I’ve been catching up on a few TV dramas of interest, an entertaining break from the grim real-life dramas dominating news and current affairs. Many of them of course take their inspiration or background from such real-life events, and I hope they don’t in turn trigger such events. None of them are family entertainment –…
Last weekend saw the canonisations of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis – distinctive because they were young lay adults, from the 20th and 21st centuries respectively. The former is probably the lesser known of the two, and the film To the Top – Pier Giorgio Frassati (EWTN, Sunday) from 2023 helped to inform us…
It was another very bad week for children – killed by adults in Gaza, Ukraine and Minneapolis. The coverage was dispiriting, and anyone trying to deny the existence of evil in the world must have been sorely challenged. When I first heard of the Minneapolis school shooting, I was shocked enough, though it has become…
In the coming week we’ll be hearing a lot about Blessed Carlo Acutis, the young Catholic due to be canonised on Sunday, September 7, along with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati – see programmes in Pick of the Week. Songs of Praise (BBC One, Sunday) devoted a programme to miracles, with a timely focus on Blessed…
Is Ireland a racist country? Based on my experience it is not, but no doubt there are racists among us. Recently The Irish Catholic had a headline about Indian Catholics being the target of abuse, which led to a wider discussion. On Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday) Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, spoke of…
If you need cheering up after watching the News I have some good stuff for you this week. A story of faith featured on the first episode of The Hills Are Alive – A Year at Kylemore Abbey (RTÉ One, Sunday). It was such an enjoyable programme, cheerful, prayerful and even playful. A lot of…
There must be a factory somewhere producing films that attack the Catholic Church exclusively. The amount of them seems relentless at times. Shiny modern liberal Ireland seems so lacking in confidence that it has to keep hammering home the message. The latest iteration was Pray for Our Sinners (RTÉ One, Wednesday) an authored documentary by…
Being introspective is not always a case of being self-centred or indulging in navel-gazing. And so, it is important from time to time for the media to look at itself – reviewing and learning. Hope in the Media (Radio Maria, Wednesday) is a new show with host Donal O’Sullivan-Latchford of the Family and Media Association…
It has become an annual event, a sad milestone, a predictable outcome. Yes, it’s the release of abortion figures, and the tragic total for 2024 was 10,852. You’d expect such a death toll to cause shock and outrage, but media coverage was minimal. Even as we agonise over the Tuam babies, we can manage to…
An aspect of the Catholic Church we can be proud of is the work undertaken abroad by Irish missionaries, clerical and lay, whether in the work of spreading the Gospel and the work of service to people in need, for example through education and healthcare – two strands that are not mutually exclusive or contradictory.…