Unbridled sadness and horror in a week-that-was

The news cycle last week was dominated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Beirut bombing and the death of John Hume, and in a way they were all connected.

As if the people of Lebanon hadn’t enough to put up with, what with political turmoil and the pandemic, that massive explosion earlier in the week was devastating.

On Wednesday night’s Sky News we saw a couple with a four-week old baby who had been showered with glass from the explosion; the child was receiving intensive care in hospital as the masked, injured and anxious young parents waited – emotional and articulate.

There was a man in the street so fed up of his country, wanting to take the next boat out, while another man showed his wrecked house with blood stains where his father had been injured.

One of the most striking images of the event was the video footage of the bride caught up in the explosion on her wedding day – we saw her revisiting the same location the next day, reflecting on what had happened and glad to be alive.

Incompetence

Many were getting involved with the rescue and clean-up efforts, while at the same time a frustration with the Lebanese government began to gather force, with accusations of incompetence or corruption or both.

On Today With Sarah McInerney (RTÉ Radio One) last Friday we heard from Beirut based freelance journalist Abbie Cheeseman – she was curious about the first small explosion and was on the phone to her mother when the shards of glass from her apartment window started flying. She gave a graphic description of the “complete chaos” as she wondered if there had been an air strike.

She had good news stories about a child rescued in the rubble and a man found alive at sea after the force of the explosion blew him there. She pointed out that the port was ruined, which will make it difficult to get aid supplies in, while repair and reconstruction will be hampered by the fact that Lebanon doesn’t produce any glass.

On Sunday Sequence (BBC Radio Ulster) Seán Farrell of Trócaire told Audrey Carville about the people driving loved ones to hospital only to find the hospital wrecked and the “serious spike” in Covid-19 that was already making life difficult for the Lebanese. To make matters even worse, the city’s grain storage plant had been destroyed and now there were at least 300,000 homeless.

At home the tributes for John Hume have been extensive – the Beatitudes have been invoked widely and indeed I had great admiration for him as a peacemaker, a politician and leader in the parliamentary democracy tradition.

His passing was also under the cloud of the pandemic as attendance at his funeral was restricted. His family’s concern for the health of the community was touching, and their candle-in-the-window suggestion seems to have caught the imagination.

On the Sunday programme (BBC Radio 4), Bishop Donal McKeown spoke of Hume being “pickled in Catholic social teaching” from his early days, of his attachment to his local community in Derry. He told of Hume’s attendance at daily Mass when he was fit for it, and how he’d come back in the evenings for private prayer.

Also worth listening back to on that show is presenter Edward Stourton’s interview with former UK Labour minister Ruth Kelly, one of six women appointed to high position in the Vatican’s Council for the Economy. She regards it as “an honour to serve church in this way” which should provide a “fascinating insight”.

She said she’d leave the issue of “ordained ministry” to the theologians, but thought that women should be involved in so many other important aspects of Church life, including selection of candidates for priesthood and the formation of priests.

Expectations

Finally, in the current series, Sunday Morning Live (BBC One) I feel the religious content is becoming a tad diluted, and contrary to my expectations I’m not convinced about actress Sally Phillips joining the show as presenter. She contributes wit and intelligence, but also more frivolity and suggestiveness.

Last Sunday she interviewed fellow-actress Tamsin Greig (Black Books, Friday Night Dinner, Belgravia) about her work with Tear Fund in developing countries. Asked what people could do to help if they couldn’t afford to donate she said Tear Fund was a faith-based organisation that believed that prayer could be life changing, and that prayer was “an invisible act of generosity”. I like it.

Pick of the Week

CATHOLIC ENLIGHTENMENT: GIFTS OF CATHOLICISM TO CIVILISATION

EWTN, Sunday, August 16, 11.30 am; also Tuesday, August 18, 9.30 pm

Frs Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent demonstrate how Catholic teachings fostered creativity in the arts, architecture and the foundation of hospitals.