Up from the underground and into the light

Last Sunday Netflix launched a new documentary, Hostage to the Devil, about the legendary exorcist and former Jesuit Malachi Martin. My appetite had been whetted by an interview with one of the producers, Sharon Lysaght, on The Ryan Tubridy Show, Wednesday morning of last week.

As documentaries go it was excellent, a fascinating story well told, and leaving it up to the viewer to make up their own minds about the material.

Martin apparently left the Jesuits when they took what was described as a ‘hard left’ turn at the time of Vatican II. Dispensed from the vows of poverty and obedience, it wasn’t clear if he remained a priest in good standing, or if he had the permission of the relevant bishops to do exorcism in the USA. He described himself as part of an underground exorcism movement, some bishops not being very enthusiastic about this kind of work.

He had his detractors, including author Robert Blair Kaiser (also an ex-Jesuit) who was interviewed, but most contributors were fans, including his friend Robert Marro, who was listed as an executive producer, and some ‘religious demonologists’.

Scenes and stories of actual exorcisms were disturbing and challenging, and Martin, in his lifetime, was very keen to decry the evil behind an anti-life ideology, including legalised abortion, contraception, endemic hunger, fermented civil wars and floods of refugees.

Back on traditional media, last Friday night The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio 1) marked the birthday of Martin Luther King Jnr with guest Rev. Eileen Cremin.

It was well worth doing, and we got some interesting information (like King scoring only a C grade in preaching when training to be a Baptist minister!). We got a flavour of King’s impressive speechmaking and his combining of religion with a political cause. I’d like to have heard some exploration of how much King is admired, and yet how religion tends nowadays to be banished from political discourse.

Plans

The NCCA’s plans for religion in primary schools was also discussed, and presenter Michael Comyn asked some searching questions of the NCCA’s Patrick Sullivan and of Seamus Mulconry of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association.

Mulconry is an asset to the Association, well informed and on top of his brief, as he also showed in a discussion on admission policies in Catholic schools on last Monday morning’s Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk.

I had a look at some programmes on the new be3 channel and while generally underwhelmed by the schedule, I did enjoy a few of their programmes. Aerial Ireland (last Sunday night) was worth a look, and while the narration was bland it was impressive to see aerial shots (mostly from drone footage) of some of our best known sites of historical or cultural interest.

Religious sites figured prominently – sweeping flyovers of Lough Derg, Glendalough, the Rock of Cashel, Skellig Michael and more. The continuity between segments seemed rather random at times – they need to brush up on their segues.

The new channel started a re-run of Ballykissangel, also last Sunday night, and I really enjoyed it all over again. It was whimsical and thoughtful, with some colourful characters, all the better because it wasn’t trying too hard to be a comedy.

The first series is definitely the best, written as it was by creator Kieran Prendiville. My memory is of later series losing the deft touch of these early episodes. And so, in last Sunday’s opening episode we had the arrival of the hi-tech Confession box, complete with fax machine! The Confession scenes were very funny, though the moral advice given by the young priest was decidedly dodgy.

New drama

Launching a new drama series called Bull is inviting trouble, but be3 tried it anyway, last Thursday night. A few minutes in and I was disliking it already – the main character, Dr Jason Bull, played by Michael Weatherly, was a psychologist – smug, arrogant and complete with silly grin (I was reminded of the Mentalist series).

When we got to the opening credits I wasn’t surprised to see Weatherly as one of the producers, as it had the feel of a vanity project, but I definitely was surprised to see Steven Spielberg listed as executive producer.

The plot centred around Dr Bull analysing jury members to suss out their reactions in court (I was reminded of the Runaway Jury film).

It was all rather cynical and full of itself.

Pick of the week

The Big Questions

BBC 1, Sunday,
January 22, 10.00am
Nicky Campbell (pictured) presents topical religious and ethical issues live from Bradford.

MARCH FOR LIFE

EWTN Friday,
January 27, 2pm
Live and complete coverage of the annual March For Life in Washington DC.

Leap of Faith
RTE Radio 1 Friday, 27 January, 10.02 pm (repeat Sunday 10.30 am, Radio 1 Extra)
Topical religious affairs with Michael Comyn.