Brendan O’Regan
I don’t often watch garden makeover programmes, but when I do I’m usually impressed.
On Tuesday of last week I enjoyed Love Your Garden (ITV/UTV). In this series presenter Alan Titchmarch does makeovers for people with special needs in the broadest sense.
Last week it was the turn of Hari Budha Maga, a former Gurkha in the British Army who had lost his legs in an explosion while soldiering in Afghanistan. Despite this, and despite suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) his main goal in life was to help others – that’s what made him happiest.
Leaving aside issues of whether the British Army should have been in Afghanistan in the first place, and whether they should be recruiting these Gurkha soldiers from the population of young people in Nepal, Hari came across as a wonderfully selfless and genuine person.
Among the features of the new garden was a place for Hari to sit and be calm, which helped with his PTSD, and a prayer space for his wife.
A colourful dining area completed the plan and an overarching concern was that there would be easy access for Hari’s wheelchair (though he also uses prosthetics) along with plants and symbols to remind him of his home in Nepal. He became quite emotional at the sight of some memorabilia, including a picture of his parents, which his family had sent from home. UTV Ireland is a little behind with this new series so you should be able to catch up with this episode next week, but on Wednesday.
Relevance
Also worth catching up on is the documentary Ireland’s Secret Hangman, broadcast last Saturday lunchtime in RTÉ Radio 1’s Documentary on One series. Fortunately, capital punishment isn’t an issue of immediate relevance in Ireland, though calls last weekend for its re-introduction in Turkey are worrying.
Joe Kearney and Liam O’Brien produced this documentary, intriguing not only because of the subject matter but because of the complexity of the research needed to bring it to life. James O’Sullivan was Ireland’s only native hangman, but kept the fact to himself, and took or was given the pseudonym Thomas Johnston to add to the intrigue.
That led Carney to Africa on the trail of South African executioner and Irish native Thomas Johnston who seemed a very unpleasant and cruel character but turned out not to be James O’Sullivan at all – perhaps a co-incidence or someone in the Irish state giving O’Sullivan the name of another executioner to hide his tracks.
O’Sullivan learned his ‘trade’ from Albert Pierrepoint who did most of Ireland’s executions until the state thankfully abandoned the practice, and descriptions of some hangings and the process involved were pretty repulsive. Finally Kearney tracked down his origins to Cork city and his remaining living relatives and acquaintances were shocked to discover his secret side-line.
I wondered if there were many who protested against capital punishment at the time, but maybe that’s the subject for another documentary.
The following afternoon on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme there was a rather lacklustre interview with Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. Both interviewer Joe Little and the cardinal seemed tired and going through motions, but maybe it was me!
The item started with a curious introduction from Colm Ó Mongáin, when he described the cardinal as being president of ‘so-called Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’. Why the ‘so-called’? That is the actual name of the body. Do we ever hear reference to the ‘so-called Social Democrats’ or the ‘so-called Department of Foreign Affairs’?
When Cardinal O’Malley then referred to the ‘so-called Vatican Bank’ there was more justification as the actual name of this body is ‘The Institute for the Works of Religion’. He praised the work of the lay experts that were now on committees to modernise Vatican administrative structures, thought it was important to have checks and balances, with no one person in control and more than one set of eyes on transactions.
He agreed with interviewer Joe Little that there were people in the Church unhappy with the reforms of Pope Francis, but felt they were naive to think that the reforms wouldn’t have enough momentum to carry them beyond Francis’ own papacy.
The interview was too narrowly focused on controversy, predictable I suppose on mainstream media – I would love to have heard more on positive visions for the future, on the joy and challenges of the Gospel.
Pick of the week
FATHER SPITZER’S UNIVERSE
EWTN Saturday, July 23, 4 pm
Why do we have the wrong impression that all scientists are atheists? Questions about Catholic teaching on the Bible and science.
GOD’S ARMY – GOD’S ENEMY
RTÉ 1 Monday night, July 25, 12.20 am
Documentary about Boko Haram and religious-political conflict in Nigeria.
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 – KRAKOW, POLAND
EWTN Tuesday, July 26, 4 pm (repeated at 11 pm)
Opening Mass – Celebrated by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. Start of EWTN’s live coverage.