99: Lady Mabel’s Gold, with SP Caldwell

Journalist and author Simon Caldwell returns to Merely Catholic to discuss his new thriller, Lady Mabel’s Gold, with Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 99th episode. A standalone sequel to The Beast of Bethulia Park, the author’s 2022 debut, Lady Mabel’s Gold has been praised by former Catholic Herald editor William Cash as a “truly original novel with excellent writing, clever plot twists and a cast of memorable characters which put Caldwell at the front rank of Catholic novelists today”. Dr Ashenden talks to Caldwell about his characters, themes and inspirations and both read from the book for the first time publicly. https://www.gracewing.co.uk/page416.html

Tim Dieppe, the head of public policy at Christian Concern, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 97th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss his new book, The Challenge of Islam. This book discusses the increasing influence of Islam in the UK and how non-Muslims might respond. Chapters include: “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?”, “Is Islam Antisemitic?”, “What's wrong with Multiculturalism?”, and “What’s wrong with Islamic Finance?” The book concludes with some policy proposals that would make a difference. In their conversation, Mr Dieppe and Dr Ashenden also confront the theological question of whether Allah is the same as the God of the Bible.

Conservative Party peer Lord (Nigel) Biggar CBE, the Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and an Anglican priest, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 96th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Lord Biggar, an Oxford-educated historian and author of the 2023 book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, reflects on the plan by the Church of England to pay £100 million in reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade following criticism in a new report for Policy Exchange that such policies are based on a defective process which “embedded activism rather than balance”. He gives Dr Ashenden a more nuanced account of the British Empire and its expansion and of the conduct of several of the important figures involved in its creation.

Rod Dreher’s close friendship with U.S. Vice President JD Vance is the subject of this 96th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. He and Dr Gavin Ashenden discuss Mr Vance’s shocking accusation in a landmark speech at the Munich that the greatest threat to European security is not posed by Russia or China but by the European elites, and the extent to which Europe is “changing sides” with its ideological opponents of the Cold War. An American author who now lives in Budapest, Hungary, Mr Dreher is perhaps best known for The Benedict Option, his 2017 book about how Christians might prepare themselves for a new dark age. It was one of three New York Times best-sellers, with Live Not By Lies and The Little Way of Ruthie Leming. His latest book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age, was published last year. Our sponsor: thomasmorecollege.edu

The rapid promotion by Pope Francis of Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new Archbishop of Washington DC has astonished many within the Catholic Church. Mark Lambert, the author of a popular blog called De Omnibus Dubitandum Est and a regular on the Catholic Unscripted YouTube channel, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 95th episode of Merely Catholic to analyse what might lie behind the motivations of the Holy See in choosing Cardinal McElroy to lead such an important see, placing the appointment in the context of the crises currently afflicting the Catholic Church and western civilisation more generally.

Dr Calum Miller, a medical doctor working within the NHS, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 93rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Dr Miller graduated from the University of Oxford Medical School in 2015. As a researcher at the University of Oxford, he has published more than 30 academic papers in medicine, law, philosophy and ethics – examining such complex subjects as examined include foetal sentience, and abortion and mental health - and has won prizes for his work in bioethics from the University of Oxford and the Royal Psychiatry of Medicine In this podcast, Dr Miller describes his journey of discovery and discusses how his concern for the vulnerable and belief in true equality led him to a robust, enduring and defensible pro-life position in the face of moves to further liberalise abortion and legalise euthanasia.

Following the enforced resignation of Justice Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury, numerous assessments have been made about his role in the post. Today, Gavin Ashenden is joined by an authoritative Anglican commentator from America, Canon George Conger. George is both an Episcopalian clergyman and a journalist. He is the author some 6,000 articles . His work has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and the Washington Post. He was senior corespondent for the Church of England Newspaper for twenty years and a correspondent for the Jerusalem Post for nearly as long. He runs one of the most famous websites in the Anglican world,Anglican Ink, and has known personally most of the English Archbishops as well a the Primates of the Anglican Communion. Famous for his shrewd and perceptive assessments, he joins Merely Catholic today to make an assessment of Welby’s tenure. Trigger warning; Not for the delicate.

This week, Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Karen Anstiss, the service manager for Caritas Bakhita House, a safe house in London for trafficked and exploited women which is run by the Catholic Church. A former police officer, Miss Anstiss charts the origins of the project 10 years ago as part of a broader response to the “endemic and deeply embedded” global problem of an estimated 50 million people trapped in modern-day slavery, a scourge described by Pope Francis as a “wound in the body of humanity and therefore in the body of Christ himself” She goes on to describe the pioneering work of Bakhita House, which since 2015 has given sanctuary to 188 women, aged between 15 and 70, who are drawn from 49 countries and who are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual exploitation or serious sexual assault.

 The Catholic novelist Fiorella De Maria discusses Catholic literature for Christmas with Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 91st episode of Merely Catholic. Fiorella tells how she wrote her first book in the summer after graduating from university before she went on to publish about a dozen books with San Francisco-based Ignatius Press and to win the Book Prize of Malta. Her works include acclaimed murder mysteries, biographies of saintly and heroic figures and even a recent foray into horror with This Thing of Darkness, a story she co-authored with KV Turley. She and Dr Ashenden discuss her inspirations, her observations about what makes a Catholic novelist, the threat of cancel culture. Finally she offers a few suggestions for good stocking fillers this Christmas. Check out our sponsor: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/c...

Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative Party minister, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 90th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury and the future of the Church of England. Miss Widdecombe, who, like Dr Ashenden was a member of the Church of England before converting to the Catholic faith, charts the leadership difficulties and challenges which have split Anglicans in the last 30 years and discuss the prospects of reconciliation. She and Dr Ashenden consider the strong possibility that the next leader of the Church of England and the Worldwide Anglican Communion will, for the first time in history, be a woman.