Unfunny comedy that aims to offend

Brendan O’Regan reflects on “something of a good news bad news week”

It was something of a good news bad news week. Síle Ní Chonaonaigh (fresh from the wonderful Garraí Glas gardening programme) gets to apply her infectious enthusiasm and good humour as she dips into rural life as presenter of Dúiche (TG4) which last Sunday night paid a visit to Glenstal Abbey.

She wanted to explore the role of monks in modern Ireland and started with a potted history of the Benedictine abbey, where the activities are varied – there’s a second level college, a modern retreat centre (the ‘God Pods’), a guest house and attractive gardens.

Apart from the teaching and gardening there is a liturgical worship, singing of Gregorian chant (described as “a lovely way to pray”), book binding and icon writing – we got an all-too-brief look at some of the beautiful icons.

Fr Martin Browne gave us some background on the Rule of St Benedict, while Bro. Anthony Keane gave us a fascinating tour of the gardens, where, apart from the visual beauty, he said that beautiful sounds come together in harmony.

Bro. Paddy McIntyre introduced us to the guest facilities, where people of faith, but also non-believers can get a chance to “step off the merry-go-round of life”.

My only complaints would be that the item was too short and I wasn’t convinced of the value of breaking up the flow of the show with two very different items.

While this programme was respectful of our tradition of faith, a new drama series on RTÉ 2 was more inclined to mockery. Bridget and Eamon (Monday and Wednesday nights) makes fun of hypocritical right-wing Catholics from the 1980’s (cutting edge … not!) and comes across as juvenile, dated and downright offensive to people of faith.

There’s a camp gay priest, religious artwork all over the place, a woman drinking out of a holy water bottle in the shape of Our Lady, a Sacred Heart picture prominent on a key-ring thrown into a bowl for a swingers night. It’s like they’re going out of their way to offend. Jennifer Zamparelli and Bernard O’Shea are good actors, but I’m not impressed with their writing. They could do with a creative team more adept at wielding pens than axes to grind.

If it was warmth and respect for religious faith you were after then last Sunday night’s Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne was a good port of call.

Rabbi Jonathan Sachs was an engaging and thoughtful interviewee, both when speaking of his love of Judaism and the role of religion in society. He thought that religion often preserves valuable things that society throws away. Many of his concerns would be shared by Christians, e.g. the value of the one “holy day” in the week, the importance of prayer and listening, respect for family, awareness of the “moral limits of power” and the “social contract”, finding space for those whose faith is different to yours.

Obviously Christians wouldn’t share his take on Jesus, and I would like the issues surrounding the state of Israel to have been more thoroughly explored, but all in all it was one of the highlights of the current series.

With the election imminent, Newstalk devoted a considerable amount of time to yet another ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ story, as they called it to questionable effect, on the Breakfast Show, Wednesday of last week, arising out of a story in The Times Irish edition.

The woman in question, given the name ‘Sarah’, was according to the story by reporter Ellen Coyne, told to get a “partial abortion” in the UK and then return home and fake a miscarriage.

Presenter Chris Donoghue described the procedure, “feticide”, honestly and frankly – it involved “stopping the baby’s heart” in the UK and returning to Ireland for the delivery. Would it have been more honest, or would it have been insensitive to use the ‘k’ word?

Things got complicated, and eventually the full termination was done in the UK, with yet another story of the difficulties in bringing the dead baby home.

Would it be insensitive on my part to suggest that the trauma would have been considerably less if there had been a full-term birth that gave the baby a chance to live or die naturally? That suggestion wasn’t made on the programme.

Because it was the journalist being interviewed and not ‘Sarah’ herself I thought the questioning could have been more challenging without causing undue offence.

Pick of the week

Franciscan University Presents

EWTN, Saturday,February 13, 9pm
Islam and ISIS: Robert Spencer contrasts the extremist views of ISIS against the teachings of Islam.

Mass

RTĖ One, Sunday, February 14, 11am
Mass for the First Sunday of Lent & St Valentine’s Day from the Church of St Mary & St Peter, Arklow celebrated by Fr Martin Cosgrove, PP. The front door of the church will feature as a Holy Door for the Year of Mercy.