The Very Rev’d Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and Dean Peter Catt join Dom Fay for a discussion exploring what shape the Church might have in future as we come to terms with the role of complexity and the idea of incorporation.

The Very Rev&rsquo;d Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and Dean Peter Catt join Dom Fay for a discussion exploring what shape the Church might have in future as we come to terms with the role of complexity and the idea of incorporation.

A podcast exploring the deeper mysteries of faith, meaning, and beauty.  Based at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane, the podcast invites others into conversation who are also "on the way"; seeking a transformative spirituality and inclusive faith that speaks to real issues of today. Together we seek to make meaning and articulate a Christianity that expresses the liberating and life-giving message of the Gospel in our time.

On the Way Podcast

On the Way is a podcast exploring the deeper mysteries of faith, meaning, and beauty.

St John's Cathedral

Episode 7: Future of the Church

How do we have hope in amongst worsening reports of global warming, species loss and natural disasters? O’neil Van Horn, describing himself as a hopeful nihilist, argues that while there may be little reason for feeling hopeful, the real challenge of hope is to create it through the actions of our lives. He says, “Hope is not something we have so much as something we make.” His book, Making Hope: Practices, Prayers and Parables for a Changing Climate, explores how slow, still, and often quiet practices can cultivate hope for ourselves, each other, and our planetary home. In this conversation, Dom and Sue talk with O’neil about how we can make and enact hope but also explore the nature of a God who is not a big other with the future defined and a rule book to follow, but the relational ground of being drawing us into living hope together in relationships of love and justice.

O’neil is a teacher, author and creative based in Xavier University in Ohio, US. He holds a phd in philosophical and theological studies in religion.

How do we have hope in amongst worsening reports of global warming, species loss and natural disasters? O&rsquo;neil Van Horn, describing himself as a hopeful nihilist, argues that while there may be little reason for feeling hopeful, the real challenge of hope is to create it through the actions of our lives. He says, &ldquo;Hope is not something we have so much as something we make.&rdquo; His book, Making Hope: Practices, Prayers and Parables for a Changing Climate, explores how slow, still, and often quiet practices can cultivate hope for ourselves, each other, and our planetary home.&nbsp;In this conversation, Dom and Sue talk with O&rsquo;neil about how we can make and enact hope but also explore the nature of a God who is not a big other with the future defined and a rule book to follow, but the relational ground of being drawing us into living hope together in relationships of love and justice.
O&rsquo;neil is a teacher, author and creative based in Xavier University in Ohio, US. He holds a phd in philosophical and theological studies in religion.

O'neil Van Horn: Making Hope

What does it mean to be human?

Pope Leo XIV addresses this question in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, a letter addressed not only to all the Catholic faithful but to "all men and women of goodwill". In addressing the challenges, threats and possibilities of AI, how do we ensure we do not lose what matters most about human life?Human limitations, suggests the letter, are not weaknesses to be corrected but inherent to creative communion and human flourishing. How do we, in a fast moving technological landscape, design how AI could serve human dignity rather than work against it? And how do we protect truth, freedom, work, social justice and human rights?

Father Frank Brennan SJ AO, Jesuit Priest and human rights lawyer joins the podcast to discuss AI, Magnifica Humanitas and the wisdom and clarity it offers humanity and the Church in our time. 

What does it mean to be human?
Pope Leo XIV addresses this question in his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, a letter addressed not only to all the Catholic faithful but to "all men and women of goodwill". In addressing the challenges, threats and possibilities of AI, how do we ensure we do not lose what matters most about human life?Human limitations, suggests the letter, are not weaknesses to be corrected but inherent to creative communion and human flourishing. How do we, in a fast moving technological landscape, design how AI could serve human dignity rather than work against it? And how do we protect truth, freedom, work, social justice and human rights?
Father Frank Brennan SJ AO, Jesuit Priest and human rights lawyer joins the podcast to discuss AI, Magnifica Humanitas&nbsp;and the wisdom and clarity it offers humanity and the Church in our time.&nbsp;

Frank Brennan: Magnifica Humanitas

There has been interest and renewal of contemplative practice amongst the Christian church in recent decades. Rather than just a comfortable solace in a busy world, there is an urgency in such practices that seek transformed and transforming ways to be and to live in a time of such complexity and rapid change. What habits and practices might enable us to relate truthfully to ourselves and to the world, attending deeply to that which is most real? Contemplative church, centred on silence and listening, places the greater emphasis not on knowing about God but being known by God, on letting go rather than possessing.

The Rev’d Dr Sarah Bachelard rejoins the podcast to explore how contemplation can suffuse all of our life and worship. She is the founding Director of Benedictus Contemplative Church, a theologian and teacher with the World Community for Christian Meditation and author of several books, including her latest book, Pools of Grace: The Gift and Call of Contemplative Church.

There has been interest and renewal of contemplative practice amongst the Christian church in recent decades. Rather than just a comfortable solace in a busy world, there is an urgency in such practices that seek transformed and transforming ways to be and to live in a time of such complexity and rapid change. What habits and practices might enable us to relate truthfully to ourselves and to the world, attending deeply to that which is most real? Contemplative church, centred on silence and listening, places the greater emphasis not on knowing about God but being known by God, on letting go rather than possessing.
The Rev&rsquo;d Dr Sarah Bachelard rejoins the podcast to explore how contemplation can suffuse all of our life and worship. She is the founding Director of Benedictus Contemplative Church, a theologian and teacher with the World Community for Christian Meditation and author of several books, including her latest book, Pools of Grace: The Gift and Call of Contemplative Church.

Episode 7: Future of the Church

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