Brendan O’Regan
A refugee woman hangs her laundry behind a fence at a transit camp in Schisto, Greece. Photo: CNS “It was impressive to see the huge amount of voluntary effort to support the refugees’, writes Brendan O’Regan, even though “The faith element was…over simplistically”
I’ve long been a fan of reporter Valerie Cox’s work for RTÉ Radio and last Sunday night she made a very effective jump to television on the Exodus – A Would You Believe Special.
Cox along with her husband Brian and son Eoin went to the Greek island of Kos to report on and assist in the current refugee crisis. As would be expected there were some heart-breaking stories – children dying or in distress, boats arriving empty telling of grim and tragic events at sea, families split up and losing all their worldly possessions.
By contrast the scenery was beautiful, and it was striking to see how close the Turkish coast was and how relatively short a trip it was to cross to the Greek islands. It was impressive to see the huge amount of voluntary effort to support the refugees – there were several bodies at work like the Mercy Corps, the Greek Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, along with local charity groups like Kos Kindness and dedicated individuals like the Canadian girl who, having seen all this suffering on TV felt “how could I not be there?”.
Cox said that as a reporter she always kept her professional distance, but felt that this was different as she got stuck in to help, sometimes distributing relief supplies from Ireland, sometimes haggling with local shopkeepers as goods could be bought much more cheaply there than at home.
She accepted that terrorists could hide among the refugees but thought that proper screening should take care of that.
Faith element
The faith element was touched on briefly, and I thought over simplistically, probably in part because the programme was only half the length it should have been. Cox saw the whole thing as evil and thought she might be an atheist by the end of the week!
Husband Brian also wondered about the presence of God but found solace in Christ’s words of feeling forsaken on the cross. Cox told us that most refugees here were Muslim and that they had a strong sense of gratitude to God when they arrived safely. Indeed the whole programme had so many instances of the love of God being channelled through loving, caring people who gave generously of their time and resources – what Cox earlier called “the divine gift… with humanity”.
The programme ended with happy scenes of refugees boarding a ferry for the Greek mainland, but Cox was aware that trouble could well await them in places like the Macedonian border or Calais.
While they received much support some no doubt will encounter racist attitudes in mainland Europe. People (Koreans in this case) encountering racist attitudes was central to the plot of the film Gran Torino, shown on TV3, also on last Sunday night.
I was never a fan of Clint Eastwood’s macho anti-heroes from his early days, but he has matured wonderfully as an actor and director – he filled both roles with distinction for this film. If anything he flipped his usual persona this time, especially towards the end, but to say more on that front would be too much of a spoiler!
One engaging plot strand had the Eastwood character Walt in an ongoing skirmish with the young local priest who promised his now deceased wife that he’d try to get Clint back to the Church. This culminated in a touching and funny Confession scene – the priest expected some atrocity from Walt’s time in Vietnam, but what Walt was most worried about was kissing another woman at a Christmas party and short changing another person in a deal over a boat! Check out ‘Gran Torino Confession Scene’ on YouTube.
Finally, back again in the real world, last Thursday the always interesting EWTN News Nightly from the US Catholic channel covered the also related matter of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East especially at the hands of ISIS.
Genocide
A new report documenting the atrocities has added to pressure on the US State Department to declare the persecution as genocide. We heard among others from Fr Douglas Al-Bazia who was attacked shot and beaten, and now runs a centre for refugees in Iraq.
I’d like to have heard more about the significance and practical differences such a declaration of ‘genocide’ would have and what kind of international action it might mandate.
And I’d like to see our own media giving adequate coverage to the issue.
Pick of the Week
The Battle for Christianity
BBC 1, Tuesday,
March 22, 10.45pm
Documentary about confident, assertive faith replacing traditional churches in the UK, with Prof. Robert Beckford.
Mass of The Lord’s Supper
RTĖ One, Holy Thursday, 4.40pm
Fr Jerry Carey celebrates Mass for Holy Thursday, with congregation from Killaloe Diocesan Youth Council.
Celebration of the Lord’s Passion from Rome
EWTN, Good Friday, 4pm
Pope Francis presides over the solemn celebration of the Lord’s Passion, live from Vatican City.