Late last year, the Archdiocese of Southwark (pronounced SUTH-irk) in southern London announced the Ambassadors for Christ apologetics program for 2026. Delighted to find a fellow laborer in the apologetics vineyard, Catholic Answers reached out with some questions, which the archbishop graciously agreed to answer.
Apologetics—explaining and defending the Catholic faith—succeeds best when clergy and laity bring their respective strengths to the endeavor. With gratitude to His Excellency for his time and his thoughtful answers, we provide our interview with Archbishop John Wilson below.
Catholic Answers: In an age of pervasive decline in religious participation generally, the Archdiocese of Southwark boasts high numbers of inquirers and converts. To what do you attribute your success? How can struggling dioceses follow your example?
Archbishop John Wilson: Our mission in the Church is to enable people to encounter the Lord Jesus, either for a first time or in a more deepened way. Through different means this is what we are trying to do across our archdiocese.
We know from experience that when people encounter the Lord’s living presence—most especially in the Holy Eucharist—their minds and hearts are opened, and a journey begins. We do not claim to have found any clever technique. We are following the pattern of apostolic times, and the tried and tested way of mission—learning as we go, but we are seeing the fruit of faithful invitation and patient accompaniment.
This is evident in the work of our priests, deacons, and catechists in our parishes. Another concrete example is in our Catholic schools. Because some of our teachers and staff are not Catholic, we run a “Come and See” program: staff are invited to explore the Faith and are supported through a bespoke journey of Christian initiation. Already, more than twenty staff have come through this pathway, and we hope to see it grow.
To support the wider work, I established an Archdiocesan Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis, to help parishes and schools to evangelize, catechize, and form people in the life of faith. By investing in evangelization, we are helping existing and future Catholics to know what the Church teaches, and to speak of it without fear. We are also helping parishes to lead people—gently, yet decisively—to the Lord Jesus.
CA: What difficulties will an amateur Catholic apologist face in the modern world as he seeks to make converts? How will the Ambassadors for Christ program equip him to face these?
JW: We know the Church exists to evangelize. As baptized Catholics, we are each called to be an evangelizing disciple: to announce the Lord Jesus’ saving gospel with confidence and joy. Yet evangelization, speaking of the Lord Jesus and sharing our faith, has its challenges. We live in a world that can be indifferent, or even hostile, to faith, and even within the wider Christian landscape, the Catholic faith is sometimes misunderstood, caricatured, or misrepresented.
Many of the difficulties are not merely intellectual, though there can be genuine questions. Often, they are personal: a wounded trust; a heavy loneliness; a struggle to find personal meaning and purpose; a confusion about who Christ is and what his Church teaches. In all these moments, the first responsibility is charity. We listen carefully, we speak truthfully, and we refuse the temptation to score points. St. Peter urges us to be ready to give an account of the hope that is in us, but always “with gentleness and reverence” (see 1 Pet. 3:15). People are not arguments to be defeated, but souls to be loved, friends to be encouraged and supported in faith.
Our approach seeks to form ordinary Catholics to do precisely this: to understand the Faith, to explain it clearly, and to share it confidently, without anxiety or aggression. It addresses common questions and myths with evidence from Sacred Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the Church’s teaching, and it helps people to offer reasons for the hope within them. It is a means of accompanying people to open their hearts to Christ and find a home in his Church.
Most importantly, Ambassadors for Christ prioritizes the art of invitation. Answer the questions you can; use good resources, such as Catholic Answers and Ambassadors for Christ; but do not stop at words. Invite people to your parish; invite them to Mass; bring them to encounter the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. This is how souls are won for Christ: by leading people to him, so that they may meet him for themselves.
CA: Ambassadors for Christ mentions Pope Leo XIV’s recent warning against the pitfalls of social media. What role do you see social media playing in evangelization? Or should they be eschewed entirely?
JW: Social media are a tool which offers us choice: to use it either for things which enliven us or for things which can deaden us.
The reality of modern life is that many people—of all ages—spend a great deal of time on their phones and tablets. Used wisely, social media can open a door: they can offer a first invitation, correct a misunderstanding, plant a seed of hope. In that sense, the work of Catholic Answers, and other faithful voices online, is a genuine service to the Church, using social media to bring life through the gospel.
The Archdiocese of Southwark seeks to use social media for evangelization, with a purposeful Christocentric focus and message. There are no gimmicks, and there is no watering down of the faith; we try simply to preach the gospel of Christ, so that people may know him and begin to recognize his love. By God’s grace, this has borne some fruit: in 2025, for example, our videos received more than 12 million views across our social media accounts.
But Pope Leo XIV’s warning is a wise one. Online evangelization is not enough on its own. It cannot become a substitute for the life of the Church. The Christian life is ecclesial and sacramental; it is experienced by belonging, sustained by prayer, and brought to its summit in the Holy Eucharist. Social media, then, are a very helpful signpost, but not a final destination.
That is why invitation remains central to our efforts. I want people to know their faith, and to speak confidently of the Lord Jesus and his saving work, but more than that, I want them to invite others into their parishes. This is how people encounter Christ and become lifelong disciples—within his Church, where the community of faith is alive and active in the service of the proclamation of the gospel in words and action.
CA: Our mostly American readership benefit so much from hearing about the state of the Faith “on the ground” in other parts of the world. What is Catholic life like in England these days, and in London in particular?
JW: The Archdiocese of Southwark covers all of south London and the county of Kent: with 175 parishes and 165 Catholic schools, it includes dense urban communities and also reaches into a county that is more rural and stretches to the sea. London, in particular, is very diverse, and relentlessly busy; it can be exhilarating, but it can also be profoundly lonely for some people. There are many social problems and needs, and we are trying to respond to these through our social action agency Caritas Southwark.
With so many distractions, one might imagine it would be a difficult place to evangelize, yet I have found that the opposite can be true. Beneath the noise, many people are searching. They are weary of endless novelty; they long for meaning; they hunger for peace and justice. Many feel forgotten, abandoned, or lost. In such a landscape, the proclamation of Christ is not an intrusion, but can be received as a welcome gift of merciful love.
That is why announcing the Good News of the Lord Jesus—in whatever contexts of people’s lives—is central to everything we do. People, especially in a great city, need to hear that God sees them, knows them, loves them, calls them by name, and invites them home. When Christ is preached with compassion and clarity; when Catholics live and witness with joy and integrity; and when parishes are truly welcoming, hearts begin to open. Our duty is to keep offering the invitation, and to trust that the Lord is already at work.
CA: When it comes to passing on the Faith, most Catholics are accustomed to interacting with their priest—through homilies, bulletins, etc. But where does the bishop fit in? What does the bishop’s teaching role look like vis-à-vis laypeople, and how does it differ from his relationship with the priests in his diocese?
JW: As Pope St John Paul II taught, bishops—beyond all others—are the ones “primarily responsible for catechesis.” It is a responsibility I take very seriously: to preach Christ faithfully; to confirm the faithful in the Catholic faith; and to ensure that what is handed on in our parishes, schools, and families is recognizably the faith of the Church, handed down from the apostles.
In practice, this means supporting our priests and deacons, and strengthening our parishes, so that they can be places where the gospel is proclaimed, the sacraments are celebrated with reverence, and people are formed for mission. It also means encouraging lay people— parents, teachers, catechists, and ordinary disciples—to grow in confidence so that they can speak of the Lord Jesus naturally and invite others to meet him.
That is one reason why I established the Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis within our archdiocese, and the Some Definite Service program, which forms lay people for leadership in evangelization and catechesis at parish and deanery levels. It is also why we launched Ambassadors for Christ: so we can offer support in leading people to Christ. My relationship with our priests necessarily involves the particular responsibilities of pastoral governance and fraternity, but the goal is always the same: that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the whole Church may become more transparently missionary, and more deeply eucharistic.
CA: It’s sometimes hard for the Catholic faithful to imagine what the life of a priest is like, to say nothing of the life of an archbishop. What’s the one insight most important to you to pass on to our readers about the joys and challenges of membership in the episcopacy?
JW: Last year I celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, and this year, the tenth anniversary of my episcopal ordination. But in truth, I am still learning to be a priest, let alone an archbishop!
Each day, I find myself, again, in what I can only describe as the school of gratitude: amazed that the Lord Jesus should allow me—unworthy as I am—to share in his priesthood, and to serve his people in his name as a bishop. There are many challenges, and bishops and priests cannot work in isolation. It takes the whole Church—everyone who is baptized, and everyone who is ordained and consecrated through religious life—to make a missionary archdiocese.
If there is one insight I would pass on, it is simply this: keep your eyes and your heart fixed on the Lord Jesus. Be faithful to prayer; make time for silence; return often to the Holy Eucharist and don’t forget Our Lady or confession. Never be discouraged by your weakness; thank God for his grace, without which none of us could endure. Evangelization is Christ’s work. Christ carries the weight of the mission; our part of the deal is to remain close to him, and to be faithful.
May I end with a word of thanks to Catholic Answers, and to your readers. Thank you for your tireless work in helping people to know the truth of the Catholic faith, and in guiding people to the Lord Jesus. May God continue to bless your ministry, so that more people may come to know Christ and the freedom of his love.
Our friends in Southwark provided the following notes and resources for anyone who wants to learn more about them and their ministry.
- “Come and See” (schools staff invitation and bespoke RCIA pathway).
- Agency for Evangelisation and Catechesis (AEC) website: aec.rcaos.org.uk
- Evangelization projects in the Archdiocese of Southwark include worshiping God through music; a rosary challenge for schools (10,000 children joined online); eucharistic adoration for children; promoting conversion stories; and a celebration event with thousands at Aylesford Priory. Each, in its own way, has helped people to encounter the Lord Jesus and to rediscover the Catholic faith.
- Archdiocese of Southwark social action website: caritas.rcaos.org.uk
- Over the past two years, nearly 1,000 adults have been received into the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Southwark through the Rite of Election, with the overall numbers actually higher, given that there are also receptions at other times of the year. Through the Rite of Election this year, we expect to see around 500 people received into the Church in 2026.
- Archbishop John Wilson is the metropolitan archbishop of Southwark. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark covers the London boroughs south of the Thames, the County of Kent, and the Medway Unitary Authority. Find out more about the Archdiocese of Southwark: www.rcaos.org.uk