Religious broadcasting lost one of its most experienced practitioners with the death of Billy FitzGerald at his Gloucestershire home two weeks ago. Just the day before he died, Irish Times readers had enjoyed his account of coaching Pope John Paul in the use of autocue for a televised address to the Irish people prior to the Papal visit 25 years ago.
At the time, Father FitzGerald, as he was then, was Head of Religious Programmes in RTÉ a position he had held since the mid-1970s. But his potential as a broadcaster had been spotted 15 years earlier by Father Joe Dunn and Father Des Forristal, founders of Radharc, the ground-breaking and innovative documentary film team that provided programmes on religious and socio-religious topics for the fledgling Irish television service.
From his earliest years, Billy displayed unusual artistic talent. Even the great Walt Disney, while staying at the old Jury's Hotel in Dublin, praised the work of the seven-year-old cartoonist who sent him his drawings of Disney's star characters, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Later, members of the FitzGerald family were often confronted with a "Keep Out" notice on the bathroom door of the family home as Billy developed his early photographic attempts in the wash-basin and bath for hours on end. So when Joe Dunn wrote to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in April 1961 suggesting names of suitable people who might join Des Forristal and himself in making short films for television, it was no surprise that FitzGerald's name was on that list. At the time the young priest was pursuing postgraduate studies in Rome. On his return to Dublin he was asked to combine scout chaplaincy and parish work with learning how to handle a 16mm film camera. He brought to his work on Radharc a natural enthusiasm for everything artistic, a lively mind and a sense of order and precision, vital in a film edit room with strips of film hanging everywhere!
The notion of a bunch of priests going around the country in the early 1960s in their black suits and Roman collars with an array of cameras, microphones, tripods and lights was novel to say the least. The glamour and mystique of television was far removed from the clerical world in pre-Vatican II Ireland. Radharc programmes played a significant role in the awakening of the Irish Catholic Church, first by highlighting and analysing aspects of the Irish reality, and later by bringing back from all over the missionary world reports on models of church and community that challenged the accepted norms of the day.
Within a year of the first Radharc broadcast in January 1962, the curiosity factor of the camera-totin' priests had given way to a widespread recognition among television critics that their work was unique and revolutionary. Radharc was regularly among the top 10 most watched programmes on RTÉ and international awards testified to their excellence and wide appeal. FitzGerald contributed his talent and enthusiasm to that creative enterprise.
At the Communications Centre in Booterstown, Dublin, he was among the lecturers on broadcasting to students from all over the missionary world. Tragically and ironically the centre was razed to make way for luxury apartments in the same week as his death.
When Father Edward Daly, Catholic Religious Advisor at RTÉ, was nominated Bishop of Derry in 1974, RTÉ appointed Father FitzGerald in his place. Subsequently he became Head of Religious Programmes. Throughout the rest of the 1970s and most of the 1980s, he co-ordinated the religious programme on both radio and television.
Despite periodic frustration over internal battles for funding and facilities, common to every broadcast organisation, FitzGerald was always a gentleman and is remembered with fondness by his closest co-workers for his deep humanity and good humour. During his RTÉ years, he played a major part in the coverage of the Papal visit, and among the many programmes which he introduced to Irish viewers was a popular series on the Bible - Bestseller, also published as a book.Subsequent to his departure from RTÉ in 1989, he wrote three other books, Fr Tom - a portrait of Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich, Primate - a biography of Cardinal Cahal Daly, and Take and Read - a guide to the Bible for lay readers.
In 1992, he reluctantly decided to seek laicisation from the ministry of priesthood and marry colleague and friend, BBC broadcaster and journalist Rowanne Pasco. FitzGerald found the whole formal process of leaving the priesthood interminably frustrating and overly secretive. They were finally married in 1994 and settled in a village in the Cotswolds from where he contributed articles on biblical and liturgical topics to a variety of journals and magazines.
A vital part of him always remained a priest, playing an active part in his local parish and keeping in touch with friends among the Dublin clergy. It was appropriate that he was publicly remembered and talked about with fondness at a large gathering of Dublin priests held 10 days ago to chart a future for a revitalised Dublin archdiocese. Billy would have liked that!
Billy FitzGerald: born March 28th, 1934; died: September 28th, 2004.