture. They discuss the ambition of the university to shape “the next generation of artists and innovators with academic excellence, unparalleled creativity, and an authentic community centred on Jesus Christ”. Inspired by St John Paul’s demand for a new evangelisation, the Catholic film school aims to provide a hub to create culture by bringing together storytellers, artists, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs in the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness – and offer an antidote to an ugly and bleak post-Christian future. https://jpcatholic.edu/

Dr Gavin Ashenden this week speaks to fellow Catholic Herald associate editor and novelist Simon Caldwell about the recently published norms from the Vatican governing the discernment and handling of private revelations and associated mystical and supernatural phenomena. They discuss what the new norms represent and what has prompted the overhaul, the first since 1978. They also examine the purpose of private revelations and the dangers posed to the Church by those which are fraudulent. Caldwell, who has written frequently about private revelations, also talks for the first time about his forthcoming second novel, Lady Mabel’s Gold – the sequel to The Beast of Bethulia Park – and the character of Ana Guerrero, a schoolteacher who bleeds mysteriously from her head. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0852447000?ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE&social_share=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_76JQB9YEXV7WDKNRPTYE

When Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010 he was welcomed on behalf of the youth of country by Paschal Uche, then a 22-year-old from Stratford, East London. Ten years later Father Pascal was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Brentwood. In this 77th episode of Merely Catholic, Father Pascal talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about how he answered his call to the priesthood, his priestly formation, and about the exercise of the vocation to priestly ministry in the 21st century.

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.