What is

Catholic Voices?

Catholic Voices is a project which began in the UK to improve the Church's representation in the media, above all in news programs and debates. It started in 2010 with the six-month training of 24 lay people and a priest in preparation for the UK visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Our appearances on over 100 programs at that time made a big impression on bishops and broadcasters alike and we were urged to continue.

Since then the project has grown in many ways in the UK and has spread quickly around the world: so far over 20 CV groups have started in different countries in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

In the UK, we have continued to train speakers via our national speakers' training programme selecting and preparing a new team each autumn. In the last few years we have also trained our speakers to give talks in parishes about the CV method and how to use it to talk about controversial issues involving the Church.

Speakers trained

100+

We have officially trained over 100 speakers who have spoken officially as CV’s in a variety of contexts.

Media Appearances

1,100+

Since 2010 we have appeared on a variety of news outlets such as BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera and many more.

We run regular events under the auspices of the Catholic Voices Academy (info on the latest events can be found in the Events section of the website). The purpose of the Academy is to help Catholics in the UK to make their voices heard in public life. That means learning to think in terms of the common good, and developing arguments that convince in a culture dominated by the ethic of autonomy.

At the heart of the CV project is an approach and a method which allow Catholics to understand why the criticism of the Church can be intense, and how to identify with the (usually distorted Christian) values behind that criticism. The method, which we call reframing, is designed to avoid the defensiveness and self-defeating responses which many  Catholics instinctively deploy in the face of hostility; and it lies behind our books and materials. The latest, published in the US, is Austen Ivereigh's How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice (Our Sunday Visitor), which has been translated and adapted into several languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.

We are often asked to give workshops and trainings, as well as media consultancy work.

Catholic Voices does not represent the bishops' conference of England and Wales in the media (contact the CCN) but has its blessing.

You can download our latest brochure here.

If you would like to be involved, or support CV in any way, please do get in contact the coordinators by writing to them at info@catholicvoices.org.uk