Brendan O’Regan
“interesting conversations” dominated this week’s viewing, writes Brendan O’Regan
It was a week of interesting conversations. There was that meeting of two of Ireland’s best known ‘Grumpy Old Men’, George Hook and Vincent Browne on The Right Hook (Newstalk), Tuesday of last week.
They knocked strips off each other as they cranked up the crankiness, though I suspect it was all in good fun.
Browne didn’t think the election would change anything at all and he was particularly critical of the “massive scale of inequality” in Ireland.
Last week I wrote about how I enjoyed Ivan Yates’ election predictions but Browne was scathing of them, getting in a dig at Yates’ well-known business failures in the betting arena.
Mind you, he wasn’t big-headed about his own ability to predict as he admitted that he had previously advised outgoing TDs Peter Matthews and Mick Wallace that they hadn’t a chance of being elected.
On his Friday programme, Hook had his weekly conversation with Michael Graham, a right-wing comedian and political commentator from USA. A man more unlike Vincent Browne you couldn’t imagine.
I have no time for his attitudes on gun control but he does poke some useful holes in the excesses of US liberalism and gives some alternate takes on US election politics that we don’t often hear on Irish media. He wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump but was critical of what Pope Francis said about him, though I’m not sure whether he heard the full version of the relevant interview, especially where Pope Francis said he’d give Trump the benefit of the doubt and seemed to be talking more about attitudes than individuals.
Also election related, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was interviewed on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1) last Thursday. Like other Catholic bishops he thought the right to life issue was crucial in the election.
Pressed on whether the issue had changed over the years he agreed but made a strong point that medical procedures had also changed, for the better, implying I presume that calls for abortion for medical reasons should be less than ever.
It was noted that the bishops had also flagged issues like housing, health and education, but presenter Audrey Carville gave most weight to the abortion issue (having earlier suggested that the Church could have said more about the other issues!).
Politics
He hadn’t much time for auction politics (“auctioning clouds”), and was critical of the “domination of spin and short term answers”. He accepted that some wanted more guidance from the bishops but said it wasn’t up to them to say which party to vote for, though I wondered if there wasn’t a case for more guidance but short of recommending particular candidates or parties.
I took his message to be a call for Catholics to take the teaching of their faith seriously, for example on central matters like the right to life, and then to vote with moral maturity without looking for spoon feeding.
I criticise the Ray D’Arcy Show (RTÉ Radio 1) quite a bit, but I was impressed by his conversation, Tuesday of last week, with Fr Frankie Mulgrew from Blackburn UK who was formerly a stand-up comedian. He was quite engaging and all in all it was a fun interview.
Fr Mulgrew is promoting a striking initiative for the Year of Mercy, a travelling ‘Mercy Bus’, bringing the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the road. His vocation story was inspiring – he had a “profound encounter with God’s mercy” in the Sacrament of Reconciliation followed by an “interior miracle” while receiving the Eucharist during a retreat.
As a hospital chaplain (“a beautiful life”) he loved to see people being reconciled to the Church, and now found that his experience of stand-up involved “transferable gifts” that he could use to spread the Gospel message.
The story of the Pope John Paul II’s letters to a female Polish philosopher have been hitting the airwaves during the week and surfaced in a conversation last Friday on The Last Word (Today FM) between presenter Matt Cooper and Ian Power and Clare McKenna of Spunout.ie. Cooper strongly defended the Pope from any suggestion of impropriety (“no evidence that there was anything other than an intellectual relationship”).
McKenna agreed that it was just a friendship that showed John Paul’s human side, while Power agreed also, but thought it might be an argument for allowing priests to marry. For better or worse that aspect of the conversation wasn’t pursued.
Pick of the week
Sunday Spirit
RTĖ Radio 1 Extra, Sunday, February 28, 10am
Topical religious issues explored, with Michael Comyn.
The Crusades
EWTN, Tuesday, March 1, 8am and 9pm
After the miraculous success of the First Crusade, the Crusader hierarchy set up the Crusader States, along with the rise of Saladin and his conquest of Jerusalem.
Movie: Evan Almighty
RTĖ 2, Tuesday, March 1, 9pm
(2007) Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman. Director: Tom Shadyac. God contacts Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.