There was many a glad heart in Dublin 4, as well as other liberal outposts in the capital and throughout the country, last Monday evening when the Angelus failed to materialise on RTE Radio 1 at 6 p.m. Coinciding, as it did, with other changes to programming at the station rung in with the New Year and following the arrival of RTE's new Director of Radio, Helen Shaw, it gave credence to a view that the Angelus had become a thing of the past at the station.
A rumbling sound heard coming from the direction of Howth Hill was interpreted as Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien re-assembling his views on God following this answer to his prayers. This was discounted, however, when it was established that what people actually heard were gales, rather than winds of change. Indeed, the Angelus was back at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. A "technical hitch" had been the reason for its absence on Monday, according to a spokeswoman for RTE.