Resources 

Audio- and Video-Recordings

The CCS has created a large collection of recent talks, some of which are available as videos and others of which are available as audios. The audios can be accessed via Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and the videos are available via the CCS’s YouTube channel. 

Resources from 2019’s Franciscan Legacy Conference

In 2019, the CCS hosted the Franciscan Legacy conference, bringing together members of the Franciscan family, theologians, historians, and others to explore the continuing significance of St Francis and Franciscan traditions. Audios from the conference are available on Soundcloud, including talks by Ilia Delio, Mona Siddiqui, and John McCafferty. Some of the other papers are available as pdfs – the full programme is here and if you would like to a request a paper, please email ccs.admin@durham.ac.uk.   

Resources on Receptive Ecumenism 

A list of publications and resources on Receptive Ecumenism 

The Outreach of Our Two Endowed Chairs  

The CCS has created two pioneering academic Chairs, each of which commit 20% of their time to community outreach and engagement: 

The Bede Chair

The Bede Chair in Catholic Theology stands in a special relationship to the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. The Bede Professor serves as theological advisor to the Bishop, speaks at diocesan and parish level events, and engages with teachers and students in the Diocesan school system. Recent talks from Karen include: 

• The Passionists’ 'Love and Suffering' Seminar:
• 'Love and Suffering: Some Preliminary Thoughts'
• 'Suffering and the Question of Meaning'
• 'Solidarity and Compassion: Love in the Face of Suffering'
• 'Death: A Hesitation. Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and the Theological Construal of Death'
• 'Vocation, Joy and Suffering'
• 'The Venerable Bede, Oscar Romero, and the Nature of Christian Vocation'  

The St Hilda Post 

The St Hilda Chair, specialising in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, works with faith based organisations, policy makers, activists, social entrepreneurs and Church groups (among others). Recent resources by Anna include: 

• Contribution to 'Confined at Easter: What Lessons for Humanity?' 13 April 2020 
• Workshop: 'Locating Faith in Humanitarian Practice and Local Community Response', facilitated by Prof. Alastair Ager & Dr Anna Rowlands.  
• 'Rethinking Community Rights: Theory and Practice'.  
• 'Pope Pius XII’s Christmas Messages: A Dialogue in Mid-Century Catholic Social Thought' 
• For Our Welfare and Not For Our Harm. Report by Dr Anna Rowlands, in collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Service UK, finds that asylum seekers in destitution and detention feel dehumanised by the asylum system but find strength through community membership, faith and volunteering. 

Covid-19 Resources: Thoughts on the Pandemic

CCS members offer some thoughts about the pandemic - some words of hope, consolation, food for thought and more. 

CCS Staff

• What do pandemics change? Confidence despite suffering in the era of the Black Death. A piece considering the reflections of Julian of Norwich. 
• The paradoxes of enclosure 
• The suspended beauty of the cross 
• Glimpses of a new order 
• Dark Times and the Principle of Hope 
• Living in a time out of shape (What does it mean to spend time well, and how might our collective experience of the current restrictions affect the way we impose them on others in future?) 
• Simone Weil and the gift of inarticulacy: How not to live in lockdown 
• How not to be an idiot: Hannah Arendt on public life in Covid-19 times 
• Gillian Rose and the politics of mourning 
• Covid-19, distractions, and hope 

 CCS Students 

• Covid-19, vulnerability and grief 
• Empowerment in a time of pandemic: Reflections on Rahner's theology of sickness 
• How to avoid getting distracted in lockdown: Pursuing real hope with Simone Weil 
• A view from the middle: Trauma theology and Covid-19 
• Rooting the Cross in its soil: the danger of sanitising grassroots movements during Covid-19 

Other CCS Members 

• Curation of the Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice's Covid-19 Blog Project 
• What Covid-19 can teach us about trans inclusion 
• My career may not survive this tempest 
• Co-curation of Narratives of Resilience, a podcast featuring research from the History Department on human responses to crisis and disaster 

Two-Year Patristic Lectionary

A 'patristic lectionary' is a series of readings from the fathers (in Latin patres) of the Church. Here we make available a two-year patristic lectionary initially edited by Stephen Mark Holmes (University of Edinburgh School of Divinity) and subsequently re-edited and formatted by Michele Freyhauf (Durham University); for Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland. The aim of this two-year patristic lectionary is: 

• To have each patristic reading either related to the Scripture reading or to the season of the Church's year. 
• To have a reading for every day of the Temporal cycle (i.e., including days such as Christmas, Ascension, Sacred Heart). 
• To have the vast majority of the 'patristic' readings from the Fathers of the Church, although following medieval precedent writers such as Origen have been included. This gives it ecumenical value. 
• To use readings from the one year cycle in the Divine Office and the two year cycle of Word in Season whenever possible. 
• To include the texts of a complete two-year Scripture cycle, as approved by the Holy See, for use with the patristic readings. 

Download the full two-year patristic lectionary  

A talk by Carmody Grey to the Royal Geographical Society - What's philosophy got to do with it? Carmody Grey RGS Lecture 140222