In this time of seismic change and instability, many of us are finding the scale of injustice overwhelming. It can be inspiring to look to the Christian martyrs for justice whose lives were “written in blood” – extraordinary people whose stories of truth, justice and peace, in the face of indifference and opposition, offered witness to a hope-filled future of solidarity and fraternity. But what are the causes of injustice in our time, and what does it mean to live a life written in blood today?

This was the theme set for Jenny Sinclair for the 2023 Justice and Peace Europe General Assembly annual lecture. The lecture was given on 12 November 2023 in the oratory of St John’s co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta, before the masterpiece the Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/

Christian social action has grown significantly in the UK over the last two decades. But too often well-intentioned charitable initiatives are disconnected from justice, can deepen dependency and can drift in a secular direction. In a time of profound social and political change and increasing inequality, Jon Kuhrt opens up an honest conversation about impact, power and authentic Christian witness.

Drawing on the wisdom of the Christian traditions, including Catholic social thought and the theology of Lesslie Newbigin, Jon also reflects on the legacy of Frank Field, in whose honour this talk was given. MP for Birkenhead for forty years, Frank was a committed Christian who put his faith into practice, and was unequalled in his dedication to improving the lives of people trapped in poverty.

Jon Kuhrt is Chief Executive of Hope into Action and host of the Grace and Truth Blog. Formerly Jon was the Rough Sleeping Adviser to the UK Government Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and before that, CEO of West London Mission, and Director of Community Mission for Livability. He lives with his family in South London, and loves cricket.

This lecture was held on 15 July 2024 and is part of our 2024 series exploring how Catholic Social Thought helps us stay human and build the common good in these uncertain times. Introduced by Jenny Sinclair, this event was held in partnership with CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Maurice Glasman explores the forces undermining democracy and the importance of voluntary human association in defence of the sacred. Addressing reform of the polity through the lens of Catholic Social Thought's conception of political economy, he emphasises the civic inheritance of the vote, and its renewed significance in the abandoned places.

Lord Glasman is an Englsh political theorist, Labour life peer and Professor of Politics at St Mary’s University. He is author of Blue Labour: the Politics of the Common Good (Polity, 2022). He is also director of The Common Good Foundation which is involved in local community organising work in Grimsby.

This lecture was given on 12 July 2022 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Jenny Sinclair is founder director of Together for the Common Good, a UK charity dedicated to spiritual and civic renewal. Drawing on Catholic social thought, T4CG helps people across the churches make sense of this time of seismic change and discern their unique vocation for the common good.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

In the introductory lecture exploring the purpose of the series, and in the context of seismic change, Jenny Sinclair outlines the tradition of Catholic Social Thought as a framework to read the signs of the times and as a guide towards a coherent gospel-rooted response. She explores notions of justice, the common good, the vocation of the church and how we are each called to take responsibility.

Jenny Sinclair is founder director of Together for the Common Good, a UK charity dedicated to spiritual and civic renewal. Drawing on Catholic social thought, T4CG helps people across the churches make sense of this time of seismic change and discern their unique vocation for the common good.

This lecture was given on 7 June 2022 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

In this short opening episode, Ben Curran talks with Jenny Sinclair about her vision for the Lincoln Lecture Series, a series of nine lectures held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Jenny explains that Together for the Common Good is dedicated to spiritual and civic renewal and that the aim of this series is to show how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Jenny talks about the speakers who come from a range of traditions, each drawing on Catholic Social Thought to show how God calls us to engage with the world. Jenny describes briefly the focus of each lecture - from political participation and civic life, to what it means to be human, from economic reform to the dignity of work, from people and planet, to social peace.

Jenny Sinclair is founder director of Together for the Common Good, a UK charity dedicated to spiritual and civic renewal. Drawing on Catholic social thought, T4CG helps people across the churches make sense of this time of seismic change and discern their unique vocation for the common good.

Ben Curran is Head of Communications with Together for the Common Good.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Matt Petrusek demystifies the new secular ideologies, exploring their origins and features, offering a common good response rooted in the Catholic Social Thought tradition. He shows how this serves as an antidote to identity politics, providing us with not only a worldview shaped around the transcendent nature of the person, but also, in this moment of cultural confusion, an opportunity for evangelisation.

Professor Matthew Petrusek is the Senior Director and Professor of Catholic Ethics at the Word on Fire Institute in the US. He writes and lectures on philosophical and theological ethics, Christian theology, politics, social issues and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His latest book is Evangelisation and Ideology: How to understand and respond to the political culture.

This lecture was held on 1 February 2024 and is part of our 2024 series exploring how Catholic Social Thought helps us stay human and build the common good in these uncertain times. Introduced by Jenny Sinclair, this was held in partnership with Word on Fire UK and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Drawing on Catholic Social Teaching, Sr Helen Alford examines the causes of division from the perspectives of economy, anthropology, truth, freedom and natural law, and explores how the people of the church are called to respond.

Sr Helen Alford is president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and Dean of the Faculty for Social Sciences at the Angelicum, Rome’s Pontifical University. An economist, she teaches economic ethics, the history of technology, labour politics, and Catholic social thought. Sr Helen is from England, lives in Rome and is a sister of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena of Newcastle, Natal.

This lecture was given on 27 November 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Drawing on Catholic Social Teaching, Alison Milbank explores the common good approach to the conflicting interests of the environmental crisis and social injustice, and how the local church can be a part of the solution.

Alison Milbank is Professor of Theology and Literature at the University of Nottingham and has authored many books. She is Priest Vicar and Canon Theologian at Southwell Minster, and co-founder of the Save the Parish movement. Alison is the author of many books, the latest of which is The Once and Future Parish (SCM, 2023).

This lecture was given on 17 October 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Jon Cruddas explores why decent work must be the cornerstone of a politics of the common good and why work is fundamentally a spiritual activity through which people collaborate with God for the redemption of humanity.

Jon Cruddas is the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham and author of The Dignity of Labour. Jon is an Honorary Professor at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. He is also a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and a visiting professor at the University of Leicester.

This lecture was given on 14 September 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA. NB. This was rescheduled from 11 July when Jon Cruddas was detained in Parliament.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Maurice Glasman addresses the nature of work and how it has changed, how corporations have gained power while workers have lost out. He explores how the framework of Catholic social thought can guide us towards a more just and stable settlement.

Lord Glasman is an English political theorist, Labour life peer and Professor of Politics at St Mary’s University. He is author of Blue Labour: the Politics of the Common Good. He is also director of The Common Good Foundation.

This lecture was given on 11 July 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA. NB. Jon Cruddas MP was scheduled to give this lecture, but was detained at the House of Commons. Lord Glasman kindly stepped in and gave this talk off-the-cuff at the last minute. The Jon Cruddas lecture was rescheduled for 14 September 2023 (see below).

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Adrian Pabst argues that Catholic Social Thought is the most coherent body of ideas for social renewal, a gift to the world. In practical, grounded terms, he sets out how this tradition not only conceptualises a more just economy anchored in the dignity of the person and of work, but also reconciles the estranged interests of capital and labour, finance and production.

Adrian Pabst is Professor of Politics at the University of Kent, author of Postliberal Politics: The Coming Era of Renewal, and Deputy Director at The National Institute of Economic and Social Research. An acknowledged expert in Catholic Social Thought and political economy, Adrian is among the leading figures seeding a growing cross party consensus for economic and civic renewal.

This lecture was given on 23 May 2023 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Addressing the mission of the Church of England in light of Catholic Social Teaching, Malcolm Brown explores the Anglican legacy for the common good and asks how it might become a church for England.

Malcolm Brown is the Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England, and Visiting Professor in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester. He is author of Anglican Social Theology: Renewing the Vision Today

This lecture was given on 18 October 2022 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.

Learn more at www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk

Listen to our sister podcast, Leaving Egypt, where we read the signs of the times and look to local stories of hope in these times of unravelling.

Looking through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching and its focus on human flourishing, Edward Hadas examines the effects of modernity on the human being, and asks whether, in the modern world, we can truly be who we were created to be.

Edward Hadas is a Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford and a freelance journalist. An expert in Catholic Social Teaching, he teaches and lectures in Oxford and elsewhere and is the author of many books, including Counsels of Imperfection: Thinking Through Catholic Social Teaching.

This lecture was given on 27 September 2022 as part a series of nine lectures featuring speakers from different traditions who draw on Catholic Social Thought to explore how the Christian tradition can be a blessing on public life and discourse. Introduced and curated by Jenny Sinclair, these talks were held in partnership with Lincoln Cathedral and CCLA.