A throwback to times before relativism

Irish Catholic readers should be able to wallow in a bit of nostalgia! On Wednesday of last week I happened upon The Dick Powell Theatre on satellite movie channel Talking Pictures TV (TPTV). It was an innovative TV drama show in its day (early 1960s) – a TV series of one-off dramas.

This particular episode didn’t date that well – it was melodramatic, with awkward close-ups and music that unsubtly telegraphed meaning.

For its time it was probably edgy, with a storyline that featured adultery prominently – but this was a moral universe, with none of today’s relativism or even nihilism.

The main character’s adultery had him seriously conflicted and was seen as demeaning and objectionable with several characters trying to persuade him to give it up. A journalist character was entirely upstanding and studiously professional.

By contrast the moral climate of new drama series Dublin Murders is more muddled. It started last week – Monday and Tuesday on BBC1, Wednesday on RTÉ1. I just can’t warm to it with its bunch of characters that run the short gamut from unlikeable to obnoxious, along with the most gratuitous foul language I’ve heard for years in a mainstream drama series – the worst offender was a senior Garda character.

There’s a very dark plot about the murder of children (the camera lingers way too long on the corpse of a murdered child) and a peculiarly voluminous amount of cigarette smoking.

I found the script rather stilted and the acting often stiff, while my distaste was heightened by the dubious use of child actors in such unsavoury material, an all too common practice.

Religion didn’t figure much in the first two episodes, though there were lots of statues and holy pictures – in a home where child abuse is hinted at. Hmm…

Back in the muddled real world, after the excesses of the extinction rebellion protests, last Thursday’s Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1) reported that Dublin City Chief Executive Owen Keegan was annoyed that the climate protestors had been allowed to camp overnight in Merrion Square at the height of the protests. No one else is permitted to do this (though the homeless might have a more urgent claim on the facility) and it is against the relevant bye-laws.

I thought Keegan was being professional, supporting the rule of law and the neutrality of state bodies but Paul McAuliffe, Lord Mayor of Dublin, thought that climate change was such an important and unique issue that it was acceptable.

Ironically this is the same geographical area where other arms of Government and other lawmakers want to bring in ‘exclusion zones’ and rule out lawful and peaceful pro-life protests at Holles Street. Inconveniently (for the Government) Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was reported recently on RTÉ News as saying that such exclusion zones were not necessary and that existing powers were adequate.

Owen Keegan’s approach could well be copied by other officials and bodies funded by the State, and by journalists, but this kind of professionalism is unfortunately declining, e.g. as current affairs presenters show their political and ideological biases.

Lines are crossed in divisive ways, and my compliments for Commissioner Harris do not extend to Garda cars covered in rainbow colours and Garda stations raising rainbow flags as happened recently in Kerry – raised higher than the national flag in contravention of respect-for-flag protocol.

Dismissive

Media-related examples abound – one of the latest happened on Newstalk’s  Breakfast show last Saturday when Susan Keogh was reporting on what Bishop Alphonsus Cullinane said about yoga in Catholic schools. Instead of just reporting it in her newspaper round-up, as she did with all the other stories, she editorialised with a few rather dismissive comments, among which:  “maybe we should let schools teach children what they want to teach children maybe we should let the medical profession decide how young people should be kept safe [no mention of parents] and maybe bishops and priests should do what they know what to do [sic] but maybe that’s too much common sense”.

Finally, lest I end on a complaint, I must say I enjoyed Andrea Corr’s interview on The Late Late Show last Friday. She didn’t get to talk about her religious faith (outlined  in last week’s cover story) but did speak about her faith in humanity, how ‘blessed’ she was with children despite several miscarriages and was particularly moving when speaking about when her parents passed away.

Pick of the Week

CLOSING MASS OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS

EWTN, Sunday, October 27, 8 45 am

Live – Pope Francis celebrates Mass to conclude the Synod of Bishops, which discussed the Amazon’s religious and ecological pathways.

LONESOME

BBC2 NI, Sunday, October 27, 10 pm

Singers Jordan Mogey and Andy Calderwood explore the life-changing power of music and faith.

FOCUS: PRO-LIFERS, ST. NINIAN’S HIGH SCHOOL

EWTN, Wednesdaym October 30, 5.30pm, also Thursday (night), October 31, 12.30 am

David Kerr talks with students from St Ninian’s High School near Glasgow about commitment to spreading the Gospel of Life.