Podcasts about Thomas More

We take a pause in our narrative to go back a few years to look at the childhoods, and backgrounds of two men from London- both called Thomas, both growing up in and around London (even if their experiences were very different) and both would go onto have huge impacts into the story of the city and the politics of Henry VIII.This then is the story of Thomas More, and Thomas Cromwell, whose stories were to illuminate life in the city; its passions, its shadows, the smallness of it all, and also how experiencing it could shape a young mans life. This then is the tale of the two Toms…Cover shows ‘A laughing boy', by Guido Mazzoni, c.1498.

The Tudor court was one of the most glamorous, exciting, and genuinely terrifying places in the world. And the people who lost their heads there were not stupid. Thomas More was a legal genius. Cromwell basically invented modern bureaucracy. Wolsey ran England for fifteen years. So what went wrong? Today we're building the actual survival guide. The real unwritten rules that separated the people who died in their beds from the people who died on Tower Hill. Spoiler: it is more complicated than "don't annoy the king." Topics covered: why being the most powerful person in the room will get you killed, how information could be currency or a death sentence, why your religion was a political decision you had to remake every few years, and why loyalty was sometimes the most dangerous thing you could offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode, I take a historical digression to look at the four major Thomases of the English Reformation - Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store: QUEST25 The coupon code is valid through March 9 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 292 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 27th, 2026. Today we are taking a digression into history by looking at the four Thomases of the English Reformation (with one bonus Thomas). We'll also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing and publishing projects. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is QUEST25 and as always, the links to the store and the coupon code will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code is valid through March 9th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. I am very nearly done with Cloak of Summoning. As of this recording, I am 35% of the way through the final editing pass. This episode should be coming out on, let's see, March the 2nd. I'm hoping Cloak of Summoning will be available a few days (hopefully like one or two days) after this episode goes live, but we'll see how things go. In any event, it should be out in very early March, which is not far away at this point. I'm also 14,000 words into Blade of Wraiths, the fourth book in my Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. Hopefully that will be out in April, if all goes well. That's my secondary project right now, but once it gets promoted to primary project once Cloak of Summoning is available, my new secondary project will be Dragon Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series. I'm looking forward to that since it is going to bring to an end a lot of ongoing plot threads. So it should be quite a fun book to write and hopefully to read. That should hopefully be out in May or possibly June, depending on how things go. In audiobook news, Cloak of Titans, the audiobook narrated by Hollis McCarthy, should be available in more audiobook stores than it was this time last week, though it's still not on Amazon, Audible, or Apple. Brad Wills is working on recording Blade of Storms and I think the first six chapters are done. Hopefully we should have those audiobooks available to you before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. 00:02:18 Main Topic: The Four Thomases of the English Reformation Now without further ado, let's get to our main topic and it's time for another of my favorite topics overall, a digression into obscure points of history. I've mentioned before that Wolf Hall (both the TV show and the book) is a lot easier to understand if you are at least passingly familiar with the key figures of the English Reformation, which happened during the reign of King Henry VIII. But who were these key figures? I had a history professor who said that to understand the English Reformation, you need to know about the four Thomases of the English Reformation: Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer, since each one of them altered events in a major way. Fun fact: only one of the four died from natural causes and right before he was about to go on trial for treason, which would have likely ended with his execution. The English Reformation was a tumultuous time and the Tudor court was not a place for the faint of heart or the morally scrupulous. So let's talk about the four Thomases and one bonus Thomas today. But first to understand them, we should look at three background trends that converged and boiled over during their lifetimes. #1: Henry VIII needs an heir. King Henry VIII was quite famously married six times and executed two of his wives in his quest for a male heir. To the modern era, this sounds odd and chauvinistic, but one of the errors of studying history is assuming that the residents of the past had any interest in 21st century standards of behavior. By the standards of Henry's time, having a male heir to assume the kingdom after his death was absolutely vital. In fact, an argument could be made that Henry was attempting to act responsibly by going to such lengths to father a male heir, though naturally he went about it in a spectacularly destructive and self-absorbed way. Remember, Henry's father, Henry VII, came to the throne after a 30-year civil war, and there were noble families that thought they had a better claim to the throne than Tudors and would be happy to exercise it. A good comparison is that the lack of a male heir for Henry VIII was as serious a crisis as a disputed presidential election in 21st century America would be. You can see evidence for this in Henry's famous jousting accident in 1536. For a few hours, people were certain that he was dead or was about to die, and this incident caused a brief constitutional crisis. If Henry died, who would rule? His daughter, Mary, who he had just declared a bastard? His young daughter Elizabeth from Anne Boleyn? His bastard son, Henry FitzRoy? A regent? One of the old families who thought they had a claim to the throne? Now, these are the sort of questions that tend to get decided by civil wars, which nobody wanted. So Henry needed a male heir and it weighed on him as a personal failure that he had been unable to produce one, which was undoubtedly one of the reasons he concluded that several of his marriages had been cursed by God and needed to be annulled. Though, of course, one of Henry's defining traits was that his self-absorption was such that nothing was ever his fault, but a failing of those around him. #2: The Reformation is here. At the same time Henry was beginning to have his difficulties, the Protestant Reformation exploded across Europe. The reasons for the Reformation were manifold. There was a growing feeling across all levels of society that the church was corrupt and more concerned about money than tending to Christ's flock, a feeling not helped by the fact that several of the 15th and 16th century popes were essentially Renaissance princelings more interested in luxury, money, and expanding the power of the papal states than in anything spiritual. Many bishops, archbishops, abbots, and other high prelates acted the same way. The situation the early 16th century church found itself in was similar to American higher education today. Many modern professors and administrators go about their jobs quietly, competently, and diligently, but if you want to find examples of corruption, folly, and egregious waste in American higher education, you don't have to try very hard. Reformers could easily find manifold examples of clerical and papal corruption to reinforce their arguments. Additionally, nationalism was beginning to develop as a concept, as was the idea of the nation state. People in England, Scotland, Germany, and other countries began to wonder why they were paying tithes to the church that went to build beautiful buildings in Rome and support the lavish lifestyle of the papal court when that money might be better spent at home. For that matter, the anti-clericalism of the Reformation was not new and had time to mature. At the end of the 14th century, Lollardy was a proto-Protestant movement in England that challenged clerical power. In the early 15th century, the Hussite wars in Bohemia following the teachings of Jan Hus were a preview of the greater Reformation to come. Papal authority had been severely damaged by the Great Schism at the end of the 14th and the start of the 15th century when two competing popes (later expanded to three) all tried to excommunicate each other and claim control of the church. In the aftermath, Renaissance Humanists had begun suggesting that only the Bible was the proper source and guide for Christianity, and that papal authority and many of the church's practices were merely human traditions that had been added later and were not ordained by God. A lot of the arguments of the Reformation had their earliest form from the writers of the 15th century. Essentially, the central argument of the Reformation was that the believer's personal relationship with God is the important part of Christianity and doesn't need to be mediated through ordained priests in the official sacraments of the church, though such things were still important. Of course, all the various reformers disagreed with each other about just how important and what the nature of that relationship was, how many sacraments there should be, and what the precise relationship between the individual, the church, and the state should be (and that argument got entangled with many other issues like nationalism), but that was a central crux of the Reformation. So all these competing pressures have been building up, and when Martin Luther posted his statements for debate on church reform in October of 1517, it was the equivalent of lighting a match in a barn that had been stuffed full of sawdust and was suffering from a natural gas leak. #3: The printing press. So why did Luther's action kick off the Reformation as we know it and not the other proto-Protestant movements we mentioned? I think the big part of that is the printing pass, perhaps the biggest part. The printing press did not exist during the early proto-Protestant movements, which meant it was a lot harder for the ideas of reform to spread quickly. The Lollards in particular wanted to translate the Bible into English instead of Latin, but the Bible is a big book and that is a lot of copying to do by hand. In 1539, after a lot of encouragement from Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII decreed that an English Bible should be placed at every church in England. In 1339, that would have been an impossible amount of copying by scribes. In 1539, thanks to the printing press, it was essentially on the scale of the government embarking on a mid-sized industrial project, perhaps a bit of a logistical and organizational challenge and you have to deal with contractors, but by no means impossible. The printing press made it possible for the various arguments and pamphlets of the Reformers to spread quickly throughout Europe. Luther published tracts on a variety of religious and political topics for the rest of his life, and those tracks were copied, printed, and sold throughout Europe. In fact, he had something of a flame war with Thomas More over Henry VIII's "Defense of the Seven Sacraments". Kings and governments frequently tried to suppress printers they didn't like, but the cat was out of the bag and the printing press helped drive the Reformation by spreading its ideas faster than had previously been possible. AI bros occasionally compare modern large language model AIs to the printing press as an irreversible technological advancement, but one should note that the printing press of the 16th century did not require an entire US state's worth of electricity and an unlimited supply of water. So those were some of the undercurrents and trends leading up to the English Reformation. With that in mind, let's take a look at our four Thomases. #1: Thomas Wolsey. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was Henry's right hand man during the first 20 years of his reign and essentially the practical ruler of England during that time. He started his career in Henry's reign as the almoner, essentially in charge of charity, and it ended up becoming the Lord Chancellor of England. Since Henry was not super interested in actually doing the hard work of government, Wolsey ended up essentially running the country while Henry turned his full enthusiasm towards the more ceremonial aspects of kingship. Wolsey was an example of the kind of early 16th Century church prelate we mentioned above, more of a Renaissance princeling than a priest. However, as Renaissance princelings went, you could do worse than to have been ruled by someone like Wolsey. And if you were a king, you would be blessed to have a lieutenant as diligent in his work as the Cardinal. Granted, Wolsey did amass a large fortune for himself, but he frequently patronized the arts, education and the poor, pursued some governmental reforms, and deftly maintained England's position in the turbulent diplomacy of the time. He was also much more forgiving in questions of religious dissent than someone like Thomas More. Wolsey was the most powerful man in England at his apex, and the nobility hated it for him because his origins were common. So long as he had Henry's favor, Wolsey was untouchable and the nobility couldn't move against him. But the royal favor came to an end as Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was unable to produce a son. Since Catherine had previously (and briefly) been married to his older brother Arthur before Arthur's death, Henry became convinced (or succeeded in convincing himself) that his marriage was cursed by God for violating the prohibition against sleeping with your brother's wife in the book of Leviticus. His eye had already fallen on Anne Boleyn and Henry wanted an annulment and not a divorce in his marriage with Catherine. In the eyes of God, he would never have been married at all, and then he could marry Anne Boleyn with a clear conscience. Here, Wolsey's gift for diplomacy failed him, but perhaps it was an impossible task. Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of Emperor Charles V, who at the time was the most powerful man in Christendom. All of Wolseley's efforts to persuade the pope to annul the marriage failed, partly because the pope had already given Henry VIII dispensation to marry his brother's widow. Wolsey's failure eroded his support with the king. Anne Boleyn likewise hated Wolsey partly because she believed he was hindering the annulment, and partly because he had blocked her from marrying the Earl of Northumberland years before she had her eyes set upon Henry. Finally, Henry stripped Wolsey of his office of Lord Chancellor, and Wolsey retired to York to take up his role as archbishop there. Wolsey's popularity threatened Henry and Anne, so Henry summoned him back to London to face treason charges. Perhaps fortunately for Wolsey, he died of natural causes on the journey back to London. His replacement as Lord Chancellor was Thomas More, the next of our major for Thomases. #2: Thomas More. More was an interesting contrast-a Renaissance Humanist who remained a staunch Catholic, even though Renaissance Humanists in general tended towards proto-Protestantism or actual Protestantism. He was also in some ways oddly progressive for his time. He insisted on educating his daughters at a time was considered pointless to educate women about anything other than the practical business of household management. Anyway, More's training as a lawyer and a scholar led him to a career in government. He held a variety of posts under Henry VIII, finally rising to become the Lord Chancellor after Wolsey. In the first decades of his brain, Henry was staunchly Catholic and despised Protestantism, in particular, Lutheranism in general and Martin Luther in particular. In 1521, Henry published "Defense of the Seven Sacraments" against Luther, and More helped him write it to an unknown degree. In their dislike for all forms of Protestantism, More and Henry were in harmony at this point. More was involved in hunting down heretics (i.e. Protestants) and trying to convince them to recant. During his time as the Lord Chancellor, More ended up sending six people to be burned at the stake for heresy, along with the arrest and interrogations of numerous others. This rather clashes with his "humanist man of letters" aspect, but More was undoubtedly convinced he was doing the right thing. And while he might have believed in education, he most definitely did not believe in freedom of conscience in several areas. To be fair to More, in the view of many at the time, Protestants, especially Anabaptists, were dangerous radicals. Likely More viewed hunting heretics in the same way as some modern politicians view hunting down covert terrorist cells or surveilling potential domestic terrorists. Harsh measures true, but harsh measures allegedly necessary for the greater good of the nation. However, the concord between More and Henry would not last. Henry wanted to set aside Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, which More staunchly opposed. More especially opposed Henry breaking away from Rome and becoming head of an independent English Church. At first, More was able to save himself by maintaining his silence, but eventually Henry required all of his subjects take an oath affirming his status as head of the church. Thomas Cromwell famously led a deputation to try and change More's mind, but he failed. More refused, he was tried on specious treason charges, and beheaded in 1535. Later, the Catholic church declared him the patron saint of politicians. This might seem odd given that he oversaw executions and essentially did thought police stuff against Protestants, but let's be honest-it's rare to see a politician even mildly inconvenience himself over a point of principle, let alone maintain it until death when he was given every possible chance to change his mind. Probably the most famous fictional portrayals of More are A Man For All Seasons and Wolf Hall. I would say that A Man For All Seasons was far too generous to More, but Wolf Hall was too harsh. #3: Now for the third of our four Thomases, Thomas Cromwell. After Wolsey's fall and More's refusal to support Henry's desire to either annul his marriage to Catherine or to make himself head with the church so he couldn't annul the marriage, Thomas Cromwell rose become Henry's new chief lieutenant. Cromwell is both a fascinating but divisive figure. For a long time, he was cast as the villain in Thomas More's saga, but Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall really triggered a popular reevaluation of him. Like A Man For All Seasons was too generous to More, I would say Wolf Hall was too generous to Cromwell. Nonetheless, I suspect Cromwell was and remained so divisive because he was so effective. He got things done on a scale that the other three Thomases of the English Reformation never quite managed. Cromwell's origins are a bit obscure. It seems he was either of non-noble birth or very low gentry birth and his father Walter Cromwell was a local prosperous tradesman in a jack of all trades with a reputation for litigiousness. For reasons that are unclear, Cromwell fled his birthplace and spent some time in continental Europe, possibly as a mercenary soldier. He eventually made his way to Italy and started working for the merchant families there, gaining knowledge of trade in the law, and then traveled to the Low Countries. When he returned to England, he became Cardinal Wolsey's right hand man. After Wolsey's fall, Cromwell went into Parliament and defended his master whenever possible. This loyalty combined with his significant talent for law and administration caught the eye of Henry and he swiftly became Henry's right-hand man. Amusingly, Cromwell never became Lord Chancellor like More or Wolsey, but instead accumulated many lesser offices that essentially allowed him to carry out Henry's directives as he saw a fit. Unlike More and Wolsey, Cromwell had strong Protestant leanings and he encouraged the king to break away from the Catholic Church and take control of the English Church as its supreme head. Henry did so. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was nulled. The rest of Europe never accepted this until Catherine died of illness and it became a moot point. In 1533, he married Anne Boleyn. Like Cromwell, Anne had a strong Protestant bent and began encouraging reformers to take various offices and began pushing Henley to make more reforms than he was really comfortable doing. For example, Cromwell was one of the chief drivers behind the English Bible of 1539. This, combined with Anne's inability to give Henry a son, contributed to Anne's downfall. Unlike Catherine, she was willing to argue with Henry to his face and was unwilling to look the other way when he wanted a mistress, and this eventually got on Henry's nerves. Events are a bit murky, but it seems that Henry ordered Cromwell to find a way he could set aside Anne and Cromwell complied. Various men, including her own brother, were coerced and confessing to adultery with Anne on charges that were most likely fabricated and Anne's "lovers" and Anne herself were executed for treason in 1536. Cromwell had successfully used a technique that many modern secret police organizations and dictatorships employ- if you want to get rid of someone for whatever reason, accuse them of a serious crime, coerce them to a confession, and then have them executed. Joseph Stalin did basically the same thing when he purged the Old Bolsheviks after Lenin's death. Henry married Jane Seymour shortly after Anne's execution, and she finally gave Henry his long-waited son, though she died soon afterwards of postpartum complications. Cromwell also oversaw the dissolution of the English monasteries in the 1530s. Monasticism had become quite unpopular even before the Reformation, especially among humanist writers. The concentration of property in the hands of monasteries made for a ripe target. Using Parliament and with Henry's approval, the monasteries of England were dissolved, the monks and nuns pensioned off, and the various rich properties held by the monasteries were given to the king and his friends. Cromwell himself profited handsomely. This was essentially legalized theft, but there was nothing the monasteries could do about it. Cromwell pushed for more religious reforms, but that combined with the dissolution of the monasteries caused "The Pilgrimage of Grace" in 1537, a rebellion that Henry was able to put down through a combination of lies, stalling, outright bribery, and brutal repression under the Duke of Norfolk (more about him later). Cromwell was at the zenith of his power and influence, but his reformist bent and made him a lot of enemies. For that matter, Henry was increasingly uncomfortable with further religious changes. He wanted to be head of his own church, but essentially his own Catholic Church, not his own Reformed or Lutheran one. Cromwell's alignment with the reform cause gave his more traditionalist enemies a tool to use against him. Cromwell's foes had their chance in 1540 when Henry married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Cromwell had heavily pushed for the match, hoping to make an alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor. For whatever reason, Henry took an immediate dislike to Anne and never consummated the marriage, which was swiftly annulled and Anne pensioned off. Henry blamed Cromwell for the failed marriage and Cromwell's enemies, particularly Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner of Winchester, were able to convince Henry to move against him. Cromwell was arrested, stripped of all the titles and property he had amassed, and executed in July of 1540. The sort of legal railroading process he had born against Anne Boleyn's alleged lovers and numerous other enemies of Henry's was used against him. This was one of the very few executions Henry ever regretted. Within a year, the French ambassador reported that Henry was raging that his counselors had misled him into putting to death the most faithful servant he had ever had. Once again, nothing was ever Henry's fault in his own mind. The fact that Henry allowed Cromwell's son Gregory to become a baron and inherit some of his father's land shows that he likely changed his mind about the execution. For once in his life, Henry was dead on accurate when he called Cromwell his "most faithful servant". He never again found a lieutenant with Cromwell's loyalty and skill. The remaining seven years of Henry's reign blundered from setback to setback and all the money Henry obtained from the dissolution of the monasteries was squandered in indecisive wars with France and Scotland. I think it's fair to say that the English Reformation would not have taken the course it did, if not for Cromwell. As ruthless and as unscrupulous as he could be, he nonetheless did seem to really believe in the principles of religious reform and push such policies whenever he could do so without drawing Henry's ire. #4: Now the fourth of our four major Thomases, Thomas Cranmer. If Thomas Cromwell did a lot of the political work of the English Reformation, then Thomas Cranmer wrote a lot of its theory. Cranmer was a scholar and something of a gentle-minded man, but not a very skillful politician. He seemed happy to leave the politicking to Cromwell. I think Cranmer would have been a lot happier as a Lutheran pastor in say, 1950s rural Nebraska. He could have married a farmer's daughter, had a bunch of kids, and presided at weddings, funerals, and baptisms where he could talk earnestly about Jesus and Christian virtues, and he probably would have written a few books on obscure theological points. But instead, Cranmer was destined to play a significant part in the English Reformation. He started as a priest and a scholar who got in trouble for marrying, but when his wife died in childbirth, he went back to the priesthood. Later, he became part of the team of scholars and priests working to get Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. While he was at university and later in the priesthood, he became fascinated by Lutheran ideas and became a proponent of reform. As with Cromwell, Henry's desire to marry Anne Boleyn gave Cranmer his great opportunity. Anne's family were also in favor of reform, and they arranged for Cranmer to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury. The new archbishop and the like- minded clerics and scholars laid the legal and theological groundwork for Henry to break with Rome and become head of the English church with Cranmer and the rest of the reform faction wanted to be used to push for additional church reforms. He survived the tumults of Henry's reign by total loyalty to the king – he mourned Anne Boleyn, but didn't oppose her execution (though he was one of the few who mourned for her publicly), did much the same when Cromwell was executed, and personally sent news of Catherine Howard's adultery to the king. Because of that, Cranmer had a great chance to pursue the cause of reform when Henry died and his 12-year-old son Edward VI became King. Edward's uncle Edward Seymour acted as the head of the King's regency council, and Seymour and his allies were in favor of reform. Cranmer was at last able to steer the English church in the direction of serious reform, and he was directly responsible for writing the Book of Common Prayer and several other key documents of the early Anglican church. But Cranmer's of luck ran out in 1553 when Edward VI died. Cranmer was part of the group that tried to put the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but Henry's daughter Mary instead took the crown. Mary had never really wavered from her Catholicism despite immense pressure to do so, and she had last had a chance to do something about it. She immediately brought England back to Rome and started prosecuting prominent reform leaders, Cranmer among them. Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy and sentenced to be burned, but that was to be commuted if he recanted his views in public during a sermon, which he did. However, at the last minute, he thunderously denounced his previous recantation, asserted his reformist faith, and vowed that he would thrust the hand that signed the recantation into the flames first. Cranmer was immediately taken to be burned at the stake, and just as he promised, he thrust his hand into the flames, and his last word is that he saw heaven opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Cranmer had spent much of his life trying to appease Henry while pushing as much reform as possible, but in his final moments, he had finally found his defiance. When Mary died and Elizabeth took the throne, she returned England to Protestantism. Elizabeth was much more pragmatic than her half siblings and her father ever were, so she chose the most expedient choice of simply rolling the English church back to as it was during Edward VI's time. Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and religious articles, lightly edited for Elizabeth's sensibilities, became the foundational documents of the Anglican church. So these four Thomases, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer were central to the events of the English Reformation. However, we have one bonus Thomas yet. Bonus Thomas: Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a powerful nobleman during the reign of Henry, and the Duke of Norfolk was frequently Henry's lieutenant in waging various wars and putting down rebellions. He was also the uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry's second and fifth queens. He was also involved in nearly every major event of Henry's reign. So with all that, why isn't Norfolk as remembered as well as the other four Thomases of the English Reformation? Sometimes a man would be considered virtuous by the standards of the medieval or early modern age, yet reprehensible in ours. For example, for much of the Middle Ages, crusading was considered an inherently virtuous act for a knight, whereas in the modern age, it would be condemned as war mongering with a religious veneer. However, by both modern standards and Tudor standards, Thomas Howard was a fairly odious character. For all their flaws and the morally questionable things they did, Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer were all men of conviction in their own ways. More and Cranmer explicitly died with their faith. Cromwell's devotion to the Protestant cause got him killed since he insisted on the Anne of Cleves match. Even Wolsey, for all that he enriched himself, was a devoted servant of Henry after his downfall never betrayed the king. By contrast, Norfolk was out for Norfolk. This wasn't unusual for Tudor nobleman, but Norfolk took it to a new level of grasping venality. He made sure that his daughter was married to Henry's bastard son, Henry FitzRoy, just in case FitzRoy ended up becoming king. He used both his nieces, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, to gain power and lands for himself, and then immediately turned against him once he became politically expedient. In fact, he presided over the trial where Anne Boleyn was sentenced to death. After the failure of the Anne of Cleve's marriage, Norfolk made sure to bring his young niece Catherine Howard to court to catch Henry's eye, and to use the Anne of Cleve's annulment as a lever to get rid of Thomas Cromwell. Both stratagems worked, and he attempted to leverage being the new Queen's uncle to bring himself to new power and riches, as he had with Anne Boleyn. Once Henry turned on Catherine Howard, Norfolk characteristically and swiftly threw his niece under the bus. However, as Henry aged, he grew increasingly paranoid and vindictive, and he had Norfolk arrested and sentenced to death on suspicion of treason. Before the execution could be carried out, Henry died, and Norfolk spent the six years of Edward VI's reign as a prisoner in the Tower of London. When Edward died and Mary took the throne, she released Norfolk since she was Catholic and Norfolk had always been a religious traditionalist suspicious of reform. He spent the remaining year of his life as one of Mary's chief advisors before finally dying of old age. As I often say, history can be a rich source of inspiration for fantasy writers, and the English Reformation is full of such inspiration. Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer can all make excellent inspirations for morally ambiguous characters. For that matter, you can see why the reign of Henry VIII has inspired so many movies, TV shows, and historical novels. The real life events are so dramatic as to scarcely require embellishment. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show and thank you for listening as I went on one of my little historical digressions. I hope you found the show enjoyable. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.

Host | Matthew S Williams For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast ______________________Episode Notes Asteroid Mining: The Promise, the Problems, and the Philosophy Asteroid mining is one of those ideas that cycles in and out of public fascination — generating enormous excitement, then fading when people realize it won't happen within the next news cycle. But the concept never truly disappears, and for good reason. Near-Earth asteroids, numbering in the millions, contain staggering quantities of precious metals, rare earth elements, and water ice. Ironically, those same materials — iron, gold, platinum, nickel, and dozens of others — were originally delivered to Earth by asteroids during the Late Heavy Bombardment period some four billion years ago. We're essentially talking about going back to the source. The three main asteroid types — carbonaceous (C-type), silicate (S-type), and metallic (M-type) — each offer distinct resources. Beyond metals, the abundance of water ice in the solar system could relieve pressure on Earth's increasingly stressed freshwater supply and fuel deep-space missions. Philosophically, the implications are profound. Thomas More and Nietzsche both wrestled with why scarcity drives human value systems. Flood the market with space-borne metals and the entire economic architecture built on scarcity begins to crumble. Orwell saw it too — abundance erodes hierarchy. The first trillionaires born from asteroid mining might find their wealth meaningless almost immediately after making it. But the darker scenarios deserve equal attention. Redistributing consumption off-world doesn't eliminate it. Space debris, environmental degradation beyond Earth, and the very real risk of exploitative labor structures in off-world operations — echoes of colonialism and indentured servitude — are not science fiction. They're logical extensions of human patterns. The enthusiasm may ebb and flow, but asteroid mining remains an inevitable chapter in humanity's story. The real question is what kind of story we choose to write around it. ______________________ Resources   ______________________ For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Host | Matthew S Williams For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast ______________________Episode Notes Asteroid Mining: The Promise, the Problems, and the Philosophy Asteroid mining is one of those ideas that cycles in and out of public fascination — generating enormous excitement, then fading when people realize it won't happen within the next news cycle. But the concept never truly disappears, and for good reason. Near-Earth asteroids, numbering in the millions, contain staggering quantities of precious metals, rare earth elements, and water ice. Ironically, those same materials — iron, gold, platinum, nickel, and dozens of others — were originally delivered to Earth by asteroids during the Late Heavy Bombardment period some four billion years ago. We're essentially talking about going back to the source. The three main asteroid types — carbonaceous (C-type), silicate (S-type), and metallic (M-type) — each offer distinct resources. Beyond metals, the abundance of water ice in the solar system could relieve pressure on Earth's increasingly stressed freshwater supply and fuel deep-space missions. Philosophically, the implications are profound. Thomas More and Nietzsche both wrestled with why scarcity drives human value systems. Flood the market with space-borne metals and the entire economic architecture built on scarcity begins to crumble. Orwell saw it too — abundance erodes hierarchy. The first trillionaires born from asteroid mining might find their wealth meaningless almost immediately after making it. But the darker scenarios deserve equal attention. Redistributing consumption off-world doesn't eliminate it. Space debris, environmental degradation beyond Earth, and the very real risk of exploitative labor structures in off-world operations — echoes of colonialism and indentured servitude — are not science fiction. They're logical extensions of human patterns. The enthusiasm may ebb and flow, but asteroid mining remains an inevitable chapter in humanity's story. The real question is what kind of story we choose to write around it. ______________________ Resources   ______________________ For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As complex figures go, you can't get much more complex than Sir Thomas More. Was he a Saint? Was he a Sinner? Was he simply a man of his time? Dr Joanne Paul seeks to answer these questions in her book ‘Thomas More. A Life and Death in Tudor England' which explores More's roles as a statesman, scholar, and martyr, and understand how his beliefs, actions, and the historical context shaped his enduring reputation.(WE WILL BE COVERING JOANNE'S BOOK IN BOOK CLUB ON 24TH MAY - JOIN IN AT PATREON.COM/BRITISHHISTORY)In my interview with Joanne, filmed at the Harvington History Festival 2025, I asked her about Thomas More's multifaceted identity, his role in Henry VIII's court, his religious beliefs and persecution of heretics, and his influence on political and religious history.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Thomas More and his significance01:45 Different ways people encounter Thomas More02:40 Was Thomas More as complex as his legacy suggests?03:46 The importance of understanding his life in context05:46 More's family and personal beliefs07:53 The roots of his religious fervor and fear08:54 His stance on heretics and persecution10:53 His beliefs about society and community12:55 The impact of the Reformation on his views13:46 Where to find more about Joanne Paul and her workBuy the book at Blackwells for Worldwide Delivery - Click Here If you've enjoyed this please follow and rate this podcast.Hi! I'm Philippa, welcome to the British History Channel. Thank you for listening to this episode, I hope you enjoyed it. There are many more here for you to browse through including over 50 fantastic historian interviews with people such as Tracy Borman OBE, Gareth Russell, Helen Carr and many more. Buy books from these incredible historians, shipped worldwide from Blackwells - click here (This is an affiliate link. I get a commission on books sold via this link but they are at no extra cost to you).Join my Patreon - click here and enjoy ad-free extended interviews with bonus content, Historical Book Club, early access to content, exclusive blogs, discounts on British History Events and more for all for £5/month.You can also give me one off support by donating at www.buymeacoffee.com/PhilippaYou can support me for free by commenting and rating this episode. Visit British History Tours for full details of history tours and events.⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️About PhilippaPhilippa is a Historian and the founder of British History Tours and British History Events.Receive weekly history news (including links to new historian interviews) from Philippa by subscribing to my Substack I'd really appreciate your help in making this show the best it can be. I know time is precious but if you do have 10 minutes you can spare to fill out this anonymous listener survey, I'd be really grateful - http://bit.ly/britishhistorypodcast-surveyPhilippa founded award-winning Historic Tour Operator British History Tours in 2014. Find out about these luxury, fully-escorted, immersive historical experiences at BritishHistoryTours.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good morning! On today’s show, Matt Swaim and Anna Mitchell welcome Deacon Nathan Biersdorfer to continue our series on Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. Other guests include Karlo Broussard from Catholic Answers on relics and superstition, and canon lawyer Fr. Philip Michael Tangorra on the latest regarding the intent of the SSPX to consecrate bishops without permission from the Holy See. Plus news, weather, sports, and more… ***** St. Thomas More’s Prayer for Good Humor Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is goodand that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil,but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.”Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy,and to be able to share it with others. Amen. ***** Cincinnati Right to Life is online at cincinnatirighttolife.org. Full list of guestsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does a talented person have a duty to serve others? What do leading citizens really need to live well, freely, impactfully—even greatly? How do we, parents and educators, order the educational goods? "When I think of Thomas More's life, writings, and example, I think: here are the materials we need to answer those questions." So says Dr. Stephen Smith, professor at Hillsdale College and co-director for the Center for Thomas More Studies. St. Thomas More not only provided a robust theory of education and duty in his writings, but also a praxis of that education by his heroic actions at the Tower of London in 1535. Dr. Smith joins us this week to discuss how More's life and education can be a pattern for our one-day leading citizens. Chapters: 2:32 The living image of a great man 8:49 More's philosophy of learning 12:50 Virtue in the first place 16:25 Love of good advice 18:48 Leading citizenship: skill and integrity 24:51 Pride as the enemy 29:32 On modern times: "Do not abandon the ship" 35:14 Mentorship: time and attention 46:39 Hope and humor 54:21 Thomas More as a father Links: The Center for Thomas More Studies, featuring video courses, teaching resources, and the written works of Thomas More The Last Riddle: Advice on Living and Dying Well by Stephen Smith, pre-order for June 2026 The Essential Works of Thomas More edited by Gerard Wegemer and Stephen Smith A Thomas More Sourcebook edited by Gerard Wegemer and Stephen Smith On Duties by Cicero Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard Wegemer "Letter to William Gonell, 1518" by Thomas More Young Thomas More and the Arts of Liberty by Gerard Wegemer "A Dialog of Comfort against Tribulation" by Thomas More "Erasmus on Thomas More" by Erasmus Also on the Forum: Elon Musk and Mother Teresa Schools by Nate Gadiano Teaching the History of our "Strange New World" featuring Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch Learning for All Seasons: What We Owe to Thomas More by Dr. Matthew Mehan The Arts of Liberty – Part I featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026) – sold out Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 22-26, 2026) Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 2026) – link coming soon

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021926.cfmFather Matthew Tomeny, MIC invites us to contemplate today's Gospel in light of the witness of St. Thomas More and St. Anthony the Great.Jesus warns, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:24; NABRE). In the same breath He calls us to “pick up our cross daily and follow Me” (Lk 9:23; NABRE).The drama of Thomas More, who refused King Henry's demand for a divorce and chose fidelity to Christ above crown and comfort, illustrates the cost of true discipleship. When Rich perjured himself for worldly gain, the saint reminded him that “the whole world is fleeting; what truly matters is the kingdom of God.” This echoes the “Catechism”: “The Christian is called to die to self and live for God” (CCC 1033).Saint Anthony the Great taught the same radical love: “Die daily, if you wish to live eternally.” Our lives are like a house on fire — clinging to material treasures ensures our destruction, while abandoning them opens the path to everlasting life. As Moses declared, “I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom” (Dt 30:15; NABRE).Thus, each day presents a choice: hold fast to the fleeting comforts of this world, or lay them down at the foot of the Cross. The cross is not a burden to be avoided; it is the gateway to the resurrection. By surrendering our will to God's will, we align ourselves with the divine plan and secure the promise of eternal life.Let us, like St. Thomas More, abandon pride, ambition, and fear, and like St. Anthony, practice the daily death to self. In doing so, we fulfill Christ's invitation: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15; NABRE). ★ Support this podcast ★

durée : 03:00:11 - Le 6/9 - Nos invités à 7h50 Isabelle Lasserre, correspondante diplomatique au Figaro, autrice de "Les fantômes de Munich, l'Europe au défi du monde contemporain", et à 8h20 François Sureau, haut fonctionnaire, avocat, écrivain, auteur de Loin de Salonique. Les aventures de Thomas More". Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.

Thomas More is best remembered as a martyr and a saint, but the circumstances of his death were just one facet of his controversial life. Historian and biographer Dr Joanne Paul speaks to Kev Lochun about More's many faces: the Lord Chancellor who refused to yield to Henry VIII; the writer who gave us Utopia, and the zealot who believed heretics deserved to be burned. Yet, she argues, he was none of these things of in isolation, but instead a complicated man whose life has lessons for us today. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Thomas More's Utopia is considered one of the most influential pieces of political philosophy today, but how did his contemporaries see it? Joanne Paul considers that thorny question for HistoryExtra: https://bit.ly/49IOYt6. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Into that street, that soundscape, that smellscape, comes Thomas More.

“Loin de Salonique”, aux éditions Gallimard, c'est la suite des aventures du héros Thomas More. Cette fois-ci on le retrouve à Salonique en 1913, un an avant, l'assasinat de l'Archiduc François-Ferdinand et les débuts de la Première Guerre mondiale.Les vendredi et samedi à 20h sur France 5, Mohammed Bouhafsi et toute son équipe accueillent les personnalités qui font l'actualité.

Rachel Bovard joins the show to challenge Josh in the filibuster debate. Meanwhile, the Washington Post announces massive layoffs, cutting a third of its newsroom. And finally, is Kamala Harris back? All this and more on the LOOPcast!00:00 Welcome to the LOOPcast01:20 Has Trump lost the Republican Party?13:12 Filibuster Debate36:34 WAPO Cuts58:12 Good News01:02:39 Twilight Zone01:11:28 Closing PrayerEMAIL US: loopcast@catholicvote.org SUPPORT LOOPCAST: www.loopcast.orgCheck out the LOOPcast on Zeale: https://zeale.co Subscribe to the LOOP today!https://catholicvote.org/getloop  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-loopcast/id1643967065 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08jykZi86H7jKNFLbSesjk?si=ztBTHenFR-6VuegOlklE_w&nd=1&dlsi=bddf79da68c34744 FOLLOW LOOPCast: https://x.com/the_LOOPcast  https://www.instagram.com/the_loopcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the_loopcast https://www.facebook.com/LOOPcastPodcast Tom: https://x.com/TPogasic Erika: https://x.com/ErikaAhern2  Josh: https://x.com/joshuamercer We Pray O Lord, for the United States of America. We pray for our leaders, that they be inspired to lead according to your will. Most especially, we pray that every Catholic in America will be inspired to live out the truths of our faith in public life, and that it will lead to the renewal of our Church and country.St. Thomas More, Pray for us.St. Fidelis, Pray for us.Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.Amen.All opinions expressed on LOOPcast by the participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CatholicVote.

She wasn't a pawn — Lady Jane Dudley was shaped by power, politics and purposeFor centuries she has been remembered as Lady Jane Grey: the tragic, passive “Nine Days' Queen.” - But what if that story is wrong?In this episode of History Rage, host Paul Bavill is joined by historian and author Dr Joanne Paul to rage against one of Tudor history's most persistent myths — the erasure of Lady Jane Dudley and the deliberate sidelining of the Dudley dynasty from her story.This conversation dismantles the idea of Jane as a helpless victim of ruthless men and instead reveals a highly educated, politically aware young woman who understood exactly what the Tudor succession crisis meant — and what it might cost her. Drawing on contemporary evidence, Dr Paul explores Jane's agency, intelligence and religious conviction, and explains why the Dudleys became convenient scapegoats once Mary I reclaimed the throne.As the discussion widens, the episode exposes the brutal realities of Tudor power: shifting loyalties, manufactured villainy, and the dangerous fiction of “legitimate” succession. From Edward VI's handwritten Device for the Succession to the execution of John Dudley and the astonishing rehabilitation of Robert Dudley under Elizabeth I, this is a deep dive into how dynasties rise, fall — and rise again.Crucially, this episode also restores women to the centre of the narrative. From Jane Dudley herself to Jane, Duchess of Northumberland, the Dudley women emerge as formidable political operators whose influence shaped events long after the axe fell.If you think you know the story of Lady Jane Grey, this episode will change your mind.Key themes exploredWhy “Lady Jane Grey” is a historical misnomerJane Dudley's education, intellect and political awarenessThe Dudley family's central role in the Tudor succession crisisEdward VI's intentions — and misconceptions — about successionScapegoating, propaganda and Tudor myth-makingThe power and resilience of Dudley womenRobert Dudley's improbable rise at Elizabeth I's courtWhat the Dudleys reveal about loyalty, ambition and survival in Tudor EnglandFestival Info:The Katherine of Aragon Festival Talks are on January 31st and February 1st 2026 at Peterborough Cathedral:Tickets are available at: https://peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/about/history/katharine-of-aragon/kofa_26/ About the guestDr Joanne Paul is a historian, writer and public historian specialising in Tudor politics, power and reputation. She is the author of The House of Dudley, a groundbreaking study of one of Tudor England's most misunderstood dynasties, and has consulted on major television productions including My Lady Jane.Follow & contact Dr Joanne PaulSocial Media: @drjoannepaulBook: The House of Dudley: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781405937191About History RageHistory Rage is the podcast where historians stop being polite and start getting angry — debunking myths, challenging lazy narratives and reclaiming complexity from centuries of oversimplification.Follow History RageWebsite: https://historyrage.comPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/historyrageSocial media: @HistoryRage (all major platforms)Support the podcastJoin Patreon for live episode recordings, exclusive content and the coveted History Rage mugListen ad-free via Apple Podcasts or PatreonLeave a review — it helps more people find the showShare the rage with a friend and grow the movementIf you enjoyed this episode, you might also like:Episode 252: Dr Joanne Paul on the myth of Thomas More's martyrdom: https://pod.fo/e/34939eEpisode 171: Joanna Strong rages against the “Bloody Mary” label: https://pod.fo/e/299de6Until next time — stay angry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, joins the LOOPcast to discuss breakthrough research and how we can save the American family. Next, SCOTUS takes on "What is a Woman?" And finally, there's an exciting update in Archbishop Fulton Sheen's path to sainthood. All this and more on the LOOPcast!00:00 Welcome to the LOOPcast04:20 Saving the American Family w/ Dr. Kevin Roberts26:10 SCOTUS and Trans in Women's Sports42:48 Good News51:18 Church Corner01:01:14 Twilight Zone01:18:27 Closing PrayerGet your FREE PHONE as a new Charity Mobile user with every new line plus a FREE power bank while supplies last, now through February 2, with promo code LOOPCAST at https://bit.ly/LOOPcast_CharityMobile EMAIL US: loopcast@catholicvote.org SUPPORT LOOPCAST: www.loopcast.orgSubscribe to the LOOP today!https://catholicvote.org/getloop   Saving the American Family Report: https://www.heritage.org/press/saving-the-american-family-heritage-releases-landmark-report-rebuilding-and-strengthening-us Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-loopcast/id1643967065 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08jykZi86H7jKNFLbSesjk?si=ztBTHenFR-6VuegOlklE_w&nd=1&dlsi=bddf79da68c34744 FOLLOW LOOPCast: https://x.com/the_LOOPcast  https://www.instagram.com/the_loopcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the_loopcast https://www.facebook.com/LOOPcastPodcast Tom: https://x.com/TPogasic Erika: https://x.com/ErikaAhern2  Josh: https://x.com/joshuamercer We Pray O Lord, for the United States of America. We pray for our leaders, that they be inspired to lead according to your will. Most especially, we pray that every Catholic in America will be inspired to live out the truths of our faith in public life, and that it will lead to the renewal of our Church and country.St. Thomas More, Pray for us.St. Fidelis, Pray for us.Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.Amen.All opinions expressed on LOOPcast by the participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CatholicVote.

This talk was recorded live at Tudorcon 2025.In this lecture, Mallory Jackson explores the work of Hans Holbein the Younger, the artist whose portraits defined how we visualize the Tudor court. Focusing on key paintings from Holbein's years in England, she looks at how symbolism, material culture, and political change shaped portraits of figures such as Henry VIII, Thomas More, and Thomas Cromwell.This is a detailed, art-driven discussion of Holbein's most famous works, including The Ambassadors, and what they reveal about power, belief, and uncertainty in Tudor England. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Kindergarten class at St. Thomas More share the true reason for the Christmas season.Subscribe to the Morning Blend on your favorite podcast platform.Find this show on the free Hail Mary Media App, along with a radio live-stream, prayers, news, and more.Look through past episodes or support this podcast.The Morning Blend is a production of Mater Dei Radio in Portland, Oregon.

Vanity Fair goes inside the White House and delivers a piece that has us all wondering, "Why?" Meanwhile, a controversial “Lost Generation” essay ignites debate over merit, identity, and who's been left behind in modern America. And finally, the Church enters a pivotal moment as a new bishop is named for New York. All this and more on the LOOPcast.Get your FREE PHONE as a new Charity Mobile user with every new line plus a FREE power bank while supplies last, now through February 2, with promo code LOOPCAST at https://bit.ly/LOOPcast_CharityMobileTimestamps:00:00 Welcome to the LOOPcast05:25 Vanity Fair “Inside the Trump Admin”18:10 The Lost Generation56:02 Good News1:05:29 New Bishop for NY1:10:50 Twilight Zone1:21:19 Closing PrayerEMAIL US: loopcast@catholicvote.org SUPPORT LOOPCAST: www.loopcast.orgSubscribe to the LOOP today!https://catholicvote.org/getloop   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-loopcast/id1643967065 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08jykZi86H7jKNFLbSesjk?si=ztBTHenFR-6VuegOlklE_w&nd=1&dlsi=bddf79da68c34744 FOLLOW LOOPCast: https://x.com/the_LOOPcast  https://www.instagram.com/the_loopcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the_loopcast https://www.facebook.com/LOOPcastPodcast Tom: https://x.com/TPogasic Erika: https://x.com/ErikaAhern2  Josh: https://x.com/joshuamercer We Pray O Lord, for the United States of America. We pray for our leaders, that they be inspired to lead according to your will. Most especially, we pray that every Catholic in America will be inspired to live out the truths of our faith in public life, and that it will lead to the renewal of our Church and country.St. Thomas More, Pray for us.St. Fidelis, Pray for us.Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.Amen.All opinions expressed on LOOPcast by the participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CatholicVote.

Talk given at St. Thomas More in Troy, MI, on December 3.

Vince Gilligan's new show, “Pluribus,” opens with an unconventional apocalypse. A benevolent alien hive mind descends on Earth, commandeering the bodies of all but a handful of people who appear to be immune, including a curmudgeonly writer named Carol Sturka. Though the world that the “joined” are building seems ideal—no more crime, efficient resource distribution, an end to discrimination—it doesn't leave much room for Carol's messy humanity. Is it worth it? On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss “Pluribus” and other perfect societies imagined and enacted by artists and thinkers, from Thomas More's 1516 satire, “Utopia,” to the Shaker movement and beyond. They reflect on why these experiments have rarely held up to scrutiny or benefitted more than a select few, and why we keep coming back to them anyway. “I'm not the most optimistic person,” Fry says. “But if you're stuck in pessimistic, dystopic thinking, are you foreclosing on greater promise or greater potential of imagination?” Read, watch, and listen with the critics:“Pluribus” (2025–)“Breaking Bad” (2008-13)“Better Call Saul” (2015-22)“The X-Files” (1993-2002)“The Giver,” by Lois Lowry“Utopia,” by Thomas More“Les Guérillères,” by Monique Wittig “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977)“The Testament of Ann Lee” (2025)“The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins“Utopia for Realists,” by Rutger Bregman“Ragtime” (1996)New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.Critics at Large is a weekly discussion from The New Yorker which explores the latest trends in books, television, film, and more. Join us every Thursday as we make unexpected connections between classic texts and pop culture. Please help us improve New Yorker podcasts by filling out our listener survey: https://panel2058.na2.panelpulse.com/c/a/661hs4tSRdw2yB2dvjFyyw Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Henry VIII's commanding gaze, Thomas More's intellect, Anne of Cleves' cautious poise; Hans Holbein's portraits didn't just depict the Tudors, they defined them. His astonishing realism gave us not just faces but personalities. But how do we truly know the artist behind the art?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb welcomes back Dr. Elizabeth Goldring, whose groundbreaking research using cutting-edge technology and scientific analysis has uncovered the secrets beneath Holbein's paint layers, revealing hidden colours, lost details, and radical working methods.Shakespeare's Male Muse: A Mystery Solved?A Tudor Mystery: The Girl Who Could Be QueenPresented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Merchant of Venice; Act 3, Scene 1 ShylockNovember 10, 2025 The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” Actor and storyteller Saul Rubinek takes us inside his one-man show Playing Shylock, now on stage at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in New York City. Rubinek explores Shylock's confounding genesis and reveals why one of Shakespeare's so-called “minor” roles continues to be one of the most groundbreaking, misunderstood and controversial characters in theater history. Click here to see the Folio Version. Click here for a Modern Version of the Text. Click here for more information about Playing Shylock. Click here for Saul's book, All in the Telling. Click here for a transcript of "The Stranger's Case" by Thomas More.

Voted #1 as the best private school on many different levels, Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage is a beacon of hope, excellence and virtue.I'm thrilled to get to visit today with Principal Marie-Louise Schirda about the role of classical education and why it is needed more today than ever before. From the HRA website, Marie-Louise is "rooted in Alaskan soil, not only by virtue of her family's work as the state's largest producer of farm-to-table produce, but also in her long-term commitment to delivering a classical K-12 curriculum in the Catholic tradition to Holy Rosary Academy students.Mrs. Schirda adventured around the globe to achieve her distinctly Catholic education. She attended high school at Trivium School in Massachusetts and then graduated from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While at Thomas More, she spent one semester in Rome, steeped in the art and architecture of many magnificent Catholic churches, backdropped by the grandeur and beauty of the ancient ruins.She earned her master's degree in Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama from University College Dublin, Ireland, and came back to the States to attend Gonzaga University, where she completed her state licensure to teach. "I hope you can tune in.Support the show

Mr. Gray, Nichols, and Sam Hendricks are back for another jam-packed episode of The B-Side Bois! The guys kick things off with a livestream reminder for the upcoming Iowa vs Kansas matchup—presented by the Iowa Rugby Foundation and proudly supported by new sponsor Koality Work out of Iowa City.They cover huge news around the state:

This week on History Rage, host Paul Bavill welcomes Tudor historian and author Dr. Joanne Paul to dissect the life and legacy of the enigmatic Thomas More. As they navigate the treacherous waters of Tudor England, they delve into the myths and misconceptions surrounding this controversial figure, aiming to separate fact from fiction. Episode Highlights:- The Man Behind the Myths: Joanne shares her journey into the world of Thomas More, shedding light on his complex character and the historical context that shaped him.- The Pope and the People: Discover the truth behind the popular belief that More died in defence of the Pope, as Joanne reveals his nuanced views on authority and governance.- Martyr or Tyrant?: The discussion explores the reasons behind More's execution, questioning whether it was a matter of conscience or political necessity.- Family Man: Joanne highlights More's role as a devoted family man, challenging the notion that his personal life was overshadowed by his political ambitions.- Ideological Legacy: The episode examines how various ideologies have co-opted More's image, from communism to conservatism, and what this says about our interpretations of history.- Debunking the Torture Chamber: Joanne confronts the myth that More had a torture chamber, providing a more accurate portrayal of his actions and beliefs regarding heretics.Join us for a riveting conversation that not only unravels the complexities of Thomas More but also prompts us to reflect on the nature of power, authority, and individual conscience in turbulent times. Dr. Joanne Paul's new book, Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England, is available now, and you can find a link to purchase it in the show notes.Buy the Book: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9780008370740 Connect with Dr. Joanne Paul:- Follow her on X: @joanne_paul_- Follow her on Instagram: @drjoannepaul Support History Rage:If you're enjoying the show, consider joining the 'Angry Mob' on Patreon at patreon.com/historyrage for exclusive content, early access, and the iconic History Rage mug.Follow the Rage:- Twitter: @HistoryRage- Instagram: @historyrage Stay curious, stay passionate, and most importantly, stay angry! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christina Bagaglio Slentz is Associate Director for Creation Care for the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Learn about how her diocese prioritizes climate action here.In this episode, we often refer to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si' and the ways that faith communities are living out its stated goals. We also discuss the theme “seeds of peace and hope,” the official theme for the 2025 ecumenical Season of Creation.Many thanks to Christina for sharing her wisdom in this conversation!Christina SlentzTRANSCRIPTChristina Slentz I think this really can help us understand the way that the cry of the Earth, these environmental climate extremes, or the variability that we're experiencing, leads to greater exposure—but how one community can face that exposure and adapt or bounce back fairly quickly and another may not really have that capacity.Debra Rienstra Welcome to the Refugia Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Debra Rienstra. Refugia are habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. We're exploring the concept of refugia as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia: nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities, even in this time of severe disturbance. This season, we're paying special attention to churches and Christian communities who have figured out how to address the climate crisis together as an essential aspect of their discipleship.Today, I'm talking with Dr. Christina Bagaglio Slentz, Associate Director for Creation Care at the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Christina has a background in sociology, with a PhD in international studies and global affairs. She's also a Navy veteran. Today, she serves a diocese of 97 parishes, helping to guide and empower people in their creation care work. The Diocese of San Diego is a microcosm of diverse biomes and diverse people, and it's a fascinating example of refugia, because as a diocese, they are doing all the things. Christina and I talk about Laudato si', solar energy, economics, eco spirituality, environmental justice advocacy, the centrality of the Eucharist, and the mutuality between caring for neighbor and caring for the Earth. Let's get to it.Debra Rienstra Christina, thank you so much for being with me today. I really appreciate talking to you.Christina Slentz Thank you, Debra, for having me. I'm really excited to be here.Debra Rienstra So I am eager to hear more about the Diocese of San Diego, because it seems that you have been very intentional and thoughtful and ambitious about your creation care agenda, and we're going to get into the details of that in just a minute, but I want to start with you. So tell us your hero origin story. How did you get into faith-based environmental work and into your current position?Christina Slentz Well, to be honest, I never saw it coming in many ways. I was working in the global affairs area, looking at sources of conflict and cooperation and how political economy intersects with those dynamics, and that was my academic area of focus. And at the same time, I've always been a catechist in the Catholic church since the 90s, and my church life was pretty comfortable, I would say, and active. But I didn't really see those two things coming together until Laudato si', the encyclical written by Pope Francis on the care of our common home, was released in 2015, and this really started to bring more overlap between these two areas in my life. And I would say, increasingly, then there was a lot of interplay between those focus areas for me. And eventually this position became available in the Diocese of San Diego, and a friend mentioned it to me, and I thought that is actually the perfect vocation for me. And I really feel like I understood it to be a vocation, not just a job.Debra Rienstra Yeah, I think I can relate to everything you just said. I think we came to this work from different areas of specialty, but yeah, like you, I feel like we've had these mid-career shifts where suddenly our area of specialty—in my case, literature and creative writing—has become energized by—in your case, Laudato si', in my case, other documents as well as Laudato si',—and we've sort of taken this fascinating and yeah, I would agree, vocational, turn. So let's talk a little bit more about Laudato si'. I imagine our listeners know at least a little bit about it. It's been so enormously influential. It's such an amazing landmark document. Could you talk a little bit about how you've seen Laudato si' diffuse through the Catholic Church, especially the American Catholic Church?Christina Slentz Yes, I think, to be honest, it has had a complicated journey with the Catholic community here in the United States. Very much like the issue of climate change in the global community, the United States has struggled with these dynamics—I think the way that they involve our economics and some of our very strong ideology about economic freedom and what that means to people. And so I think it's fair to say that while Laudato si' was very warmly received around the world, it has struggled in the United States as a whole, and that includes the American Catholic community. That said, there have been—like your description of refugia suggests——there have been these pockets, though, where I think that particular dynamics existed, and there was fertile ground for seeds to be planted. And the Diocese of San Diego is one of them. The Diocese of—the Archdiocese of Atlanta was another. There are a couple around the country, and I do think some footholds were created. In addition, one of the things that is particularly interesting about the encyclical Laudato si'—and an encyclical is just a document that a pope writes and then circulates, right, this is where the word encyclical comes from—circulates around until everyone's had a chance to read it. We can imagine in medieval times, you know, how this must have been a challenge. And I think that, you know, this challenge exists, but Father Emmett Farrell is the founder of this ministry in my diocese, and Father Emmett just celebrated his 60th anniversary of his ordination, and Father Emmett will say he has never seen an encyclical translate to action the way that Laudato si' has. And in particular, there is a Vatican online platform called the Laudato si' Action Platform, where Catholics—either parishes, schools, orders of sisters or religious—can get on this platform and learn about the dynamics that we face. They can see how our values are distilled into seven goals, and then they can reflect on their behavior, using this tool to sort of measure where they are, and then write a plan of action and upload it and share it with each other. And Father Emmett really celebrates how amazing it is that, you know, that we're going to lean into technology and use it for the good.Debra Rienstra Oh, awesome. There's so many things I want to follow up on in that answer. And I want to begin by just thanking you for being honest about pushback to Laudato si' in the US. And I want to go back to that in just a second, if it's okay. And then I want to thank you for the way you've thought about, you know, some of these dioceses like the mighty San Diego and the mighty Atlanta as sort of refugia spaces. And we'll come back to that again too, I really hope, and I want to hear some more details about your particular diocese. Why do you think there has been pushback in the American Catholic Church? You mentioned economic reasons, and you know, Pope Francis and Pope Leo now have both been very pointed in their critique of climate denial, of greed, of exploitation, injustice, war, economic systems that many Americans have sort of held as almost sacrosanct. So what are you noticing in Catholic conversations about that critique? Why are people resisting the critique and why are people saying, “No, that's right”—what are the motivations behind each of those responses?Christina Slentz So, you know, we could probably talk about this all day.Debra Rienstra Probably, yeah.Christina Slentz Because economic peace, I think, is really difficult to think about. You know, if we take the United Kingdom, for example, it's a country very much like the United States. So many of our you know, American culture and tradition and customs come out of that early launching that we experienced from, you know, Great Britain. And yet, as the topic of climate change came forward, Margaret Thatcher, who was, you know, a real compatriot of President Ronald Reagan at the time, she really took the scientific approach in thinking about climate change, and this set them on a path that's really different from the path that we experienced. And certainly, oil is a big factor in our economy. And I think it can be a real challenge for people to weigh the goods, you know, because we have to be honest, there are goods in both sides of these dynamics. When we understand the gravity, though, of climate change, if we're allowed to really get into those dynamics without the noise that has been kind of confronting that potential, then I think we can see that the good outweighs, you know, those alternative goods associated with continuing in the fossil fuel realm. But this is why we talk about a just transition, right? I think that many people who are hearing this noise, right, they don't understand that Pope Francis and others, you know, is really arguing for a just transition, and that would seek to care for the people that are going to be affected by whatever change in economic policy might make.Debra Rienstra Yeah, and more and more, those economic changes are actually positive in favor of transition in ways that they weren't even 5-10 years ago.Christina Slentz Yeah, I think it's amazing. We actually had some good momentum going until recently.Debra Rienstra Yeah, you know, I would love to get us all talking about a just and joyful transition, because it's more and more possible. And maybe we'll come back to that a little bit later too, when we talk about ecological spirituality. But let's go back to these places within the American Catholic Church, even, that are saying, “Oh yes, Laudato si', yes, let's go.” And San Diego diocese is one of those places. You had an action plan already in 2019. I think it's impressive that a diocese could get a plan together in four years. So good job. Knowing how long everything takes in church settings. So just give us a list of your accomplishments. What have you been up to since 2019? What are the kinds of things you've dipped your toes into?Christina Slentz Sure, and to be fair, I want to give some good credit to some others. You know, the Archdiocese of Atlanta had created their creation care action plan. This gave us some really good kind of framework to think about when we created ours. And there was a team that preceded me. They were all volunteers, very multidisciplinary in their backgrounds, everything from theologians to medical doctors who had worked with indigenous communities, you know, theologians, missionaries, energy engineers, and they really pulled this together early on. And this plan I now recognize as what climate action planners might refer to as an aspirational plan. It's all the things you could do in our area, and it serves as a really good resource for our parishes and schools as they think about what they might do in their Laudato si' action platform plans, and those are yearly plans that are really targeted on what we're going to do. So, you know, one of the things that they did early on was really push to solarize. And you know, we do have the great fortune of, one: climate here in San Diego, right? You know, we're sort of famous for that. And then you know, two: the other thing is that, you know, it was very normative to be shifting to solar, and continues to be an economic choice that is not really as politicized here as much as it might be elsewhere. And then the third thing was this is, you know, the magic number three is to have a bishop that is supportive. And so Cardinal McElroy—now Cardinal McElroy, then Bishop McElroy—really promoted this solarization. And at this point we have about 54% of our parishes solarized. And when I think now, you know, the Paris Climate Agreement says we want to have about half of our carbon emissions reduced by 2030 then you know, we're sitting at about half. Our building where I'm located is called our pastoral center. Some Catholic communities call it their chancery. And our solar array here provides over 80% of our electricity to the building. Our local utility is about half renewable energy, a little bit more. So with that in mind, you know, our electricity here to our building is a little over 90% coming from renewable energy, and this lets us have seven electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot so I can go to work and charge my car at the same time.Debra Rienstra Lovely.Christina Slentz So that was one big thing. I would say our other really big kind of landmark action that also was largely driven by Cardinal McElroy, was to divest of fossil fuels. And, you know, this is a real challenging thing to accomplish. We set a goal of no more than 5% of, you know, the earnings of both direct and indirect investment to be coming from fossil fuel. And after a year, we evaluated how we were doing, and we were actually hitting—not we, you know, the financial folks doing this—were hitting less than 3%. So, you know, we said, “Okay, I think we can say that this was successful, and we're still here.” So that was really exciting, and we didn't do it to be virtue signaling. Just, you know, for some of your listeners may not know, but the USCCB, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has a document that directs socially responsible investment for all areas. And so this is just one more area of socially responsible investment that the Diocese of San Diego has embraced.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So we've got money, we've got energy. How many parishes would you say are on board with this, doing yearly goals, selecting from the menu of fun ideas—what percentage of your parishes would you say are involved?Christina Slentz So I gotta, Debra, that's a little bit of a good question. I think, you know, we did just describe two very top-down approaches. And one of the things that our group, you know, when I came on board in 2022, we decided is, you know, we really wanted to push that grassroots. And so we see parishes demonstrating a range of behaviors, and I was initially surprised, but they actually behave a lot like countries around the world. And so, you know, you think, oh, that's going to be different. But, you know, you can also have three children, and they all behave differently, and you know, sometimes that's surprising as well, when they have the same parents. And so one of the things that I have really tried to do was offer more events that are here at the diocesan level. We have 97 parishes, and then we have—so sometimes we'll see individuals that are really on board, and they come from a parish where, at the parish level, not a lot is happening. Sometimes we have individuals that are participating, and they are doing a ton at their parish and succeeding. And then we have parishes where the pastor is leading the charge. And then on top of that, I would say there are parishes where they have solar and they have drought-resistant landscaping, and they have LEED silver certified buildings that, you know, are very environmentally friendly. And yet, you know, at the parishioner level, you know, not as much activity happening. So it is an array of activities. I would say probably half have had some kind of interaction with us, or have had parishioners or students participate in our programs. But you know, we reflect the American Catholic community, which reflects the broader American society as well. So there are places where we struggle, and then there are places where we see a lot of action and shining.Debra Rienstra Yeah, sure. And I really appreciate that. And I think listeners can relate to that range of involvement too. Maybe they are in any one of those categories or some other category themselves. And you know, as you say, it's the modeling of— even if it's a minority, it's the modeling and the enthusiasm and the even implicit sort of educating of others that can make this work spread too. So I want to list the seven goals of the Laudato si' action platform, because I think they're really, really great and helpful to people who are not in the Catholic Church, but in other aspects of the church, you might find these goals useful too. So here are the goals: response to the cry of the Earth, response to the cry of the poor, ecological economics, adoption of sustainable lifestyles, ecological education, ecological spirituality, community resilience and empowerment. So I want to start with the first three. We've talked a little bit about economics and how dicey that can be, but I wonder if you could describe how you see the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor as basically the same cry, as Pope Francis said in Laudato si'. How do you see that, especially in your region?Christina Slentz Yeah, so thank you. I think these two are kind of the crown jewels, right? And they sum up what we see happening very well. I think that the other goals are valuable because they sort of pull out the dynamics that we really understand as informing those two big—response to the cry of the Earth and cry of the poor. So as someone who was looking at this through the lens of being a social scientist, I found these two goals to really sum it up well, because it is not just the exposure to the environment that causes our concern for these dynamics. It's the exposure as well as the sensitivity of that population. And then this helps us understand also, maybe some vulnerability that that population might have. So for example, we had significant flooding about a year and a half ago in January, the month of January, and the same rain fell on a parish in the southern part of the Diocese, close to our Mexican border, in an area that is, you know, less wealthy, probably demonstrates some socio economic features that we would associate with marginalized communities. And then it also fell on a parish in Coronado, California. And some people might recognize the Hotel Del Coronado as an iconic location. It's a beautiful community. There's a lot of wealth. There's a lot of human capital as well. You know, very highly educated group, and so the buildings at two of two parishes in each of these locations were completely flooded. But, you know, the parish in Coronado was up on its feet within a week. And of course, they had repairs that had to be done, but they were able to get a hold of those folks, get them in, pay the bills, get it all done. And the parish on the south side had catastrophic flooding to its school, and the school was a total loss.Debra Rienstra Oh, wow.Christina Slentz So I think this really can help us understand the way that the cry of the Earth, these environmental climate extremes, or the variability that we're experiencing, leads to greater exposure, but how one community can face that exposure and adapt or bounce back fairly quickly, and another may not really have that capacity. And so you can't really pull them apart, because just measuring precipitation doesn't always give you the whole story.Debra Rienstra That's a very, very helpful answer to that. And I sometimes hear in religious circles, you know, “Well, we have to worry about other people, why should we worry about owls or whatever?” And the answer is: well, because what happens in nature affects people. So this is about loving your neighbor. Even if you're not convinced by the idea that we love the Earth for its own sake because it's beloved of God, we still have to love our neighbor. And this is a neighbor issue as well. So thank you. That was very helpful as an explanation.Christina Slentz One of my favorite kind of messages is, you know, having been a student of globalization, you know, I think that we live in a globalized world. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube, right? Maybe there are some things we can do and that can be helpful, but the bottom line is, our actions have ripple effects, and so no matter what we do, we are going to have these impacts on people far beyond those we know and love on a day to day basis. And when we care for the Earth, we mitigate those effects on people all around the world, and so our caring for creation really is just love of neighbor at global scale.Debra Rienstra Ah, lovely. Yeah, so it works both ways. If you love neighbor, you love the Earth. If you love the Earth, you love your neighbor.Christina Slentz That's right.Debra RienstraHi, it's me, Debra. If you are enjoying this podcast episode, go ahead and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. If you have a minute, leave a review. Good reviews help more listeners discover this podcast. To keep up with all the Refugia news, I invite you to subscribe to the Refugia newsletter on Substack. This is my fortnightly newsletter for people of faith who care about the climate crisis and want to go deeper. Every two weeks, I feature climate news, deeper dives, refugia sightings and much more. Join our community at refugianewsletter.substack.com. For even more goodies, including transcripts and show notes for this podcast, check out my website at debrarienstra.com. D-E-B-R-A-R-I-E-N-S-T-R-A dot com. Thanks so much for listening. We're glad you're part of this community. And now back to the interview.Debra Rienstra Let's think about some of those more personal goals. I don't know, maybe they're not just personal, because everything is systemic too. But I want to talk about that sustainable lifestyle goal, adoption of sustainable lifestyle. So what does that mean, and how are people doing that in San Diego?Christina Slentz So I have a really amazing parish, St. Thomas More, and they have created a community garden that not only functions as a place for their parish to gather and work together, it also is open to the public, so it has an evangelical capacity as well. And they also collect recyclable cans and bottles and then take those to a facility where they can be paid for that recycling work, and then they take the money, and then they put it into this garden that allows them to gather and have a mission and have evangelical outreach. So I think of this as such a wonderful circular kind of example that is, you know, feeding them in many ways. You know, they have this sense of community. They have this sense of common, shared mission. They have a good relationship with the neighborhood around them, people that may be of different faiths or of no faith at all. And then they're also in good relationship with Mother Earth, and doing what they can to, you know, practice this sort of sustainability, or also a little bit like circular economics, I guess I would say as well. And I think one of the things that the Catholic Church is emphasizing is synodality, and our synodality really calls us to be community, to have a shared mission and really inviting participatory action. So in my building here, where we sort of have the headquarters, you know, we also have gone to compostables for all of our events, and we try to minimize any kind of single use plastics. But, you know, there's that dreaded moment at the end where everybody has to go to the three, you know, receptacles. Everyone panics, especially if I'm near them, and I feel terribly, you know, like, should I step away? Should I give them a moment to give them help? Is that overreach? And so, you know, but we all fumble through together, and that's where I've kind of said, like, “Look, it's not easy for me either. Like, God forbid I put the wrong thing in the wrong can, right?” So I think that there's this way where we all are coming together to sort of take on this work. And, you know, we're not going to be perfect, but, you know, I think that it does foster community when we take this on, and then also recognizing how, you know, now we are living with greater simplicity, and we are impacting the Earth, you know, to a lesser extent.Debra Rienstra Yeah, nothing bonds people like pulling weeds together, or standing over the recycle bins going, “Hmm.” It's okay. We don't have to indulge in recycling guilt, you know, just do your best. So I want to move on to ecological spirituality. I love that phrase. It's not one you hear everywhere. And I wanted to remind listeners that San Diego Diocese is the most biodiverse diocese in the US. Maybe we wouldn't have expected that, but you've kind of got everything there. So I want to talk about ecological spirituality in the context of that actual place. I love the sentiment you quoted from Laudato si' in an article you wrote recently. It was an idea from Pope Francis that in the beauties and wonders of the Earth, we experience God's friendship with us. And so I wanted to ask you how you're helping people in your parishes reconnect to the Earth where you are, and thus, and this is how you put it, “revive something of our true selves.”Christina Slentz Yeah, one of my favorite pieces in Laudato si': Pope Francis alludes to having a place in childhood where we felt a sense of awe and wonder. And I think that that awe and wonder allows us to get back to childhood in some ways, before there was a lot of noise before there was all the different distractions. And I think that that true self is also a little freer to connect to God. I think sometimes about little children and baby Jesus, you know, and that sort of immediate connection that's not really complicated, you know, it's just comfortable. Or feeling the love of God like being a child sitting on the lap of your mom or your dad. And so encouraging people, or providing opportunities for this return to that place of awe and wonder, I think is really important. I think that at the heart of our inability to care for creation is this estrangement from our Creator. So we won't care for something if we don't love it. And in this way, ecological spirituality may be step one in all of this, right? So I think we are really lucky, being here. As I mentioned, our climate is beautiful. It is a beautiful place. We have everything from the ocean to mountains to desert, and many people who live here do really connect with the geography and the beauty of where we are, and so inviting them to take a moment to just pause and think about those places. Think about their senses as they move through the memory of that space, I think is really important before we start any of the other conversations. And so I try to do that, and then we share about it. And I have yet to find somebody that says, “Oh, I just didn't have a place.” Everybody has a place. And many people will say, “I really struggled, because I love this place, and I love that place,” you know. And so it is really great to hear. And I think people really come out of an exercise like that with this new sense of common ground as well. And I think that is so important, right? Because if you ask people like, “Raise your hand, who hates trees?” No one's gonna do it, right? Don't even think anyone does. Or “Raise your hand if you like to litter.” No one's going to say, like, “Oh yeah, I really love throwing things out my window.” And so there is a lot more common ground. And I think that eco spirituality invites us to find out how much we have in common, and actually how much we all yearn for that place of connectedness.Debra Rienstra Oh, yeah. I've noticed, you know, people have so many different feelings that motivate what they might do in a faith and climate space, and there's anger, there's fear, a lot of anxiety. But the trick, I think, is to get to the center, which is love. And the quickest way to do that, maybe, is to find that early love, or a love that's developed over many, even generations, in a particular place, if you're lucky, and you're rooted in some way. I feel like we also, as people of faith, haven't made enough of a case that being closer to the creation is, in fact, a pathway to God. And I see that in a lot of the writings that you have too. It's a way of understanding God better. It's a way of allowing God to speak to us that we sometimes underestimate, I think. There's other ways, of course, but it's one that we tend to underestimate. It is a way to deeper spirituality. So getting people to be in touch with that, it sounds like you've you've worked on that a little bit.Christina Slentz We're very lucky. The Franciscan tradition is pretty rich and present here. The Franciscan School of Theology is located here at the University of San Diego.Debra Rienstra There we go.Christina Slentz I have several secular Franciscans on my team, and a few Franciscan friars. And you know, that's very much at the heart of St. Francis and St. Claire's tradition. St. Bonaventure, who is a Franciscan, actually calls nature, or the environment, the created world, like another book. It's another gospel that tells us something about God's plan.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to quote from Pope Leo's message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which was September one. And I found his message so encouraging, and especially this particular paragraph, it's along the line of seeds here. He writes, “In Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed seeds of peace and hope. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of God can make an arid and parched desert into a garden, a place of rest and serenity. In his words, a spirit from on high will be poured out on us, and the wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places.” So we have this beautiful vision and the sense of vocation of who we are and who our communities are as seeds of peace and hope. So it seems like you experience that in the San Diego Diocese. Are there some particular examples that have been really meaningful and important to you, where you see that “seeds of hope” metaphor being played out?Christina Slentz Yeah, I would point to two areas that I would offer up as good examples. One is a parish that is located in what's called Barrio Logan. It is an ecologically marginalized community. The highways literally forced the school to be moved when they put the highway in right down the middle of the community. And that's the I-5. So it runs all the way from Canada to Mexico. Big highway. In addition, the Coronado Bridge connects to the highway right there. The Navy base is there, and the Port of San Diego all intersects there. So their air quality is really degraded, and it's a socio-economically poor area. It is also a predominantly Hispanic community there. But the Jesuit pastor there, Father Scott Santa Rosa, is a very good community organizer. He led the parish when they were confronted by another warehouse that was going to be added at the port. And the proposal by the company violated the Port Authority's standards, but they were seeking a waiver, and Father Scott brought in the Environmental Health Coalition. He brought in a theologian from University of San Diego. He invited the youth to present on Laudato si' to the adults and really empowered the community, which is that seventh goal of Laudato si', it's very connected to environmental justice. And then they learned, they grew, they came to an understanding that this was not acceptable, and that they wanted to be a voice for their community. They—we traveled. I was very fortunate to kind of engage with them in this process.And we traveled to the Port Authority building the night before the Port Authority was going to make their decision on this, whether or not to grant this waiver. And we said a rosary, which consists of five sets of 10 Hail Marys, roughly. And between each set, somebody spoke and gave their witness. And one of the women stood up and said, “I never thought I would speak publicly in my whole life. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm speaking, but I found my voice because of this issue.” And I thought, even if we lose, that's such an amazing win that people felt connected to their environment. They understood that they have a voice. They understood their own dignity and the dignity of their community, and felt that it was worth standing up for. And the next day we went, there was demonstration and public witnessing and praying, and then they went in and spoke at the actual hearing. And the first thing that the chairman of the board said, in response to everyone's comments was, “Well, I'm a Catholic, and we have three priests that were here today.” And you know, how many times does a public official make a statement of faith? You know, I thought, “Okay, win number two!” And you know, I'll just go ahead and cut to the chase. And they turned down the company that wanted to put the warehouse in and said, “You know, we just don't think that you've convinced the local community that the benefits of this would be worth it.” And it was amazing.And so that place, they continue to also tend to the care of migrants. They have begun the work of accompanying migrants that are going for their court appointed hearings for their asylum process. And you know, those are not outcomes that are generally favorable, but they are just going and being present with them and, you know, we are on the border. We understand how some of these environmental impacts do entangle with human mobility. And so, you know, there's a lot that this community, that is really one of our poorest communities in San Diego, has brought to the wider San Diego Diocese as more parishes and local Catholics are now mimicking what they have done and joining in this mission, and so they've been an incredible source—this tiny little parish in a poor part of the Diocese with terrible environmental impacts, has actually been a place where things have blossomed and grown, and they actually do have an amazing garden as well.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's an incredible story, and exactly a story of empowerment and resilience, as you suggested, and a story of how low-resource people are not necessarily low-resource people. They have other kinds of resources that may not be visible to the outside, but that can be very powerful, and especially when one of those is faith. It was such a great example of people motivated not only by their, you know, sort of survival, but their faith to do this work. Yeah, wonderful.Christina Slentz I think they understand the impact, right? So if you can shut your windows and turn on your air conditioning, maybe you don't get it.Debra Rienstra Yeah, right. So what would you say are your biggest obstacles and your biggest joys in your work right now?Christina Slentz I think the biggest obstacle is coming up against Catholics and/or Christians, or really any person of faith. But I think this may be especially true to Catholics and Christians who think that our social actions have to be an “either/or” choice, and they resist a “yes/and” mentality, and so they put different issues in competition with each other, right? And, you know, sometimes they think about Cain and Abel, right? This sort of jealousy or comparison can be a real problem. Instead of saying, “Okay, maybe we don't fit in a neat box, but as Catholics, you know, we have to do all the things.” And that kind of privileging one issue or another issue makes us vulnerable to those who would seek division and competition. And I think that when we look at God, you know, God loves all of it, right? God is love, and so there isn't that discrimination in the example of our Creator, and I would, of course, we aren't perfect, you know, but we should aspire to that same kind of comprehensive love.Debra Rienstra Yeah, and we do it together. We don't all have to do every last one of the things. We do it together. What about joys? What are your greatest joys right now in your work?Christina Slentz I think that coming together is really a joy. When I first started this work, I felt like a unicorn. I could either be the only person of faith in an environmental group, or I could be the only environmentalist in a faith group. And so it just was a feeling of being awkward all the time. And I do think that just in the three years that I've been in this position, I am seeing momentum build. I think ecumenicalism is super helpful in this regard. And I think that increasingly people are finding each other, and they are starting to get a little bit of a wake up call. I think it is unfortunate that people in the United States have had to experience some significant catastrophes and human loss and impact before they start to awaken to the issue of climate change or environmental degradation. I think plastics are really a pretty significant issue as well, but I think that more and more, people seem to be coming around to it, and whenever we celebrate together, that gives me joy.Debra Rienstra Yeah, I agree. I'm seeing it happening too, and it keeps me going. It keeps me going to connect with people like you, and every door I open, there's more people of faith doing amazing work, and we are building that mycelial network. And it's pretty great. So what is your favorite gift of the Catholic Church, a gift of wisdom on creation care that you wish everyone would receive?Christina Slentz I am not sure I would say that this is my favorite. But maybe I think that it is very important, is that, you know, in the Catholic community, communion, Eucharist, is really, you know, the summit for Catholics, that each week, at a minimum, we are going to celebrate this liturgy. We break open the Word, and then we celebrate the Eucharist. And one of the things I, you know, find very compelling is the fact that Jesus celebrates at the Last Supper with bread and wine. Jesus didn't get grapes and, you know, a piece of meat, to celebrate that these were both chosen items that were not just created by God, but they involved, as we say, in our celebration, the work of human hands. And so this really represents this call to co-creation, I think. And if that is something that you know, is really at the heart of Catholicism, this, you know, summit of our faith to celebrate the Eucharist—in that, we are called to co-create. And so this tells us something about how we are meant to exist in relationship with the Creator. You know, God reveals God's self to us in the beauty of this creation or in the gift of the Eucharist, and then, in turn, we are called to respond to that love. Otherwise the revelation isn't complete, so our response is to care for creation or to receive the Eucharist, and then go and serve as God has called us to serve. So maybe, maybe this is something that we can offer up.Debra Rienstra So beautifully said, and the intimacy of eating, you know, taking the material, the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, into ourselves, responding by the Spirit, that intimacy, that physicality, there's a reason that that is the central ritual.Christina Slentz And you know, if I could give you one last image connected to that—because then we become the tabernacle, right? And we think about Noah and the ark, right? And how, you know, creation is destroyed, but the ark holds this refugia right and until it's time for this moment of reconciliation and forgiveness and then renewed flourishing. And you may or may not have heard this story, but when the LA fires raged in Pacific Palisades in January of 2025 the fires swept across the parish and school called Corpus Christi Parish, and it is the home parish of brother James Lockman, one of my dear, dear volunteers. And there was a firefighter who went back to look at the ruins that evening, and he was Catholic, and he came across the tabernacle from the church, and it was the only thing that survived. And when they opened it up, it was pristine on the inside and undamaged. And that Sunday, they took it to St. Monica's Parish, which is one of the very animated creation care parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and they celebrated Mass there because Corpus Christi did not have a parish right to celebrate in that weekend. And I think about that tabernacle as being, you know—it's to reflect that Ark of the Covenant, right, Ark of Noah, the Ark of the Covenant. And then we have the tabernacle now, and that space of refuge that was preserved, you know. And then, of course, when we take the Eucharist into ourselves, we become that tabernacle. We're walking tabernacles, right? So we are also, then, places of refuge and where we know that God is with us and we can go and serve.Debra Rienstra Christina, it has been such a joy to talk to you. Thank you for your wisdom, for your inspiration, for the way that you deploy your expertise in such compassionate and far reaching ways. It's just been a pleasure. Thank you.Christina Slentz Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed talking today with you, Debra.Debra Rienstra Thanks for joining us. For show notes and full transcripts, please visit debrarienstra.com and click on the Refugia Podcast tab. This season of the Refugia Podcast is produced with generous funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Colin Hoogerwerf is our awesome audio producer. Thanks to Ron Rienstra for content consultation as well as technical and travel support. Till next time, be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit refugianewsletter.substack.com

Dans son dernier livre, l'écrivaine voyageuse française Lucie Azéma convoque l'utopie et les ailleurs, réels ou imaginaires, pour dire le besoin que nous avons tous et toutes de rêver à demain et à ailleurs.  Après avoir livré une réjouissante et salutaire analyse féministe du voyage dans son premier livre «Les femmes aussi sont du voyage», après être partie ensuite sur les multiples routes du thé dans son second ouvrage «L'usage du thé. Une histoire sensible du bout du monde», Lucie Azéma a décidé de nous emmener ailleurs.  «Nous avons besoin d'un ailleurs qui n'existe pas» : c'est le titre de son dernier essai, érudit mais très didactique qui vient puiser, comme à chaque fois avec l'écrivaine nomade, dans la littérature de voyage et ses figures imposées pour mieux les questionner, les déconstruire, voire les réenchanter. «Réenchanter le voyage», c'est d'ailleurs le sous-titre de ce livre aux allures de manifeste pour tous les coureurs d'horizons, mangeurs de ciel, brûleurs de route, qui enfants, ont rêvé sur les cartes ou lignes de crête, pour mieux se lancer dans le vaste monde, dans des ailleurs réels ou rêvés.   De l'Atlantide à l'île d'Utopie, de l'Eldorado à Katmandou, de cités idéales en paradis perdus, Lucie Azéma tisse des réflexions personnelles sur sa vie de femme voyageuse et son rapport au monde à une trame plus collective, celle des rêves de ses congénères occidentaux qui n'ont eu de cesse de projeter des ailleurs, de les chercher, de les inventer. L'autrice revient aussi longuement sur les années 60-70, quand toute une jeunesse occidentale, en quête d'idéal et de vie libre sur la route, s'est lancée sur le «Hippie Trail» ou «Route des Indes», d'Istanbul à Katmandou. Ode à l'imaginaire et au rêve, des ferments puissants à tout élan de voyage, son livre invite à partir et à ne jamais renoncer à cette promesse qu'incarne l'ailleurs, où qu'il soit : celle d'un monde différent, renouvelé et qui sait meilleur.  Une émission initialement diffusée le 29/09/2024.   À lire : - «Nous avons besoin d'un ailleurs qui n'existe pas». Lucie Azéma. Éditions Allary. 2024 - «L'usage du thé, une histoire sensible du bout du monde». Lucie Azéma. Éditions Flammarion. 2022 - «Les femmes aussi sont du voyage, l'émancipation par le départ». Lucie Azéma. Éditions Flammarion. 2021 - «L'Utopie» de Thomas More. 1516. Éditions Gallimard  Folio 2012 - «Magic bus, sur la route des hippies d'Istanbul à Katmandou». Rory MacLean. Hoëbeke Éditions. 2011 - «Les villes invisibles» Italo Calvino. Éditions Gallimard. Édition originale 1972. Réédition Folio 2013.  

In this episode Natalie Grueninger interviews Dr Elizabeth Goldring about her new biography 'Holbein: Renaissance Master'. They trace Hans Holbein's journey from Augsburg and Basel to Tudor England, his key patrons including Erasmus and Thomas More, his role at Henry VIII's court, and his lasting impact on portraiture and Tudor culture. The conversation also highlights archival discoveries, Holbein's workshop practices, the Greenwich revels, and the painter's remarkable ability to adapt politically and artistically through changing times. Learn more about Dr Goldring https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/centrestaff/elizabethgoldring/ The Tudor Heart Appeal https://www.britishmuseum.org/tudor-heart-appeal Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com Support Talking Tudors on Patreon!  

Today we're talking to Aimee Fleming, the author of the solo biography of Margaret More, the eldest daughter of Thomas More. Published by Pen & Sword.Margaret was one of the most educated women of the Tudor era and definitely deserves her story told. Let's find out more about her.Get Margaret More Roper:https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Female-Tudor-Scholar-and-Writer-Hardback/p/50767/aid/1238Get Tudor Princes and Princesses:https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tudor-Princes-and-Princesses-Hardback/p/52742/aid/1238Find Susan:https://historyaimee.wordpress.com/https://www.instagram.com/historyaimee/Find Baroque:https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/https://www.reignoflondon.com/https://substack.com/@ifitaintbaroquepodcastSupport Baroque:https://www.patreon.com/c/Ifitaintbaroquepodcast/https://buymeacoffee.com/ifitaintbaroqueIf you would like to join Natalie on her walking tours in London with Reign of London:Saxons to Stuarts:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-the-royal-british-kings-and-queens-walking-tour-t426011/Tudors & Stuarts:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/royal-london-tudors-stuarts-walking-tour-t481355/The Georgians:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/royal-london-the-georgians-walking-tour-t481358/Naughty London:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-unsavory-history-guided-walking-tour-t428452/For more history fodder please visit https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/ and https://www.reignoflondon.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

King Henry VIII is best known for his tempestuous marriages and his penchant for cutting off people's heads. But where does fiction meet fact?In this special episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by a panel of experts to discuss Henry on screen and what those portrayals got right or wrong. Who gave the most convincing performance? Was it Damien Lewis in Wolf Hall, Robert Hardy in A Man for All Seasons, Jude Law in Firebrand, or Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII?Dr Joanne Paul, Jessie Childs and Alex von Tunzelmann join Suzannah to explore why this towering figure continues to fascinate us more than 500 years after he came to the throne.More:Thomas More on Film: The Historians' Verdict Mary Queen of Scots on Film: The Historians' Verdict Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The audio editors are Alex Elkins and Amy Haddow and the producers are Fiona Turnock and Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit to see Suzannah and her guests debate Henry VIII on film, and for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly 1000 years, the tower of London has been the site of the bloody executions of some of England's most famous historic figures. And many of the tower's victims were laid to their final rest within the walls, never to escape the prison where they met their tragic end. A King, 3 Queens, A Prince, 5 dukes and many more noble men and women were buried here. Let's meet them and learn how they met their doom at the tower of London. King Edward V & Prince Richard, Duke of York (1483) Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare (1534) Thomas More (1535) Cardinal John Fisher (1535) Queen Anne Boleyn (1536) George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (1536) Thomas Cromwell (1540) Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (1541) Queen Catherine Howard (1542) Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1542) Thank you to the Yeoman Warders and Historic Royal Palaces for giving us permission to film and so much excellent information. Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091781568503 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyteatimelindsayholiday/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyteatime Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell Music: Funeral March by Chopin #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, the conversation centered on the launch of Thomas More Classical School in Anchorage, set to open in 2026. The guest, Headmaster Sarah Spaulding, explained the school's mission to bring classical education to Alaska and described how the model emphasizes forming both intellect and character. The discussion highlighted what sets classical education apart: its grounding in the seven liberal arts, its reliance on teacher-led classrooms, and its emphasis on virtue, truth, and beauty. Spaulding explained that the school is supported by Hillsdale College's K–12 Education Office, which provides training and curriculum guidance, while the school itself remains locally governed and tuition-funded. Listeners also heard about practical details, including the timeline for opening, the application process starting in October 2025, and the plan to begin with 120 students in kindergarten through sixth grade before expanding into a full K–12 program. Spaulding described how extracurricular activities will grow with enrollment and emphasized the school's commitment to keeping tuition accessible with financial aid options. A portion of the conversation explored the history of Thomas More, the school's namesake, and how his devotion to education, integrity, and faith mirrors the school's mission. The episode closed with encouragement for Anchorage families to learn more, visit the school's website, and consider whether classical education is the right fit for their children.

Forget modern self-help books: the Tudors had their own guides for living well. In this episode, we look at advice from Thomas More, Erasmus, Roger Ascham, William Harrison, and John Dee. From moderation and kindness to simple faith and the pursuit of knowledge, their lessons still resonate today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Auzenne and Coach Lou Valdin co-hosted WWL's weekly "Prep Football Roundup." The guys reported live from the Caesar's Superdome for the "Inspire The City Invitational," honoring the legendary Ed Daniels. The event featured a doubleheader, with Archbishop Rummel vs. U-High and Edna Karr vs. American Heritage (FL). Ian interviewed Mike Hoss, the voice of the Saints, about the Superdome. Ian and Coach Lou spoke to WWL reporters live at some of the best games across the state, including St. Thomas More at Catholic-Baton Rouge, Lafayette Christian Academy at Carencro, Brother Martin at St. Paul's, and E.D. White at Jesuit, among others. They recapped Rummel's win over U-High with WWL's Jeff Palermo.

In this episode, I interview Cole Schaffer, the new head baseball coach at Thomas More University. We discuss Cole's journey to becoming a head coach, the challenges of recruiting at the Division II level, and his vision for building a competitive baseball program. Cole shares insights on the importance of player commitment, the realities of coaching, and the structure of fall practices. The conversation highlights the significance of balancing academics and athletics, as well as the sacrifices made in pursuit of a coaching career.Follow Cole and Thomas More baseball on X:Cole Shaffer: @coleshaffer05Thomas More Baseball: @ThomasMoreBase1Does your family need help navigating the recruiting process for college baseball?Sign up for a consult on the Patrick Jones Baseball website.Check Out Patrick's Stuff:•

Should I attend that wedding? While there may be few extraordinary exceptions, we should look to St. Thomas More's example.

Not every Tudor marriage ended in disaster. In this episode, we look at the rare good guys of Tudor England: from William Cecil's partnership with Mildred Cooke to Thomas More educating his daughters, Gilbert Talbot's affectionate letters, and Philip Sidney's romantic poetry. Even in the sixteenth century, some women didn't have to settle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May, Pope Francis created the Ecclesiastical Province of Las Vegas, comprised of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Las Vegas, and the suffragan dioceses of Reno and Salt Lake City. At the same time, he named Most Reverend George Leo Thomas, as the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Las Vegas. On June 19th, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Archbishop Thomas received the pallium in Rome. Watch the CNS Rome video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L27V8k6tMqk&t=3s The Vatican Observatory resumed its biennial summer school program for young scientists around the world. Read the CNS Rome story: Rising stars: Vatican hosts astronomers of tomorrow for summer school. Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QnnUx_ymYk&t=28s Beginning June 22, the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, the USCCB invited Catholics to pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom. Visit the Religious Freedom Week website. Statement from the Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace released a statement on religious persecution in Nicaragua in April. Read the statement. https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/us-bishops-international-justice-and-peace-chairman-ongoing-religious-persecution

In this episode of Talking History, we discuss the life, death and legacy of author and statesman Thomas More, who was beheaded by Henry VIII.Featuring: Dr Joanne Paul, senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of Sussex, and author of ‘Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England'; Prof Lucy Wooding, professor of history at the University of Oxford and author of ‘Tudor England: A History'; Dr Alexandra Gajda, Associate Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Oxford; and Prof Richard Rex, Professor of Reformation History at the University of Cambridge.

Jahmon "Killa" Spiller joins host Jake Murren on Episode 120 of Forged in Ohio. Representing Team Relentless, Jahmon is a 2-0 amateur mixed martial artist and former All-American college wrestler. In this episode, Jahmon talks about his wrestling foundation, starting his MMA career with two finishes, his goals as he continues his fighting journey, and more.Jahmon couldn't have started his career any better, and fans should take notice of this prospect in Ohio MMA. Discover more about Jahmon "Killa" Spiller by listening to Forged in Ohio today!Check out Jahmon on social media:Instagram: @obey_kingjFacebook: @jahmon.spiller.2025Forged in Ohio:Instagram: @forgedinohioFacebook: @forgedinohioYouTube: @forgedinohioX: @forgedinohioMerchandise: @forgedinohioMusic on Forged in Ohio is from FreeMusicArchive.org: Servants by Jahzzarhttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Servants/Servants

TVC 701.6: Actor and author Laurence Luckinbill talks to Ed about why St. Thomas More, the protagonist of Robert Bolt's award-winning play A Man for All Seasons, was one of the true disciples of Christ. Larry's autobiography, Affective Memories: How Chance and The Theater Saved My Life, is available wherever books are sold through Sunbury Press. Larry Luckinbill's A History and a Quest is a mini documentary that provides a primary lesson in fundamental civics and a history of why America exists and why true democracy matters. The complete piece runs about forty minutes and is well worth watching. Larry Luckinbill's A History and a Quest is available right now for viewing on demand for free on the Lucie Arnaz Official YouTube Channel.

We're back with another This Week in YouTube where we highlight some recent content from my YouTube channel. This week:What Happened to Anne Boleyn's Mother?; Did Henry VIII Ever Regret the Executions of Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, or Thomas More? Make sure you're subscribed at https://www.youtube.com/@hteysko so you don't miss all the content we put out!Support the podcast for even more exclusive contenthttps://www.patreon.com/englandcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Human nature and the possibility of utopiaThe idea of utopia - of a perfect society devoid of suffering and inequality - is planted firmly in the human imagination and psyche. From pre-biblical times to Thomas More and communism and beyond, widely disparate groups have attempted to plan or create a utopia. But is it achievable? And if not, why not?Join unconventional psychologist Paul Bloom as he makes the case for the impossibility of utopia given certain key features of human nature. We are not meant, he argues, for perfect harmony and equality. Paul Bloom is a researcher of perversion and suffering, so his perspective brings interesting insights on the question. But what do you think? Can we ever achieve utopia? Email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such topics discussed live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thomas More was one of the most famous—and notorious—figures in English history. Born into the era of the Wars of the Roses, educated during the European Renaissance, rising to become Chancellor of England, and ultimately destroyed by Henry VIII, he hunted Protestants for heresy and had them burnt at the stake in the final years of Catholic England, but after the English Reformation, he was executed himself when he refused to support Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the English Church. He also achieved literary immortality for his book Utopia, which describes an ideal, imaginary island society with communal property, religious tolerance, and social harmony, critiquing the political and social issues of 16th-century Europe. Was he a saintly scholar and an inspiration for statesmen and intellectuals even today? The Catholic Church would say ‘yes’, as they canonized him and made him the patron saint of statesmen. Or was he the cruel zealot who only wanted to burn Protestants alive and hold back England’s progress? Today’s guest is Joanne Paul, author of Thomas More: A Life. We look at a man who, more than four hundred years after his execution, remains one of the most brilliant minds of the Renaissance. He also shows us the limits of passive resistance and how somebody can achieve posthumous fame but also fail to affect the events of his day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thomas More is one of the most fascinating figures of the 16th century: saint, persecutor of Protestants, government official, martyr. But who was he, really? Dr. Joanne Paul has written a wonderful new biography of More, entitled Thomas More: A Life, which explores his origins and the world that shaped him. She joins Tides to discuss More, how the tumultuous England of his youth shaped him, and why he became one of the most enduring figures of the Tudor period.Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It's all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoDListen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistoryBe the first to know about Wondery's newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join host Natalie Grueninger in this engaging episode of Talking Tudors, as she welcomes Dr. Joanne Paul, an award-winning historian, to discuss her latest biography of Thomas More. Dive into the complex life of this Tudor figure, exploring his beginnings, political career, religious beliefs, and his nuanced relationship with Henry VIII. This episode provides insights into More's early years, his rise in Tudor politics, and his eventual downfall and execution. Discover how More was viewed by his contemporaries and the lasting impact of his controversial actions and beliefs. Learn more about the fascinating dynamics of the Tudor court and the historical context surrounding More's life. Dr. Joanne Paul also highlights important lessons that can be drawn from More's life, exploring themes of community, pride, and speaking truth to power. Explore a fresh perspective on Tudor history and gain a deeper understanding of this complex historical figure. Visit Dr Paul's official website https://joannepaul.com/ Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com Join me for '365 Days with Katherine of Aragon'!  https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2025/04/05/365-days-with-katherine-of-aragon-2/ Support Talking Tudors on Patreon

In the second of our special episodes exploring the rise and fall of Sir Thomas More, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Joanne Paul chart the great Tudor statesman's demise. Despite his silence about Henry VIII's self-proclamation as Supreme Head of the Church of England, More was executed for treason on 6 July 1535. What were the events leading up to his fall from grace? How did More's position impact the King? And what can we now make of this contradictory character and his contribution to Renaissance thought?Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.More:Thomas More on Film: The HIstorian's Verdict >Wolf Hall - Who's Who >Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries including Suzannah Lipscomb's series on the Dissolution of the Monasteries, plus a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on

Thomas More is one of the most famous and controversial figures in English history. Was he truly the saintly man of conscience, immortalised by A Man for All Seasons? Or was he the stubborn zealot depicted in Wolf Hall? In the first of two episodes looking at Thomas More's rise and fall, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Joanne Paul, whose decade-long research into More drew upon new archival discoveries to unravel his complex legacy, his profound influence on modern Europe, the enduring debates about his faith and politics, and why his story still matters. Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.More: Thomas More on Film: The Historians' Verdict >Wolf Hall - Who's Who? >Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on