Courtney McGrailHumour was welcome in an intense week, writes Brendan O’Regan
With the beautification last weekend of the inspirational figure Archbishop Oscar Romero, it was good to look back on one of the Radharc team’s old programmes Who Is for Liberation?, broadcast again on RTÉ One, Monday of last week.
There was a short modern introduction, which put the film in context, though I thought this might have been expanded to give more of an insight into the history of El Salvador since the assassination of the archbishop. It was poignant to hear the narrator of the original film telling us that so far the military junta had contented themselves with just issuing threats on Romero’s life. It wasn’t long after that the threats were put into action, leading to his murder in the middle of Mass in 1980.
This documentary featured one of the last interviews with Romero. He was very strong on the idea of commitment to the poor, which led to convenient accusations of communism by the state and conflict in the Church hierarchy at the time. We heard a fellow bishop reckoning that Romero was too manipulated by young diocesan priests and by the Jesuits in particular. Ironic or what! And it was great to see Irish missionaries so involved in supporting the poor.
It was an intense week and at such times a bit of humour helps keep the spirits high and maintain some perspective.
On Thursday of last week on RTÉ 2, I caught up on one of the ‘religious’ episodes of The Simpsons. It was a very funny send-up of American preoccupation with the ‘end times’. Homer reckoned that the ‘Rapture’ was nigh and he didn’t want to be ‘Left Below’.
At the end there was a vision or dream of Heaven as a “first class destination resort”, and Homer has one of his chats with God. It ends badly with Homer thrashing this version of Heaven, annoyed that his family wasn’t there with him. In a roundabout way it was an affirmation of family values.
Speaking of which, the dust has somewhat settled on the marriage referendum result by now. There was great celebration, but the campaign has left many sour tastes, not least the blatant media bias I’ve been pointing out in this column.
Some journalists should hang their heads in shame at the way they abandoned their journalistic standards to promote the ‘yes’ campaign, e.g. giving soft interviews to the ‘yes’ side and grilling speakers from the ‘no’ side. Journalists often pride themselves on holding power to account, but this time some of them allied themselves with power and did their utmost to render some very genuine people powerless.
There were some honourable exceptions, like Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1 and Shane Coleman on Newstalk in particular. Credit must also go to Marc Coleman – his now discontinued show on Newstalk ensured balance in the early stages of the debate and was sorely missed in the last few weeks.
A few items are worth noting. On Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show, Tuesday of last week, Mary McAleese got another soft interview. Kenny did ask a few challenging questions, but McAleese wouldn’t answer questions on gender balance (“I have no intention of getting involved in an argument that really doesn’t have any relevance”) and the presidential age referendum.
On the Wednesday morning’s Breakfast show, also on Newstalk, Chris Donoghue gave an ‘interview’ to David Quinn that became increasingly hostile and personal as it went on. The fact that Quinn gave as good as he got doesn’t take from the blatant partiality. No equality here – the ‘yes’ speakers never got the same treatment.
I was amazed to hear that TV 3 was doing its results programme from a gay bar. All pretence of serious political coverage was abandoned for excruciating triumphalism. Live from the George was presented by Vincent Browne who described the vote as a ‘landslide’ even as the tickertape on the show showed a vote of around 60/40 – landslide? There was a telling quote from Browne about fear of a “secret ‘no’ vote”: “some of us [sic] were a bit apprehensive”.
Epilogue: on last Sunday’s Nine News on RTÉ 1 it was reported, as part of the referendum coverage, that the Labour Party was already setting its sights on repealing the 8th Amendment, which guarantees the equal right to life of mother and unborn child.
The enthusiasm for equality didn’t last long.
Pick of the Week
Saint Joan of Arc: Maid for God
EWTN, Sat, May 30, 9pm
A docudrama on the life of the young peasant girl who became a saint.
The Meaning of Life, with Gay Byrne
RTĖ One, Sun, May 31, 10:30pm
Andrea Corr talks about the difficulties of establishing a solo singing and acting career and describes herself as a religious “junkie”.
El Camino – the Way of Saint James
EWTN, Mon, June 1, 8.35pm, Thurs 9.35am
Young adults make a pilgrimage on the historic route in Spain known as the Way of St James.