Risking Enchantment

"I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

In this episode, Jacob Moran returns to join me on a dive back into Middle-Earth, this time to explore the character of Frodo Baggins. Even among fans of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo comes in for a dea...

"I was feeling like I never was young

Followed a dream and a strange desire

You picked me up in the dead of the night

And gave me a chance to move on inside of your mystery"

- You're Still a Mystery, Bleachers

In this February episode of Risking Enchantment, Matthias Conroy joins after a five year absence to talk about one of our favourite bands and albums, Strange Desire by Bleachers.

Bleachers is founded and fronted by pop prod...

"[T]he life and work of the Forerunner, especially as presented in the gospel of John, greatly illuminates the poetic character of Christian life—indeed of all life"

- Dwight Lindley, "The Poetics of John the Baptist"

Risking Enchantment is back for 2025 and for our first episode of the year we’re taking a look at St. John the Baptist. We discuss a fictionalised depiction o...

"I can imagine that if there existed a God who loved, the devil would be driven to destroy even the weakest, most faulty imitation of that love. Wouldn’t he be afraid that the habit of love might grow, and wouldn’t he try to trap us all into being traitors, into helping him extinguish love."

- Graham Greene

This episode of Risking Enchantment features a recording of paper given by Rachel Sherlock at this year's Fall Conference he...

“I am not a reformer nor an embalmer! I am not a ‘reformer’ (by exercise of power) since it seems doomed to Sarumanism. But ‘embalming’ has its own punishments.”

-J.R.R. Tolkien

For this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Holly Ordway, Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute. We discuss her recent title, Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which traces Tolkien’s experience of the Catholic faith th...

“I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then a relaxation—but steady, every-day goodness is beyond me. I must be a moral kangaroo!”

-Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

In our final episode before the summer break, Phoebe and Rachel are joined by their good friend, and long-time Risking Enchantment listener, Jacob Moran, to discuss his favourite novel: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. We discuss how Gaskell dem...

“Joyful singing and music is likewise a constant invitation to believers and to all people of good will to work hard to give humanity a future rich in hope.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

In this episode we are joined by Katie Marquette, host of the Born of Wonder podcast. We discuss our love of music, what can learn about the human desire to write new songs about our common experiences, and how participating in the creation of music unites...

"We are watchful for works written in a contemporary idiom that yet reach the roots of fundamental questions, that honor the almost three-thousand-year-long conversations committed to these questions, and that incite our hunger for the splendor of truth."

Masthead for Wiseblood Books

We are delighted to welcome to the podcast Mary Finnegan, deputy editor at Wiseblood Books, a small Catholic press which fosters works of fiction, poe...

“What does the Lord want of me?  Of course, this is always a great adventure, but life can be successful only if we have the courage to be adventurous, trusting that the Lord will never leave me alone, that the Lord will go with me and help me.”

    – Pope Benedict XVI

For this episode of Risking Enchantment, Rachel and Phoebe discuss Arthur Ransome’s series of children’s books known as the Swallows and Amazons series. These b...

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

We are joined for this episode of Risking Enchantment by Catholic author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson. Eleanor has previously published several Gothic novels including, A Bloody Habit (2018) and Brother Wolf (2021), with her l...

But if there’s nothing, if there’s nothing Then what’s that song that keeps hounding me? In the still dark of the morning Just one more cradle down the creek Au revoir my little memories Then tell me: this is not your loss, this is your offering

- Wake, 'Offerings'

In this episode we are joined again by Shane Jenkins to discuss the album Offerings by Typhoon. Led by singer-songwriter Kyle Morton, the album is a fascinating, at...

Welcome back to Risking Enchantment! For our first episode of 2024, Rachel and Phoebe discuss the place that poetry has in our everyday lives, its importance in our faith, and why it’s good to learn poetry by heart. We highlight some of the poems that have been most impactful in our lives and spotlight some of the great resources for Catholics interested in poetry today.

Click here for more information about Select Tours: Irish W...

"It is emptiness like the hollow in the reed, the narrow restless emptiness which can have only one destiny: to receive the piper’s breath and to utter the song that is in his heart." - Caryll Houselander

In our Christmas episode of Risking Enchantment, we are looking at a seasonal devotional classic, Caryll Houselander’s The Reed of God. This small book packs a powerful punch in its meditations on the humanity of Mary, the Moth...

After an unexpected hiatus, Risking Enchantment is back. In this episode we’re taking a look at some classic family movies and what they can tell us about our attitudes towards growing up, and our modern tendency to stay in a perpetual adolescence. We’re looking at the kingdom of Vulgaria in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where children are illegal but the toy maker is in high demand from the Baron and Baroness. We are also discussing Ji...

“Fiction is hard if not impossible to write because fiction is so very much an incarnation art…The fact is that the materials of the fiction are the humblest. Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn’t try to write fiction. It’s not a grand enough job for you.” - Flannery O’Connor

In this episode we are joined by Shane Jenkins to discuss the mystery of ...

“The perfect stillness of the night was thrilled by a more solemn silence. The darkness held a presence that was all the more felt because it was not seen. I could not any more have doubted that He was there than that I was. Indeed, I felt myself to be, if possible, the less real of the two.” —William James

In this episode of Risking Enchantment, we are delighted to welcome back Katie Marquette, host of the podcast Born of Wonder,...

"The man on his holiday becomes the man he might have been, the man he could have been, had things worked out a little differently. All men are equal on their holidays: all are free to dream their castles without thought of expense, or skill of architect. Dreams based upon such a delicate fabric must be nursed with reverence and held away from the crude light of tomorrow week."

- R.C. Sherriff

For our first official episode back,...

"First become a person" - St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

This bonus episode is the recording of a talk I gave over this summer for the Youth 2000 summer festival on Catholic womanhood.

The slides discussed in the talk can be found by clicking the following link: Presentation Slides

To find out more about Youth 2000 Ireland and their mission click here: Youth 2000

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Follow me on social media: ...

“Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all the other creatures to the feast of Creation.” - Wendell Berry

In this, our last episode before the summer break, Phoebe is back to discuss some of our favourite children’s literature. We explore the theme of health and healing, in Goodnight Mr. Tom and The Secret Garden, and how both stories show th...