Sunday Sanctuary with Petra Bagust

When everything feels a bit much, how do we find peace within the chaos? In this episode of Sunday Sanctuary, Petra Bagust finally gets a chance to talk with Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama about how his history of mediation and writing poetry informs how he looks for peace. Second up is Christchurch-based counsellor Charlotte Cummings. Both Pádraig and Charlotte bring thoughtful, if very different, perspectives on ...

Ohhhh how much more simple life would be if all we had to do was look out for ourselves.... But in a society that encourages insularity, and where its negative consequences can be clearly seen, how do we balance responsibility for ourselves, as well as responsibility for others?

In this episode of Sunday Sanctuary, Petra talks to returning fan favourite Frank Ritchie and the head of the school of psychology at Auckland University, ...

The four themes of the season of Advent in the Christian calendar are hope, peace, joy and love. There are two others that we've noticed, though, which are anticipation and celebration. In this episode, Petra explores how these two things can happen at the same time. First up, Petra and producer Sam talk to a handful of people who are all at different moments of change (graduation, motherhood, marriage etc). Later on Petra talks to...

Sunday the 30th of November marks the start of Advent for 2025, the season of the Christian calendar that leads into Christmas. As Petra and guest producer Mick get into, Advent is all about waiting. In the first half, Mick talks to his close friends Tom and Carly about a long wait they endured in 2021. Later on Petra talks to Rev. Mathew 'Newt' Newton about how faith in God can help us to learn to wait, even when it often feels li...

Why do people still go to church? There are no shortage of reasons why church might seem like an outdated model for collective Christian worship, so why do they hang around? In this collab episode with the In The Shift podcast, Petra and Michael Frost sit down to talk about the societal and spiritual reasons why churches are still worthwhile, in spite of their spotty history.

If you want to find the full discussion that Petra and M...

In this episode of Sunday Sanctuary, what happens when communities are involved in times of death. Petra Bagust talks to Treza Gallogly, a death doula (think death midwife), about why making plans and involving others helps so much when preparing for death. Producer Sam talks to those involved with the community response to the death of baby Anahera in the Auckland suburb or Onehunga.

Treza's website can be found here and is part o...

Most of us think we're pretty good at listening. From kids asked to "whakarongo mai" at school, to a one-on-one catch up with a friend, listening can't be that hard, can it? But what changes when the person speaking feels truly heard or understood? And what similarities are there between listening to others, and listening to God?

In this episode, Petra talks to sexologist and relationship coach Meg Cowan about how we can better lis...

While Sunday Sanctuary is on a break, we want to share episodes from podcasts that we think you'll really like. This week: Makers & Mystics.

This episode is from season 13 of Makers and Mystics, "the podcast for the art-driven, spiritually adventurous seekers of truth and lovers of life." In this episode, Stephen Roach and his guest, John Heers, discuss viewing "hospitality as revolution". Big thanks to Stephen for letting us s...

Kia ora! Sunday Sanctuary is on a break until mid-October. Petra's schedule is VERY busy, and so it was decided that Sunday Sanctuary could take a back seat for a little bit. While we are taking a break from releasing normal episodes, we still have different blessings, and episodes of other podcasts that we think are great that we will be sharing with you! 

This week, a blessing for what makes us us, from The Lives We Act...

Kia tau te rangimārie ki runga i a koutou. As-salamu alaykum. Shalom. Peace is so often something that we wish upon others, and even seek for ourselves. But what do we mean when we talk about peace? Can peace be more than just the absence of conflict, whether that is conflict within us or between people?

In this episode of Sunday Sanctuary, producer Sam talks to spiritual director Shannon Mawdsley, activist Adrian Leason, and the L...

Kids play all the time. So do animals in fact. But adults… much less so. Why do we lose our passion for play when we get older? And what else do we lose in the process? We go on a journey to explore the importance of adult play (not that kind). Come with us!

Sacred Texts:

• Stephen Nachmanovitch’s Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art
• G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009)

There seems to be a sea of things that we can find overwhelming these days. How do we move through it all without becoming bogged down? In this episode, producer Sam talks to Phoebe Atkinson, Lissy Cole, and Rudi Robinson about the ways they see and approach overwhelming circumstances. Later on, Petra sits down with Rachel Kitchens, a spiritual director, to talk about her own experiences and a handful of practical tips. To be clear...

Are we living in an age that's ugly by design? This question arose after Petra and producer Sam read an article by the writer Andrew Shamy. The second in a series called "The Museum of Things We've Lost", Andrew unpacks the role of beauty and the consequences of its absence. In this episode of Sunday Sanctuary, Petra is joined by both Andrew and architectural design lecturer Abby Temby-Spence. As always, space is made for reflectio...