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The unsettling road to Emmaus

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There is something quietly unsettling about the Road to Emmaus. Not because it is obscure or difficult, but because it is so familiar that we risk missing what is actually happening. Two disciples walk with Christ. They speak with Him. They listen as He opens the Scriptures to them. And yet, we are told, “their eyes were kept from recognising Him.” That line should give us pause. Because the question it raises is not simply historical — it is immediate. If they could walk with Christ and not recognise Him, what does that say about us? We tend to read Emmaus as a story about consolation, about Christ gently restoring faith after disappointment. And it is that. But it is also something far more precise, far more structured. It is, in a sense, a pattern. A revelation not only of who Christ is, but how He chooses to be known. First, through the Scriptures opened and explained. Then, in the breaking of the bread. And only then — in that moment — are their eyes opened. This is not...
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Bishop Barron & the Wasps Nest

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"Christian hope is ... trust in the justice and mercy of God as they have been revealed in Christ. It holds together the Cross and the judgement, the invitation and the warning. If we lose that tension, we do not become more merciful. We become less serious. And a Church that is no longer serious about salvation will not long remain serious about mission."  It's been a tough week for Bishop Robert Barron, but I am left wondering, why did he go there after he got stung so badly the last time? Read the full article here .
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You’ve Misunderstood Tolkien

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There is something quietly revealing in the way people now talk about The Lord of the Rings. It is treated as a great story, certainly, and often as an imaginative escape, occasionally even as a nostalgic artefact from a more innocent age. What it is not usually treated as is what it actually is: a work of profound moral and theological seriousness, shaped by a vision of reality that modern culture no longer easily recognises. That loss of recognition is not accidental. It is symptomatic. In this recent conversation on Catholic Unscripted, we explored not simply Tolkien himself, but the conditions under which Tolkien can still be understood. The conclusion we arrived at is as unsettling as it is illuminating. The reason so many modern readers and viewers misunderstand Tolkien is not because his work is obscure, but because we have lost the framework that makes it intelligible. Tolkien’s world is not morally ambiguous in the way modern storytelling has trained us to expect. Good and evi...
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A Christian Voice from the Middle East Speaks on Iran

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  In this new episode of Catholic Unscripted we speak with Fr Christopher Basden, a priest whose life spans some of the most dramatic changes in the modern Middle East. Born in Cairo, educated in Beirut and raised in Iran, Fr Basden experienced first-hand a region that once had thriving Christian communities across Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Holy Land. Today many of those ancient communities are disappearing. In this powerful conversation Fr Basden reflects on: • What life was like in the Middle East before the great upheavals • Why Christianity is rapidly declining in the region  • The political and religious forces shaping today's conflicts  • Why turning modern wars into “holy wars” is so dangerous Whatever your perspective on Middle Eastern politics, this interview offers a rare and deeply personal view of the region from someone who has lived its history. Watch the full interview HERE
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The Intellectual & Spiritual Roots of Modern Feminism

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In this episode of Catholic Unscripted, Katherine Bennett and Mark Lambert are joined by author and scholar Dr. Carrie Gress to discuss the intellectual and spiritual roots of modern feminism and the contemporary crisis surrounding womanhood.  For more information about Dr Carrie Gress and to read her work, follow the links below: A recent article on how critics of Dr Carrie Gress' work completely miss the point on Mary Wollstonecraft https://thefederalist.com/2026/03/04/critics-of-my-anti-feminism-book-completely-miss-the-plot-on-mary-wollstonecraft/ The End of Woman Something Wicked    The Theology of Home Substack    Drawing first on her influential book The End of Woman , Dr. Gress traces the ideological development of feminism from the Enlightenment through the Romantics, the French Revolution, sexual revolution and into today’s gender ideology.  The conversation explores how ideas about autonomy, power, and sexuality gradually detached from Christia...
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A civilisation-defining decision. This is how moral collapse happens

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  From the earliest days of Christianity teaching was unmistakably clear. We have the Fifth Commandment and later the most primitive Christian teaching, The Didache states: “You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born.” This is not a later doctrinal development but part of the Church’s foundational moral witness. Which makes our present moment all the more revealing: we now have leaders of Christian Churches who do not oppose abortion in principle, but merely argue that certain forms of it “go too far.” That may pretend to be nuance but it is not. It is clearly a huge rupture. You cannot claim the moral authority of the Church while abandoning the principles that gave that authority meaning. And this failure is not abstract. Law teaches. When legislation expands abortion, it teaches that some lives are negotiable; when Church leaders fail to oppose it clearly, they reinforce that lesson. What we are witnessing is the pedagogy of the law in action, a feedbac...
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The Importance of the Prolife Witness

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Katherine and I travelled to Brixton to join the 40 days for Life Vigil. We spoke to some of those taking part about why it is an important witness. Please do like and share!
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