The Church Times Podcast

Lee Stockdale is an American poet, Episcopalian, and army veteran. He won the prestigious UK National Poetry Competition Prize 2022 for his poem “My Dead Father’s General Store in the Middle of a Desert”. His father, Grant Stockdale, was a close friend of John F. Kennedy; Lee’s mother, Alice Boyd Magruder, was a poet. On the podcast this week, Lee Stockdale talks to Sarah Meyrick about his shock at winning the prize, which had more than 17,000 entries. Former winners include Sinéad Morrissey, Ruth Padel, and Carol Ann Duffy. “I really believe the Holy Spirit just thought, here’s a poem that may be not just literary, whatever that is, but could perhaps be helpful and healing. I think that’s what happened,” he says. It is “a gift”, he says, because the poem refers to his father’s death by suicide when Lee was 11. “I’m now 70, and I’ve worked through that. I’ve come out on the other side.” He hopes that his poem offers hope. Lee’s debut collection, Gorilla, was published last year. https://www.leestockdale.com Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles the choice for this month’s Church Times Book Club. On the podcast this week, the Revd Dr Mark Oakley, who has written this month’s essay about the book, discusses it with Sarah Meyrick. The Lincoln Highway is a classic American road-trip novel set in the 1950s. On release from a juvenile work camp, 18-year-old Emmett Watson decides to travel to California with his younger brother Billy on the highway of the book’s title. Stowed away in the trunk of the car are two former inmates. The travellers, in their quest for a better life, all have different aims. To accommodate everyone’s dreams, the ensuing ten-day journey ends up taking a different course. The story is told from the perspective of each of the characters. It is these authentic voices that add dramatic tension to the story’s plot line, always keeping the final destination unclear. The Lincoln Highway is published by Cornerstone at £9.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.99); 978-1-529-15764-2. Dr Oakley is the Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and Canon Theologian of Wakefield Cathedral. It was announced recently that he is to be the next Dean of Southwark. The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature: https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the Revd Robert Stanier, a parish priest and keen cricketer, talks about how English test cricket has been revolutionised by “Bazball”: an attacking, risk-taking style of play that doesn’t worry too much about losing. Are there lessons here for the Church of England? He writes in this week’s Comment section, “For the Church, one lesson of the Bazball revolution is that, as we think about fresh expressions, perhaps we should be thinking less about new formats, but more about fresh mind-sets. Counter-intuitive as it is, what we already have may contain possibilities we haven’t even begun to uncover.” Read the article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/21-july/comment/opinion/opinion-england-s-cricketers-test-the-art-of-the-possible The Revd Robert Stanier is Vicar of St Andrew and St Mark, Surbiton, in the diocese of Southwark, and a former winner of the 2018 Wisden Writing Competition (Comment, 18 May 2018). He played in a recent clergy match featuring a cluster of cricketers from southern dioceses. Read his match report here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/21-july/news/uk/clergy-cricketers-play-on-undaunted-by-fewer-players-and-summer-rain Photo: Alamy Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Many of those who were ordained at Petertide will soon be embarking upon title curacies. What makes for a successful curacy? What are some of the problems that can arise between curate and training incumbent, and how can they be resolved? The Archdeacon of Auckland, the Ven. Rick Simpson, was the IME Officer, working with assistant curates and training incumbents, for Durham and Newcastle dioceses for 11 years. On the podcast this week, he draws on his extensive experience to explain how title curacies can work best. He has written about this for the Petertide edition of the Church Times. Read the article here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/7-july/features/features/title-curacy-where-are-the-rocks-and-how-do-you-steer-round-them The second edition of his booklet Supervising a Curate: A short guide to a complex task (P173), was published in March by Grove Books: https://grovebooks.co.uk/products/p-173-supervising-a-curate-a-short-guide-to-a-complex-task Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

This week’s podcasts brings another highlight of the most recent Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, which took place in Winchester in late February: Mark Oakley’s talk, “What if this were the world’s last night?” John Donne’s lessons for today’s Church. “[Donne’s] commitment to nearness means resisting soundbite theology, any quick clarity or easy answer,” Dr Oakley says. “It means resisting turning honest complexity into dishonest simplicity; it means bearing with each other, seeking to read the lines of yourself and others, so that — and this, I feel, might be Donne’s great contribution to us as a Church — we are not charged to be relevant, but resonant. Our faith is not an opinion column, it is not a hobby, it is not the latest fad: it is seeking to address the perenial depth of what we experience as being human. Resonance happens in a deeper place than relevance.” The Revd Dr Mark Oakley is Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and Canon Theologian of Wakefield Cathedral. His books inclued The Splash of Words (Canterbury Press), which won the 2019 Michael Ramsey Prize. He recently received the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Awards 2023. https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Sir Terry Waite was held hostage in Lebanon in the 1980s and ‘90s, while a special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. He was in captivity for the best part of five years, most of this time in solitary confinement. Last week, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the King’s Birthday Honours list. When his book, Solitude: Memories, people, places (SPCK) was published in 2017 (Books, 24 November 2017), he was interviewed by Sarah Meyrick. The book is available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church met in Edinburgh last week. Francis Martin has been there to report for the Church Times. He sat down with the Primus, the Most Revd Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, to talk about how the meeting has gone. Bishop Strange also spoke about the part he played in the Coronation; why he enjoyed last year’s Lambeth Conference; and the suspension of the Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, the Rt Revd Anne Dyer. Detailed reports of the Synod will be published in the 16 June issue of the Church Times, and will be available online. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

On the podcast this week, the writer and journalist Emily Rhodes talks to Ed Thornton about Emily’s Walking Book Club, which she wrote about in this week’s Church Times (Features, 9 June). The book club, which meets monthly on Hampstead Heath and also has a monthly Zoom and a Live Discussion Thread, recently discussed Ronald Blythe’s rural classic, Akenfield. On the podcast, recorded while walking round Clissold Park, in north London, Emily talks about how members of the book club responded to Akenfield; how a walking book club can foster community and meaning; and whether there are similarities to pilgrimage. Find out more about Emily’s Walking Bookclub at https://emilyswalkingbookclub.substack.com Emily Rhodes is a writer and journalist, whose features and reviews have appeared in publications including the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Guardian, and the TLS. https://emilyrhodeswriter.com Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is the choice for this month’s Church Times Book Club. On the podcast this week, Canon Richard Lamey, who has written this month’s essay about the book, is in conversation with Sarah Meyrick. Read the essay here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/2-june/books-arts/book-club/book-club-my-father-s-house-by-joseph-o-connor My Father’s House is a historical thriller set in Rome in 1943, when the city was under Nazi occupation. The story follows the journey of a group of Jews, diplomats, and escaped Allied prisoners who try to flee Italy. They take refuge in the Vatican City, and their escape is facilitated under the guise of a choir, by a courageous Irish priest. Tension builds as the Gestapo begin to suspect the priest’s secret operation. The novel is based on a true story, and is a retelling of the workings of the Rome Escape Line, covering the heroic work of Mgr Hugh O’Flaherty. My Father’s House is published by Harvill Secker at £20 (Church Times Bookshop £18); 978-1-78730-082-8. Canon Richard Lamey is the Rector of St Paul’s, Wokingham, and Area Dean of Sonning, in the diocese of Oxford. The Church Times Book Club is run in association with the Festival of Faith and Literature: https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month’s book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

This week’s podcasts brings another highlight of the most recent Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, which took place in Winchester in late February: Gaia Vince in conversation with the Rt Revd John Pritchard about her book Nomad Century: How to survive the climate upheaval (Features, 2 December, Books, 23 December). In a review of the book for the Church Times, the Rt Revd David Chillingworth described it as “a remarkable and important book. It takes a hard look at what our world may become as the effects of global warming gather pace. . . “Vince suggests that the response of humanity to these challenges [of climate change] must be the one that it has always used: migration. Migration is ‘not the problem. . . migration is the oldest survival trick.’ Hence the title, Nomad Century.” Nomad Century is published by Penguin and is available to buy from the Church House Bookshop; 978-0-24152-231-8. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780241522318/nomad-century Gaia Vince is an award-winning science journalist, writer, and broadcaster, and an honorary senior research fellow at UCL. The Rt Revd John Pritchard is a former Bishop of Oxford. https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk Photo: KT Bruce Music for the podcast is by Twisterium Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader