“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 us to the music imbued in God’s creation.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Katie Marquette

Listen to Katie’s podcast: Born of Wonder

Follow Rachel on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Katie on social media: @bornofwonder

Read Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Join Katie Marquette on a pilgrimage to Ireland: https://www.bornofwonder.com/come-to-ireland-with-me

Rachel was also previously a guest on the Born of Wonder podcast. To listen to that episode, click here: S7:10 EP102: Taylor Swift and the Power of Collective Experience with Rachel Sherlock

Works Referenced:

Music is fundamentally joy, says this professor of music

What about Bad Music?

Pope Benedict XVI and The Power of Music

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment

Katie: Les Misérables [Katie’s recent episode on this topic: S7:12 EP 104: The Economy of Love in Les Miserables with Maddie Dobrowski]

Rachel: Detectorists

"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, poetry, and philosophy. In our episode today we discuss the process of publishing, how to strive for excellent in craft while encouraging new writers, and publishing as a vocation. We dive into Dana Gioia's essay "The Catholic Writer Today" and address the problems facing Catholic writing and publishing in our current times.

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Mary Finnegan

Follow us on social media: @seekingwatson @maryraphaela

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Wiseblood Books: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/

University of St Thomas: Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Dappled Things: https://www.dappledthings.org/

Works Mentioned

"The Catholic Writer Today" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

The Catholic Writer Today by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Mystery and Manners by Flannery O'Connor

"Christianity and Poetry" by Dana Gioia - Article in First Things

Christianity and Poetry by Dana Gioia - Monograph by Wiseblood

Under Satan's Sun by Georges Bernanos

The Demons: A Double-Volume Novel by Heimito von Doderer

Seneca: The Madness of Hercules, Translated and Introduced by Dana Gioia

Memory's Abacus: Poems by Anna Lewis

Painting Over the Growth Chart: Poems, by Dan Rattelle

Works of Mercy by Sally Thomas

How to Think Like a Poet by Ryan Wilson

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

"A Theology of Fiction" by Cassandra Nelson

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

“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 books are full of wonder and imagination as well as practical detail, as they follow a group of children spending their holidays in the Lake District of northern England. The children sail, set up camp, climb mountains and have many delightful adventures. In our podcast discussion we explore the importance of this sense of adventure for both children and adults, and how this relates to our spiritual lives and how we embrace God’s plan for us. We discuss the balance of duty and responsibility with the sense of freedom that this kind of adventuring perspective brings, and we highlight the connection with Creation that can come from being out in nature.

Works mentioned in this episode

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Matilda by Roald Dahl

‘Swallows and Amazons for Ever!’ Slightly Foxed, by Jim Ring

Spe Salvi by Pope Benedict XVI

“Encounter of His Holiness Benedict XVI with the Youth, Saint Peter's Square, Thursday, 6 April 2006”

S2:9 EP18: Wonder in a Digital Age, Born of Wonder podcast

“Swallows, Amazons and Adventure, Part 1” by Jon Sparks

“Oxford Junior Dictionary’s replacement of ‘natural’ words with 21st-century terms sparks outcry”, The Guardian, Alison Flood

What We’re Enjoying at the Moment:

Phoebe: BBC’s Hildegard von Bingen - In Portrait (1994)

Rachel: Knitting