Religion & Spirituality

The Big Tent

by Geraldine Doogue

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Latest episodes

From Austria to Australia: 175 years of the Jesuit mission at Sevenhill

October 13, 2026 · 23 min

At Sevenhill in South Australia’s Clare Valley, Julie Thorpe joins Jesuit priest Fr Brendan Kelly to uncover a remarkable journey from revolutionary Europe to the Australian frontier. Marking 175 years since the mission began, they explore…
Is the Vatican the last international?

September 25, 2026 · 31 min

As the institutions that once held the world order together falter, can a transatlantic pope bridge the gulf between competing global visions? Historian Massimo Faggioli speaks with Geraldine Doogue about whether the Vatican is 'the last…
The Forbidden Call: Women Priests with filmmaker Marie Mandy

September 16, 2026 · 31 min

What happens when a woman’s vocation collides with centuries of Church tradition? Geraldine Doogue and Julie Thorpe speak with award-winning Belgian filmmaker Marie Mandy about The Forbidden Call: Women Priests, her documentary following…
'Weimar America'? Christianity and the battle for meaning

August 18, 2026 · 31 min

For decades, The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan has written about politics and faith as a veteran observer of the United States and author of three books on Christianity. He joins Geraldine Doogue to discuss the crisis of…
Leo to cardinals: 'I need your support'

July 1, 2026 · 31 min

While the world looks to Pope Leo for moral authority, he's looking to the cardinals for moral support. Br Mark O'Connor has been in Rome as the cardinals met against a backdrop of escalating conflicts and Leo's interventions on the limits…

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Changing belief: where to from here?

June 26, 2026 · 33 min

In this final conversation in our mini-series on changing belief, Geraldine Doogue, Julie Thorpe, Grace Brennan and Joe Wehbe draw together some of the questions they've been left with: the evolving role of tradition, setting aside old…
Changing belief: between faith and fiction

June 10, 2026 · 33 min

Joe Wehbe sits down with his brother Mitchell to reflect on their family's Maronite background, their changing relationships to church, and finding meaning in anime. The journey of belief – from an Uber Eats God to a pirate healer – has…
Changing belief: faith in the bush

May 29, 2026 · 36 min

What does it mean to wrestle with belief while living remotely in rural Australia? In this episode of our mini-series on changing belief, Grace Brennan speaks with Maddie Burnheim – raising her family on a property in western New South…
Changing belief: beyond the manosphere

May 24, 2026 · 38 min

In episode two of our miniseries on changing belief, Geraldine Doogue and Julie Thorpe explore why so many young men are drawn to online communities that promise seemingly a secure hold amid so much sliding from their grasp: education…
Changing belief: when does belief return?

May 13, 2026 · 29 min

‘Humanity has never had so many people living beyond the working stage of life as now,' says demographer and social commentator Bernard Salt, 'and we have to work out how to fund it, how to manage it, how to house it, how to care for it…
Travelling with an American pope

May 1, 2026 · 31 min

‘Peace be with you all!’ Pope Leo’s first words to the world have resounded across continents — for all to hear. Fresh off the papal plane from Africa, CNN's Christopher Lamb speaks with Geraldine Doogue about what it means for the Church…
Voices from the Pacific: an immigrant bishop

April 28, 2026 · 23 min

When Archbishop Ryan Jimenez met Pope Leo at the Vatican last year, ahead of his ordination as Agaña’s archbishop in the US territory of Guam, he brought a message from the Pacific: ‘Holy Father, we’re sinking.’ During his recent visit to…

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About the show

We have a new Pope. Does a new era beckon for the Catholic Church in Australia and the world? Join Geraldine Doogue and an inter-generational cast in The Big Tent, hosting an honest, contemporary search that aims, in the prophet Isaiah's words, to 'enlarge the space of your tent'. Welcome!