Category: Audio

  • Why do we scapegoat?

    Why do we scapegoat?

    James Alison says scapegoating is one of our oldest social behaviours. But casting someone out to maintain group cohesion has its obvious drawbacks — particularly for the person taking the fall! As a gay Catholic priest, Dr Alison was drawn to the work of French polymath René Girard, who proposed that scapegoating is not the…

  • Andrew Sullivan’s The Dishcast

    Andrew Sullivan’s The Dishcast

    Author, editor and blogger Andrew Sullivan is talking to James about his life, faith, sexuality, Church and all in between.

  • Priceless Podcast Interview

    Priceless Podcast Interview

    James talks to the Priceless Podcast about his journey to becoming a priest and what is happening within the church.

  • On pastoral care of LGBTQ+ community

    A presentation and discussion organised by the Irish Association of Catholic Priests.

  • Gay, Grace & René Girard: Inverse podcast

    Gay, Grace & René Girard: Inverse podcast

    James Alison is interviewed by Jarod McKenna based in Perth, Australia, for the Inverse podcast.

  • Queerology podcast

    James discusses his faith journey, René Girard and mimetic theory, the scapegoat mechanism, Sacred (or Holy) vs. Mysticism (or Mythification) of Divine as churches crumble, intelligence of victim, and grace and growth.

  • Gay priest James Alison says “Deal With It”

    Gay priest James Alison says “Deal With It”

    Vine and Fig podcast co-founder Pat Gothman and his fiancé Jacob Flores interview James Alison about his phone call with Pope Francis, what he thinks Pope Francis wants to happen in the Church on LGBTQ issues, why the gay issue is more an emotional issue for the Church than a theological one, the unique spiritual…

  • From the outside in

    From the outside in

    A Canadian podcast, Ferment, invited James Alison for a lively conversation. In the producers’ words, James Alison might insist that he is “fairly clearly not an authority, and often just a silly old queen,” but underneath his mirth and modesty lies an exceptional theological depth. America: The Jesuit Review hails this institutional outsider as an authority who “belongs…

  • Nomad podcast

    Nomad podcast

    It’s a word we’re all familiar with, it’s through the violence of the scapegoating mechanism that civilisations are built. And, it is through the scapegoating mechanism that the cross heals. It’s a fascinating way of understanding the atonement, especially for those of us disillusioned with models of atonement that require a violent God.

  • One in Christ: why do LGBTQI people feel excluded by the Churches?

    One in Christ: why do LGBTQI people feel excluded by the Churches?

    An audio recording of James Alison and Sarah Bachelard discussing the meaning of homosexuality for today. – Why has a natural human orientation so often been cruelly punished and persecuted by church authorities? Why do churches still split over the issue? A SoundCloud stream (87 minutes) Sarah Bachelard is a theologian, retreat leader and priest in Anglican…