Sometimes you need an antidote to the darkness of war, and comedy will do for a while.
One of the most charming shows on TV in recent weeks is Small Prophets (BBC Two, Monday) – it maintained its whimsical tone consistently up to last Monday’s satisfyingly dramatic final episode. It’s funny, quirky, warm, moving and unpredictable. Pearce Quigley plays a lonely man whose life partner has disappeared. His neighbours are irritated by the mess in his garden and his car leaks oil, leaving a stain in the shape of a rabbit! He works (barely) in a hardware shop, with an unhelpful world-weariness (“Why would we sell your two screws when we can sell you a box of 400 and make more money?”). Even more bizarrely, under the guidance of his father (Michael Palin) who is in a nursing home, he uses an old family ‘recipe’ to grow strange little creatures in his garden shed – ‘humunculi’. Disappointingly, there are a few F-Words and not all Christian viewers will like the incantations involved in growing the humuncili – though, mind you, one of them is an angel, or ‘seraph’ – whose job, apparently is to fly around God’s throne all day. The pair agree that this could be irritating to God – “no wonder he’s always angry”, says fellow-worker Kacey. Oh dear. I’m going to miss all these endearing characters, but there’s good news – there was a ‘to be continued’ notice at the end. I certainly hope so.
Hope is another antidote to the craziness. And it looks like there will be plenty of it at this weekend’s Evangelium Conference in Cork City. On Mornings with Kieran (Spirit Radio, Friday) we heard from James Bradshaw, who explained that it is an apologetics event for young adults (18-40!), and in case younger people weren’t familiar with the term he explained that it was about understanding better the teachings of the Catholic Church and being better equipped to explain those teachings to others. It would be helpful in situations where people of faith met with misunderstandings or even outright hostility. This year, he reckoned there would be “an Augustinian flavour”. Dr Catherine Kavanagh from Mary Immaculate College would be speaking about “pursuing God” and Fr Gavin Jennings, spiritual director of Evangelium would address the topic of the beauty of the faith, of faith and culture.
With beauty in mind, I’d suspect Fr Jennings would enjoy the interview with singer-songwriter Nick Cave on Oliver Callan (RTÉ Radio 1, Thursday). Cave came across as modest, genial and gracious, and had much to say about religious faith. He said he had always been a religious person, and had always prayed. Oliver Callan suggested it was not so much being into the institutional side of things, more of an “open faith”, but Cave wasn’t going to dismiss the institutional side – “I find great solace sometimes in church and the institution of religion too” and he was “definitely not against the institutions of religion by any means”. His songwriting process is quite structured and he finds something similar in religion and church – “a sort of place that consolidates a … kind of free-floating spiritual set of ideas into something that is much more … formed”. As regards grief, he said it doesn’t go away. He finds that “church allows you to lean into these matters in a contained way” – otherwise, he said, such emotions can be very destructive. His son Arthur died in an accident around 10 years ago, but this wasn’t discussed, nor was his album Seven Psalms, which would have been relevant to the discussion.
Another unexpected but interesting discussion about religion took place on Times Radio Breakfast (Thursday). The concept of the ‘God-shaped hole’, discussed in an article in The Times, sparked the discussion. However, I thought the ‘God-shaped hole’ was still present in the discussion, with religion rather hollowed out. The participants and host Stig Abel spoke mostly about the value of Church for community, for nostalgia, for history, for hymns and for getting away from the noisy world. One said it gave her “freedom from the slavery of phones”. None seemed to believe in God as omniscient loving creator. Of course, church is all those good things, but so much more. Still, it’s good to see people positive towards religion, even the hollowed-out kind.
Stig Abel finished by saying “we all need a bit of sacred wherever we find it”. That’s a start.
PICK OF THE WEEK
Leonard and Hungry Paul
RTÉ One, Sunday, March 22, 10.30 pm
Leonard begins to open up his world with the help of his best friend Hungry Paul. Charming comedy series based on the book by Rónán Hession.
Blue Lights
RTÉ One, Wednesday, March 25, 9.35 pm
Start of latest series of award-winning show. Many moving religious moments in this series, some rough language too, as the police navigate the challenges of policing Belfast.
Catholic Sphere
EWTN, Thursday, March 26, 10 am
The Blessings and the Risks of AI: Every week a different host brings on a panel of 3 experts to tackle topics on the minds of Catholics.
