Monsignor James Shea, is co-author of the bestselling book ‘From Christendom to Apostolic Mission’. He is also President of the University of Mary, North Dakota. Monsignor Shea grew up on a dairy farm in Hazelton, North Dakota, and has studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., the Vatican’s North American College, the University of Chicago, and Harvard. He is passionate about the Church’s ability to respond to the challenges of the contemporary age.

Wednesday 8 March marks International Women's Day and so we wanted to speak to some Christian women to speak about their understanding of what it means to be a woman, the role of women, and the challenges faced by women in wider society and in the ChurchIn this podcast we welcome Jael Lutandila and Jade Broadley.  

Jael studied Broadcast Journalism at Leeds Trinity University.  She lives in Bradford and she describes herself as a Christian Evangelic. Her career interest is TV production and her favourite hobbies are running, praying and spending time with her loved ones. 

Jade is from Leeds and is the National Director at Youth 2000 – a Catholic ministry that provides opportunities for young people to encounter Christ and His Church, primarily through retreat days and weekends, as well as formation programmes. She’s always loved International Women’s Day because she gets to celebrate her mum’s birthday on that day too!

Following the recent Trinity Conference: A Catholic response to a digital age- a conference hosted by Leeds Trinity University on some of the dangers (and opportunities)  of a tech-driven world- we’re looking in this episode at the question of Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and the future of morality in a world controlled by computers! We welcome Joseph Nelson, a Masters by Research student at Leeds Trinity University. A big focus for Joseph’s studies is the ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

As it is The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, your guest host is Joseph Nelson - Associate Lutheran Chaplain and current Masters student at Leeds Trinity University, Joseph is chatting to Fr Tony Currer who is a priest of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and who also works at pontifical council and is responsible for relationships with the Methodist church and the Anglican Communion. Join Joseph and Fr Tony Currer as they discuss the topic of Christian Unity and how we can work towards unity together.

This month’s topic is slightly different, in that there isn’t one!  We’ve gathered a group of Christians- a Catholic, an Anglican and a Baptist- to answer some of your biggest questions about Christianity.  We simply asked our students ‘If you could ask a Christian any on question, what would it be?’ and we received loads of questions, some of which we’re going to try and answer for you today. 

This month’s topic is ‘How can I serve the poor this Lent?’

Lent is traditionally a time where Christians remember the time Jesus spent in the desert- 40 days and 40 nights -where he wandered through the wilderness, without food or shelter, being tempted by the devil.  As a spiritual practice, in solidarity with Jesus, and in order to draw closer to Him, Christians are called during Lent to do three things: Fast, Pray, and Give Alms, which basically means give to those in need.  Lent lasts about 6 weeks and ends with the ultimate ‘giving up’ of Jesus’ life on the cross, and is immediately followed by the Feast of the Resurrection – Easter!  More on THAT next episode!

There isn’t really a subtle way to introduce our topic for this month- we’re here to talk about sex.  Catholic sex, specifically!  What do I mean?  Well, for many people when they think about the Catholic Church and sex, they think one of two things: They think either of the sex scandals that have dogged the church over the last few decades, the extent of which are just coming to light in recent years.  Or they think of a Church that is opposed to all sexual activity- it’s all bad- no to sex before marriage, no to contraception, no to same-sex marriage, etc, etc.  In the beginning was the word, and the word was ‘no’!  

A big question on peoples’ minds at the moment is ‘What will a Covid-Christmas look like this year? Will Christmas be cancelled?’ Obviously people are asking this question as they’re working out how and if they’ll family and friends as part of their ‘Christmas bubble’, but regardless of what the Christmas bubble allows, there’s a widespread sense that something special, something beautiful, will be lost this year because of what’s going on with Coronavirus. We're so excited to say we have with us a real life nun, one from an American order called the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, Sr Faustina.  Sr Faustina is a great friend of the Chaplaincy, is on campus a lot, so if you see a woman in a grey habit, sandals and a great big smile, then you’ve probably seen Sr Faustina, or one of the sisters she lives with!

As part of their Coronavirus lockdown measures on the 5th November, the UK government prohibited communal prayer in all places of worship. Faith leaders from across the country were all unanimous, and wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister, objecting to this. They said that places of worship were Covid-secure, and closing them would have adverse effect on the nation’s mental health. But is this true? Can faith help my mental health? And if faith is so good for mental health, why do believers struggle with mental health?

Welcome to the first episode of Chaplaincy Chats!

In this episode, we just wanted to dive straight into the deep end with, probably, the most difficult, mysterious question of life- why do we suffer, and if there is a God, why does he allow it? We understand this can be a difficult topic to talk about. If you have any questions or want to discuss anything about this podcast, message us on

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