Catholic Voices

Catholic Voices was founded by Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero in 2010 to prepare the State visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom in September of that year to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham.

The areas mentioned included the clerical sex-abuse crisis, HIV/AIDS in Africa, gay rights, abortion and birth control, the role of women in the Church and in society, etc.

They saw a need for Catholics to be well informed about the Church and its doctrines, and good in communicating these in modern media settings in the fast-moving 24-hour news cycle.

The training took place between March and July 2010, with the help of Kathleen Griffin, formerly a BBC producer for Woman's Hour, who joined Catholic Voices as a third coordinator.

[3] In early September, presentations were made to the BBC and other media companies, and a debate was held in Conway Hall between Catholic Voices and Humanists UK.

[16] Seeing what the project had achieved in the UK, groups of Catholic Voices started in over twenty other countries, including Ireland,[17] Mexico [18] and the USA,[19] some of which are still active, such as Chile,[20][21][22] Bolivia,[23] Malta,[24][25][26] and France.

[29][30] The method of Catholic Voices is based on finding common ground, seeking the positive intention of the other in any discussion and starting the conversation from there.