FROM THE ARCHIVES:The rural soap
The Riordanswas one of RTÉ's most successful creations, not just for its entertainment value but also for its social and cultural value. In his television review column in 1974, Ken Gray, explained its importance. –
JOE JOYCE
THE MOST significant happening of the week was the conversation in " The Riordans" between Maggie and Father Sheehy. The subject was conscience and the pill.
In preceding episodes the problem has been fairly stated. Maggie, married for something around 12 months and with a baby, has been told that to have a second child would be highly dangerous and possibly fatal. She has opted for the pill as being the only form of contraception that will enable her to maintain a normal sexual relationship with her young husband and, at the same time, eliminate the risk of another pregnancy.
She worries about whether she is doing the right thing. How she has chosen to meet her personal dilemma is logical, intelligent and responsible. She knows this, but she knows also that her mother-in-law, in whom are ingrained deep-rooted traditional Catholic attitudes towards sexual behaviour, and contraception in particular, disapproves. And that the same sort of disapproval is widespread in the community. What she needs to combat her feelings of guilt and to stifle her own inner doubts is reassurance from her Church. What will Father Sheehy say?
After waiting for some weeks to reach this crunch-point it happened suddenly, almost casually, in a splendidly-written bit of dialogue in which the problem was picked over delicately and in detail. If it did nothing else it set out clearly and concisely the fundamental issues. But it went further in that Father Sheehy explained in more readily understandable terms than have ever been publicly employed by any professional theologian just what is meant by the key phrase “informed conscience”.
An inspired touch was that the priest’s dual identity-spokesman for the Church as well as an ordinary human being, subject to doubts was emphasised by having him appear wearing an Aran jersey over his white collar and through the knowledge, revealed in recent episodes, that he has his own weakness – gambling. Wesley Burrowes, who wrote the script, Brian Mac Lochlainn, who directed the scene, and Biddy White-Lennon and Tony Doyle, who played the parts, deserve the highest praise; Tony Doyle, in particular, for the sincerity and conviction with which he conveyed the complexities of the problem. How typical was Father Sheehy’s advice? Nothing that has happened in Ireland since Vatican ll would suggest that liberal, broad-minded attitudes such as he expressed are widespread among the Catholic clergy. Indeed I am told a number of people were on the telephone to RTE, hotfoot, to complain that what he said was far outside the general teaching of the Church.
The significant thing, however, may be that the total number of complaints did not exceed a dozen or so.
http://url.ie/7uo0