You've heard of the Popstars Five, now Six, but watch out for the Ballyhaunis Seven. Seven parishioners from the east Mayo town have been selected for a sequence on the daily Angelus at 6 p.m. on RTÉ television.
The seven are Tom Hopkins, a retired shopkeeper, Aisling Caulfield, Paddy Philips, a local butcher, Tim Byrne of The Hazel Bar, Mary Donnelly, Sinead Lundon, a teacher and Gerry Glennon of Mid West Radio. Ms Caulfield's daughter Saoirse will also participate.
The "agent" was Canon Joe Cooney, who contacted RTÉ after the restoration of the spire on St Patrick's Church, the town's millennium project.
A live Mass was recorded from the church early this month, and shots by Kairos production company are also being used over three months on the daily pause for prayer. It is understood that none of the seven have allowed the exposure to go to their heads, and there are no immediate plans to follow the bright camera lights.
Five theatres in three Gaeltacht areas have come together to provide a Gaeltacht "circuit" for musicians, drama companies, writers, poets and visual artists. Camchuairt na Gaeltachta is being set up to assist artists who wish to perform their art in Gaeltacht areas, although the tour will not be limited to Irish-speaking artistes.
It will allow theatres and arts centres to offer a package to artistes, to cover the area from Donegal to west Cork.Those involved are: Áras Éanna, Europe's most westerly arts centre on the Aran island of Inis Oírr; Seanscoil Sailearna, Indreabhán, an old schoolhouse converted to a fine multi-purpose space; Tinteán Ceol, a theatre run by Máire Begley of the Irish traditional music family; Amharclann Uí Shearcaigh, in Gort a' Choirce, Co Donegal, set up by Milo Butler last year; and Ionad Cultúrtha Baile Mhúirne in Ballyvourney, Co Cork, run by Bríd Cranitch with assistance from the VEC.
Pádraic Standún, who has been described as one of the Irish language's most popular and provocative writers and one of the most outspoken Catholic priests in the country, is the subject of a documentary made for TG4 which is to be shown for a second night running on TG4 tonight. Now based as a curate in Tourmakeady, Co Mayo, Standún served in the Aran Islands and Carraroe, Co Galway, and his first novel, Suil le Breith, on the issue of celibacy for the priesthood, was adapted for the screen in Budawanny by Bob Quinn. Over the last 10 years he has written eight novels and has become the biggest selling Irish language writer in Ireland.
The documentary deals with the formative influences during his childhood in Belcarra, Co Mayo, and his reasons for joining the priesthood. A "product" of the 1960s, the events of that time - the Vietnam war, Martin Luther King, and the Civil Rights movement, the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi - moulded the pacifist ideals that he holds today. He was also influenced by his summer spent in Kentish Town in 1969 where he worked with the Simon Community.
Three months after being placed as a curate in St Jarlath's College, Tuam, he wrote a controversial article in the Western People questioning the involvement of the church in teaching the children of the rich. The next day he was posted to the Aran Islands, then seen as a punishment station. His time in Inis Óirr, Inis Mean and Carraroe had a huge impact on him as a writer and community activist. While in Carraroe he went on hunger strike in 1978 to protest at the IRA's murder campaign of civilians.
Standún was one of a number of people who spent a week in prison for not paying road tax in 1986. This was in protest at the conditions of the Connemara roads at the time. Since then he has continued to write novels, articles and pamphlets and is in the middle of finishing his memoirs. "It's time to tell all," he says. His profile is on TG4 at 7.30 p.m.
