The week ahead – from 28 September to 4 October

Two kinds of outsiders: lepers, and gentiles. The God-fearers. Blessed John Beyzym and the lepers of Madagascar. This Sunday in Brazil: Our Lady of Aparecida and the unexpected people whose patron she is. Devotions to “Our Lady Of” worldwide: incarnation implies location. Keeping popular piety under control. Irish missionaries, Saint Gall and the bear. Saint Teresa turning the Carmelites into Carmelites. Dr Saint Luke being polite about doctors. Episode notes.

The prophet Jonah. Saint Abraham. Saint John Henry Newman. Episode notes.

The week of the angels and the crack in the clouds. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and the Guardian Angels. St Jerome; the Brazilian Martyrs of Natal. St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Francis of Assisi. A report on the Southwark Day for Catechists. Episode notes.

Saint Matthew and his Gospel. Why have Gospels? Why have three synoptic Gospels? The madness of Q. Can investment bankers be saved? Episode notes.

Faith: more than a theological virtue. Hope: a hard virtue. The civilised martyrdom of St Cyprian. The Korean martyrs: "I am".

Saints, Blesseds, and canonisation. Our relationship with the saints. Blessed (soon to be Saint) Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed (soon to be Saint) Carlo Acutis. Saint Peter Claver. Episode notes.

Confirmation, catechesis and the Creed. "I" and "we" revisited. Saint Gregory the Great; bishops as icebergs. Mother Teresa and why people hate her. More saints to hate! Differing views of judgement. The Litany of Loreto. Episode notes.

The end of the world and the Day of the Lord. Zephaniah and how to read a prophet. ‘Whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth.’ Saint Louis. St John Chrysostom. Saints Monica and Augustine. Our Lady of Częstochowa (and Hilaire Belloc). Episode notes.

Our Lady, Mother and Queen. The Rosary, Scripture verses, Danish and Latin. Southwark Cathedral and its catechists. We are all catechists of a kind: here's how Universalis and The Creed in Slow Motion can help. Episode notes.

The Assumption: what exactly it means. The birth of a doctrine and its development. The Old Testament roots of Marian belief. Episode notes.