Brendan O’Regan
Partipants in the BBC’s pilgrimage series set in North Wales Easter is a great time for religious programming in the media, whether special shows for the season or special editions of the regular shows.
On the seasonal edition of Witness (RTÉ Radio 1, Good Friday), Fr Tod Nolan gave presenter Siobhán Garrigan a guide to the Stations of the Cross at Ballintubber Abbey, Co. Mayo – both outside and inside the abbey.
Fr Nolan believed the outdoor Stations offered a different kind of experience, especially on a beautiful Spring day with the birds singing – there was movement, air, nature.
He thought the stations spoke to us all in individual ways – opening our hearts to a message that could be different for each of us. For example, Jesus being condemned to death would have a particular meaning for someone with a terminal diagnosis.
He pointed out that not all of the stations were Biblical, but perhaps grew from popular devotion. The story of Jesus falling three times echoed how we all fall in our own ways, spoke to our broken human nature.
The Stations inside the abbey were by Imogen Stuart who died recently at the age of 96. They were commissioned in 1972, but the artist created them in 13th Century style, to match the abbey itself. For Fr Nolan the inside of the abbey was peaceful and serene. He found that a lot of people favoured doing the stations on an individual basis.
Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales (BBC Two, Good Friday) is the latest in a series of such programmes, and while they can become somewhat formulaic there’s always something new and interesting.
The pilgrim path through North Wales was created in 2011 to link a series of churches and sites from early Celtic Christianity, going all the way back to the 6th Century. The scenery, unfamiliar to me at least, was amazing and wonderful, the views enhanced by the ubiquitous but effective drone footage – see it in high definition if you can!
As usual we join a mixed group of celebrities (must it always be so?) of varying religious persuasions and none. There’s one practising Catholic, Amanda Lovett who was in the reality TV show ‘Traitors’, taking time off for herself.
Spencer Matthews, another reality TV celeb, was baptised in the Church of England, is now non-practising but thinks faith is good for humanity and would love to find God on this pilgrimage.
Michaela Strachan is a TV presenter and her faith is in nature. Eshaan Akhbar is a Muslim comedian who does not follow the practices of his religion anymore.
Actor Tom Rosenthal is the messer of the group – in fact he’s very much like his persona in his comedy series Friday Night Dinner’ He has Jewish heritage on his father’s side and Christian on his mother’s side.
Christine McGuinness is a former model, isn’t quite sure what she believes in but would like to think there was ‘something out there’. Having been diagnosed with autism she now is an ambassador for those with that condition.
Journalist Sonali Shah had done pilgrimages previously in India and adheres to Janism – an old Eastern religion. It remains to be seen how the pilgrimage will affect them, but expect silliness, blandness, deeply emotional moments and spiritual insights!
It was particularly apt in Holy Week to watch Lords – Persecuted Christians (BBC Parliament, Wednesday). This was a debate in the House of Lords, based on a motion tabled by Baroness Arlene Foster, the like of which I’ve never seen happening over here.
It packed quite a punch, despite reservations I’d have about how that House is constituted. I was particularly impressed by the impassioned speech of Lord David Alton on the matter.
He referenced the thousands killed around the world for their Christian faith. He recalled a former Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sachs, criticising these “crimes against humanity” and being “appalled by the lack of protest”.
Lord Alton described the persecution of Christians as “one of the most shocking untold stories of our time”, and focussed particularly on these human rights abuses in China and in Nigeria, where the killing of Christians was worst of all, crimes committed with “devastating impunity”.
On Sunday Morning (Times Radio) UK PM Rishi Sunak was reported as thanking Christians for their contribution to society in the UK – not something you’d hear much from our politicians, some of whom seem hell bent on erasing our Christian values and heritage.