We’ve always had to put up with extremism and while it is fuelled nowadays by social media, it is not dependent on modern technology. Religious extremism is the worst of all, mimicking something that should be about love and dignity. The phenomenon is particularly evident in cults and in cultish behaviour sometimes found in mainstream…
As we ease into the early days of 2020, with threats of global conflict and environmental disaster prominent in news and current affairs coverage so far, anything that gives us well-grounded hope is welcome. But good news doesn’t tend to get much prominence. The dilemmas and paradoxes surrounding these issues were aired in a leisurely…
At Christmas there’s usually great stuff on TV and radio, much of it repeats, but with seasonal and family activities it can be hard to make time for more than a select few. Last Sunday morning’s Life and Soul (RTÉ1) was the fourth episode in this occasional series and it continues to be an excellent…
As I write this review every year the more recent programmes tend to have unfair advantage. And so The Crown (Netflix) gets first mention this year. I reviewed two particularly good episodes from Season 3 (November) in a recent column – the ones that focused on the Aberfan disaster and Sr Alice, Prince Philip’s mother…
Christmas Carols Virgin Media One Sat 21 December 5.55am, VM3 Monday, 23 December, 9.30 am Singing superstar Alfie Boe leads the congregation of St Elisabeth’s Church in Greater Manchester in a traditional Christmas Eve carol service, with Nadine Coyle, and Alexander O’Neal. Renovation Nation Virgin Media One Sat 21 December, 11.30 am An old orchard…
The ‘right to die’ cause is a strange one – we’re all going to die eventually so that right will be vindicated by everybody anyway. It’s not about the freedom, as distinct from the right, to commit suicide as that is no longer illegal, so it’s really about the right to kill, but that’s rather…
Last week I heard and saw quite a few interesting items, most of which can be listened back to on the various web players. I relied on EWTN News Nightly for keeping in touch with the visit of Pope Francis to Japan and Thailand. On Monday of last week they reported his inspirational words at…
The Royal Family in Britain has been hitting the headlines recently and it’s not all good stuff. Coincidentally, I presume, the latest series of The Crown landed in its entirety on Netflix last week and I’m enjoying getting through it. First hurdle for the programme makers was to effect the transition of actors – especially…
We can get very parochial, and not in a good, value-your-parish kind of way. More and more I find this about so many aspects of Irish media, and public life in general. We think our issues are of global significance, sometimes a laughable hubris in the eyes of the universe. These thoughts were prompted by…
With the debate about married men becoming priests stirring it up at the Amazon Synod, we got to hear a somewhat related story closer to home last Friday. Nationwide (RTÉ1) featured the intriguing and uplifting story of Fr Seán Hyland from Portarlington. He married Liz, they had two children Seana and Ciaran, but sadly the…