Songs in the Wilderness – Guest Robert Tickle

Robert Tickel

Songs in the Wilderness – Guest Robert Tickle

I am a member of my local parish church in Olney in Buckinghamshire. I enjoy, as a Catholic, that one can just worship with people from the local area. In normal times, I enjoy the sung hymns and incense and the refreshments and chat afterwards.  I also enjoy attending the sung Ordinariate Mass at Warwick Street in London. It is a warm community. The Mass is traditional with sacral English and there is a fine choir. As a convert, I appreciate the patrimony we have brought from the Anglican tradition as Pope Benedict called for. I very much enjoyed that type of worship, although I appreciate the variety of all the different styles of Catholic worship. I occasionally attend an Extraordinary form of Mass. I appreciate the richness of the different ways of being Catholic including the Eastern Rites. I think is is great that Catholic worship is not monolithic. It can range from the fine music and dignified traditional liturgy of somewhere like Westminster Cathedral, to informality and guitars and even charismatic worship. All these praise God in different ways. In normal times I am a server. I like serving others. I am a member of the Catholic Record Society which studies Catholic history especially from the Recusant period. I am a member of the Walsingham Association as I value the witness of Walsingham to the Incarnation and the importance of Our Lady’s prayers for England. I am also a member of the Association for Latin Liturgy, the Friends of Cathedral Music and the Ordinariate. I think it is important to keep up with developments in the Church and I am active in Catholic social media.

I am involved with Radio Maria England as I believe that, as Catholics, we should utilise the available media to evangelise, to catechise and to encourage people in their faith.  Radio Maria has a great variety of content, both teaching and devotional. As a former Anglican priest and school chaplain, I hope to share my talents with our listeners.  My last school was non denominational but I prepared some pupils for confirmation in the Catholic Church. Even the music on Radio Maria is varied and will appeal to all tastes from modern to classical.

My hopes are for us to reach out to more listeners, to encourage people in their faith and also to help people who are seeking full meaning in their lives.  I would encourage people to listen. The liturgies and prayers help people direct their lives towards God. The various interviews and talks help introduce people to theology and to give flesh to the bones of their faith, and to introduce people to the richness of Catholic culture and identity.

We have a great story to tell: the Good News of salvation through Christ, the great work of the Church as the world’s largest educator, the putting into practice of the Church’s social teaching and the care for the poor and persecuted.

Tune in on Wednesday, June 9th at 11am for the LIVE broadcast of Songs in the Wilderness.  This will be rebroadcast Thursday (10 June) at 9pm, Saturday (12 June) at 8pm and Tuesday (15 June) at 2am.