This episode of The Church's Radical Reform is an interview with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras and a member of Pope Francis’ council of cardinal advisers.

The Church in Latin and Central America has been at the forefront of reform in Catholicism. Cardinal Maradiaga tells Christopher Lamb how the synodal process is something “totally new”.

He discusses how synodal reforms are being implemented, while also talking about Pope Francis’ plans to reform the Vatican. A keen saxophonist and musician, he says the Church must aim to create a symphony out of a cacophony of different voices.

He sees the future of the Church as lay people taking a lead. Every day more lay men and women are taking on responsibilities in the life of the Church, he says.

Regarding the role of women, he said: “In our countries in central American, women have been all the time leaders.” In many communities, women form the majority churchgoers and responsible for catechesis and passing on the faith. Clergy are “servants” and not people of power. In the Curia, highly-qualified women were now being placed in positions of leadership by Pope Francis.

The Catholic Church has embarked on a two-year synodal pathway towards the Synod of Bishops on synodality in 2023. Women’s submissions to the synodal process must be made “as public as possible” in order to prevent any attempt to airbrush them out, theologian and broadcaster, Professor Tina Beattie said at a webinar hosted by the Tablet. The retired Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton said making submissions public would ensure that “if our voices are airbrushed out, or if the things we say that they don't like are airbrushed out, we can say this is not discernment. It is censorship”. Natalie K. Watson, Publishing Editor of the Pastoral Review, was in conversation with Tina Beattie, Penelope Middelboe, author and podcaster, Daisy Srblin, chief executive of the Catholic charity Million Minutes, and Dr Alana Harris, director of Liberal Arts and Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at King’s College, London, about synodality and the experience of women in the Catholic Church.

The synod process is opening up discussion about the role of female leadership in the Church.

In this episode, Christopher Lamb discusses what shape these roles could take, the position of women in early Christianity and why a “synodal” Church is a more inclusive one.

To find out more, he speaks to Professor Phyllis Zagano, who served on Pope Francis’ commission looking at female deacons, Nicola Brady, who has been tasked by the Irish bishops to lead their national synod and Susan Pascoe, an adviser to the Vatican and expert in church governance.

Executive Producer: Silvia Sacco

In a new podcast series on synodality, “The Church’s Radical Reform”, Christopher Lamb explores the most ambitious Catholic renewal project in 60 years which was launched last month by Pope Francis. Episode One asks "What is a Synod?" and focuses on why a global synodal process is needed, what it might achieve and the opposition it is already facing. Among those interviewed for this episode are Sister Nathalie Becquart, from the synod office in Rome, Fr Hans Zollner, the Church's leading expert child protection, and Fr Jan Nowotnik, Director of Mission for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. The series is sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University in partnership with The Tablet. Producers: Silvia Sacco and Jamie Weston.

We talk to Kashaf Zahid of Gumley House School in West London, the winner of the 2021 Columban Schools Competition, Let’s create a world without racism, and to James Trewby, Columban Education Worker in Britain. Racism was chosen as a topic by the Columbans for its 2021 competition after many young people joined street protests on Black Lives Matter last summer. The fourth annual competition, it was the most popular to date, with the two strands of articles and images attracting almost 300 entries from nearly 100 schools. Competition results were released in the lead up to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Sunday 21 March 2021. Read Kashaf's winning entry here.

“For me, to live is Christ”, says St Paul. That’s where we find ultimate meaning, where everything in our lives comes together. Lent 3 [A & B]2021. The Samaritan Woman at the Well (alternative gospel). John 4:5-42. A sermon by Fr Alban McCoy OFM Conv.