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Austen Ivereigh will present his new book, First Belong to God, a retreat with Pope Francis. He will show how the Pope is influenced by the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola and how this fits with the Pope's desire for a 'Synodal Church'.
Few people know the Pope and his thinking better than Austen who has written three other books on Pope Francis: "The Great Reformer", "Wounded Shepherd" and 'Let us Dream". This day will be particularly useful for those who what a 'Synodal Church' is about, or why the Pope feels the need for change.
Amazon offers the following outline of Austen Ivereigh:
Austen Ivereigh is arguably the leading English-language interpreter of the pontificate of Pope Francis. A British writer, journalist and commentator known for his bestselling biographies of Francis, 'The Great Reformer' (2014-15) and 'Wounded Shepherd' (2019), he co-authored with Pope Francis his bestselling New York Times reflections on the post-pandemic world 'Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future' (2020).
Austen is also a Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, University of Oxford.
His most recent book, 'First Belong to God' (Feb 2024), is a week-long retreat "with" Pope Francis based on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, which has a foreword by Pope Francis.
Austen writes regularly for The Tablet in the UK, as well as America and Commonweal in the United States, and is a sought-after commentator on the BBC, Sky News and other news channels. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Times, The Spectator. The Guardian, and many other newspapers.
On our day, there will be two presentations from Austen, a break for a sandwich lunch which is provided, then Fr. David Birchall will lead us in a time for private prayer and reflection on both what has been heard and written and Scriptural material. There will be an opportunity to model are synodal Church is small groups, and finally get together to pool the wisdom of the day.
Dr Austen Ivereigh is a British writer, journalist, and Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. He is author of two biographies of Pope Francis: The Great Reformer. Francis and the making of a radical pope (2014) and Wounded Shepherd. Pope Francis and his struggle to convert the Catholic Church (2019). During the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 he collaborated with Pope Francis on his vision for a post-Covid world: Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. In Conversation with Austen Ivereigh was published by Simon & Schuster in December 2020.
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Prior to coming to the LJC, David Birchall has been the director of Loyola Hall, an Ignatian Spirituality Centre on Merseyside, St Beuno's Spirituality Centre in North Wales and The Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Glasgow. In between times he worked in Dublin at the Jesuit Communications Centre and as Parish Priest in St Wilfrid's Preston. He brings many year's experience to the task of running the London Jesuit Centre.
