Centre for Catholic Studies Podcast

Mary Beth Ingham: Reading Scotus today: Franciscan foundations for a renewed Christian humanism by Centre for Catholic Studies

Giuseppe Buffon: A rule that saves? The Capuchin response to the institutional crisis by Centre for Catholic Studies

Please note that the volume on this track fluctuates throughout the recording.

For this CTRS seminar, we were joined by Franciscan Theologian Br Stefan Walser, who gave a paper entitled: 'So what… Religious Indifference as a Fundamental Theological Challenge'. This seminar forms part of the Catholic Theology Research Seminar Series (CTRS). The CTRS is a regular forum for scholarly discussion of pertinent issues in the Catholic traditions of theology and Church. The seminar series ranges across the traditional theological disciplines (scriptural, historical, philosophical, systematic, liturgical, ethical and practical/pastoral), Catholic social thought and practice, and social-scientific approaches to Catholicism.

Marc Roscoe Loustau is an anthropologist and scholar of religion, specialising in studying religion and nationalism in Eastern Europe. Having spent three years in Hungary and Romania researching the history of Catholic pilgrimage, he now works at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, as Managing Editor of the Journal of Global Catholicism. His paper for this seminar is entitled: "Studying Theology Ethnographically: Reflections on Fieldwork with Hungarian Catholic Intellectuals in Contemporary Romania". This seminar forms part of the Catholic Theology Research Seminar Series (CTRS). The CTRS is a regular forum for scholarly discussion of pertinent issues in the Catholic traditions of theology and Church. The seminar series ranges across the traditional theological disciplines (scriptural, historical, philosophical, systematic, liturgical, ethical and practical/pastoral), Catholic social thought and practice, and social-scientific approaches to Catholicism.

In this CTRS seminar, Billy Crozier of Durham University gives a talk on 'The Quince Made Sweet: Love and Suffering in St Bonaventure's Tree of Life'. This seminar forms part of the Catholic Theology Research Seminar Series (CTRS). The CTRS is a regular forum for scholarly discussion of pertinent issues in the Catholic traditions of theology and Church. The seminar series ranges across the traditional theological disciplines (scriptural, historical, philosophical, systematic, liturgical, ethical and practical/pastoral), Catholic social thought and practice, and social-scientific approaches to Catholicism.

This is Episode 10 of The Church's Radical Reform, the second podcast series on synodality. The series is presented by Christopher Lamb. Christopher is the Vatican Correspondent for The Tablet and is a doctoral researcher in synodality at the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University. The series is sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University in partnership with The Tablet. After the Vatican synod: what happens now? 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 expert adviser. Professor Wijlens, a theologian and canon lawyer who has been closely involved in the synod process, stressed a general agreement that women need an enlarged role in the church but a “struggle” over how this should happen in practice. The question of women deacons is to be further studied, and Wijlens said a “conclusion” to the discussion over the possibility of women deacons could take place at the synod next year. Professor Wijlens teaches at the University of Erfurt in Germany. She said that the new synod process marks a “tremendous shift”, which gave everyone the same amount of time to speak, whether they were an Asian woman or a European cardinal. “There was a general agreement: we have to attend to this question [of women]”, she said. “And there was a great agreement that women do make up the larger portion of active participants in the life of the Church. And then there comes a struggle because we all come from different cultures and from different backgrounds. How does that unfold in real life, on the ground?” Professor Wijlens points out that a critical challenge is implementing synodality at the local level. But it can no longer be a question of waiting for the authorities in Rome about what to do. “How can Rome say what you have to do in the inner city of London and in the inner city of Manila or the countryside of Alaska at the same time,” she said. It is up to bishops and local leaders to “take up your own responsibility” and implement synodal reforms in their local areas. Producer: Silvia Sacco Editor: Jamie Weston

The Centre for Catholic Studies and the Michael Ramsey Centre for Anglican Studies welcomed Fr Hans Boersma to give the Richardson Lecture for 2023, with a talk entitled "Creation as Love". Fr. Hans Boersma holds the St. Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin. His latest book is entitled Pierced by Love: Divine Reading with the Christian Tradition (Lexham Press, 2023). His other books include Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (IVP Academic, 2021); Seeing God (Eerdmans, 2018); and Heavenly Participation (Eerdmans, 2011). His main theological interest is the retrieval of the sacramental ontology of the Great Tradition of the church. Fr. Boersma is an ordained priest within the Anglican Church in North America. *Please note that the audio drops out for about a minute at 4.35 and 7.59. The rest of the track is not affected.*

A conversation with the “spiritual father” of the synod: Fr Timothy Radcliffe 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 universal Church and the workings of the Vatican and has attended several synods. “I think to see Roman Curial cardinals sitting with young women from Latin America and Asia and listening, really listening. I think that’s what is most transformative,” he told me. The process of listening, he says, is the “foundation for any subsequent things to happen” and that both individuals and the Church collectively need to be “changed” before they know which changes need to be made. On one occasion in the synod, he referred to a story that had been told to participants about a bisexual woman who had taken her own life as she did not feel welcomed by the Church. “The question always put is: is the Church’s teaching going to change? That’s not the issue. The issue is, will we love and welcome our fellow human beings?” he says. “If we love them, and listen to them and make them part of our lives, if there are evolutions to happen, they will happen. But you don’t start by asking what changes have to be made.” He stressed that the synod is counter-cultural because it demands people listen to those with whom they disagree. “We inherit a tradition, Catholicism, which does actually believe in reason,” he pointed out. “We see a lot of irrationality in our society because people don’t believe in reason anymore, but the Church does, and this should act in a healthy way to open not just our hearts but our minds, so we listen attentively with all our intelligence to what the other person is saying, and try to see how even if we disagree it bears some tiny seed of truth that we need. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t turn out, when we look back, that one of the great roles of the Church will be to carry on believing in reason.” Talking about indifference or scepticism of the synod among the clergy, Fr Timothy said there needs to be a “positive, affirmative vision of the priesthood” to ensure more priests get on board with the synod process. Finally, he talked about his recent health struggles and how Pope Francis took him by surprise and phoned him while he was in hospital. Producer: Silvia Sacco Editor: Jamie Weston This is Episode 9 of The Church's Radical Reform, the second podcast series on synodality. The series is presented by Christopher Lamb. Christopher is the Vatican Correspondent for The Tablet and is a doctoral researcher in synodality at the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University. The series is sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University in partnership with The Tablet.

In this Catholic Theology Research Seminar on the 11th October 2023, Thomas Weinandy gives a talk on 'Does God Suffer?'.