Brendan O’Regan
Coverage of this week’s census brought out “the conspiracy theorist in me”, writes Brendan O’Regan
Last week I reviewed two British crime shows that showed adultery as a hugely destructive thing, and there was the same message yet again on another drama, Undercover, last Sunday night on BBC One. This was a peculiar variation on the theme as a husband confessed to a fictional adultery to avoid an even more drastic revelation to his wife.
The plot stretches the bounds of credibility more than a tad, but this is an absorbing show. Sophie Okonedo is superb as lawyer Maya Cobbina fighting a death penalty case in the US and police corruption in the UK. Her passion for justice is intense but her husband, loving though he is, has a deep secret.
Though not that well integrated yet, the American plot strand exposes the ugliness of the death penalty and as regards the adultery theme, I suppose we should be glad in a time when sexual morality is so muddled that adultery is seen as such an injustice and grave betrayal.
Last Sunday night was also census night and I had my form completed before sitting down for that drama. Deirdre Cullen from the Central Statistics Office was on the Ray D’Arcy Show, RTÉ Radio 1 last week to offer advice on filling in the form. It was an informative item but there was a curious exchange on the religion issue. D’Arcy asked: “What if you’re baptised Catholic but not practicing. Well that’s the big question, isn’t it?”
Really? THE big question? Cullen answered: “That’s for you to decide [duh!] and you need to answer according to how you feel about yourself today and to maybe bear in mind that the statistics are going to reflect Ireland as it is today.”
So, there was I thinking about the census being a scientific, objective, instrument, and now I find it’s about how I feel? The conspiracy theorist in me was wondering if this wasn’t another shot in the show’s agenda-driving on the denominational education issue.
On last Friday’s Right Hook (Newstalk) the station’s political editor, Shane Coleman, also described the religion section as ‘the big question’, presumably in the sense that it was the one getting most publicity (thanks to the media?). I couldn’t argue with Brian Whiteside of the Humanist Association when he said it was “important that we know what our people are”, but he did hope the results would move the Government “towards a more secular approach to education”.
George Hook was disappointed he was away and wouldn’t be able to tick the ‘Roman Catholic’ box, but Coleman was going to be at home and said he would be ticking the Catholic box. Hook went OTT saying he wasn’t going to be fair to Whiteside and “to hell with Brian Whiteside anyway!” All in jest I presume, but still it was jarring.
I was surprised the issue didn’t figure on The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio 1) last Friday night, but Michael Comyn did turn his attention to the recent Limerick diocesan synod, introducing it in terms of women’s liberation! Fr Eamon Fitzgibbon, director of the synod, provided some background – e.g. the last one in Limerick was 1937, when the attendance was made up of senior clerics.
This time women were a strong presence and Fr Fitzgibbon didn’t think that very surprising as women were often the majority presence in Church events and activities.
There were over 100 proposals but the discussion for some reason concentrated on the women’s equality issue – one of the proposals from the synod was a working group to look into the possibility of a greater role for women in leadership roles at local and diocesan levels.
Finally, Sunday Sequence (BBC Radio Ulster) last weekend had an interesting item on the tweeting of Pope Francis. Religion commentator Michael O’Loughlin informed us that the Pontiff didn’t personally type out the tweets, but had a staff that found tweetable quotes in his addresses. Nevertheless each one was pre-approved for release by Pope Francis himself.
On the issue of whether much could be said in a tweet, O’Loughlin had looked through Jesus’ most famous quotes and found many coming in at 140 characters or less.
If, like me, you don’t use Twitter. you can just try a web search for ‘@pontifex’ to keep up with this modern evangelisation and bite-sized catechesis.
Pick of the Week
EWTN on location
EWTN, Saturday, April 30, 11am
Jennifer Roback Morse explores the impact of re-defining marriage on children and society.
The Story of Knock
RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, Saturday, April 30, 5pm
The story of Knock Airport and how Fr James Horan brought it to the West.
The Leap of Faith
RTÉ Radio 1, Friday, May 6, 10pm
Topical religious and ethical issues with Michael Comyn.