It’s sad I know, but one of my hobbies is collecting confession scenes from film and TV drama. I added a new one to my collection last week. ‘That’ confession scene in Fair City (RTÉ One) caused a bit of a stir. Unfortunately, I came across the controversy first and caught up with the offending…

With Covid-19 dominating the news and current affairs programming it is usually only very bad news that knocks it off the top spot. And so it was last Friday, especially in the British media, when news was announced of the death of Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh. It was wall-to-wall coverage in a way…

I could probably fill the whole paper with reviews of all the religious programmes on over the Easter season – the media tend to put in an extra effort at Easter. RTÉ’s coverage of the ceremonies was impressive. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper (RTÉ One) on Holy Thursday was a memorable event. Fr Martin…

It was a great sign of hope to see churches opening for Mass in the North on Friday. Newsline (BBC One NI, Friday) reported from a lunchtime Mass at St Mary’s Church in Belfast describing it as “a small landmark along a difficult journey” – an understatement! One churchgoer said it was “the most important…

St Patrick’s Day dominated last week and it has been the second Covid version – never thought that would happen! It was also the one-year anniversary of weekday Masses on the RTÉ News Now channel, as Fr Michael Toomey pointed out last Friday when saying Mass from Ardfinnan. This has been a brilliant service that…

On the one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 outbreak in Ireland, it wasn’t surprising that the issue of the lockdown and religious practice featured prominently in the media last week, especially considering the Catholic Bishops’ statement on religious worship which put this back more prominently on the agenda. David Quinn discussed the matter on Today with…

I can understand people getting upset about ill-treatment of animals, and I doubt that anyone who is cruel to animals would be kind to the human beings in their lives. However, I do think the reaction to the picture of trainer Gordon Elliott sitting on a dead horse two years ago has been excessive. Sports Minister…

For the Catholic Church there’s a pressing need for role models that will appeal to young people. These role models don’t have to be young but it helps. I Am With You – A documentary about Carlo Acutis (EWTN, Saturday) gave us one such example. Carlo was beatified last year, mid pandemic, and so, perhaps…

There are so many hot button issues out there, so many battles in the culture wars, so many threats to democracy, it can all get a little head wrecking. It’s welcome then to get a debate that’s calm and reasoned, like the discussion on free speech with our own David Quinn and Nathan Young, deputy…

When it comes to the Church and religious matters it’s hard to find a perspective that’s different, new, unpredictable, fresh or unique. I got all of that on The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio One, Friday) when Michael Comyn interviewed Vincent Doyle who supports the children of priests through his initiative Coping International. His book…