School of Love - RTE WYB - Glencairn Abbey

The Cistercian Sisters of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Co Waterford, in Ireland live an austere life based on the Rule of St Benedict, which has barely changed in over 1000 years. Rooted in community, work, prayer and silence, some may see it as a retreat from the world, but the nuns themselves believe this is the best contribution they can make to that world, and the best way for them to get close to God. Over the course of a year, they gave RTÉ's religious documentary series Would You Believe? unique access to film their way of life. This is the resulting film.

We Couldn't Understand the Peace - RTE Radio 1 - Documentary on One

Refugees at Dundalk railway station - RTE archive

The sight of refugees in Europe from 2015 recalled for some people that we had a refugee crisis in Ireland within living memory.   In the first few summers of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, 1969-1972, refugees from Catholic areas came over the border to escape the tension surrounding the Orange celebrations of The Twelfth.  The numbers peaked at 10,000 in 1972.  But, by 1972, the refugees were no longer being housed by the Army in camps, instead they were being put up by local authorities and educational institutions.

One such institution was Glenstal Abbey - a Benedictine monastery in 500 acres of farmland in East Limerick.  The monastery also houses a boys’ private secondary school. On July 11th, 1972, the monks received a call telling them that 172 women and children were on the way and to get ready. The monks had the assistance of the local Civil Defence. Mostly women and children arrived because the men stayed behind to protect their homes from Protestant mobs.

While Glenstal was ideal for hosting a large group - having dormitories and refectories, this was not the kind of large group the monks were used to.  There were many babies and the monks had to get used to nappies hanging in Glenstal.  The children were also full of energy and had been traumatised having lived through three years of The Troubles.  One of their favourite pastimes was to throw stones.

The monks and the Civil Defence decided that distraction was the best way to manage the new visitors.  They organised activities for the children in the daytime and musical entertainment for everyone in the evening. There was tension. While the refugees were fleeing the fighting, they were also enjoying a holiday and some of the Civil Defence volunteers felt that they were being used - some of the women wanted to be dropped down to the local pub in the Civil Defence ambulance.

After a few weeks, all the refugees had returned home.  They left the monks to return to their ordered life but feeling bereft - they missed the liveliness and presence of women and children in Glenstal.
The refugees returned to 30 more years of tension and chaos.   One refugee, Gemma, who was 4 at the time says that Glenstal was the last time she remembers her mother being really happy.  When they returned home, Gemma’s brother was killed by the British Army and Gemma’s mother spent the rest of her life campaigning over the issue of her son’s death.

You can listen to the podcast of the Documentary on One HERE.

The Capuchins and the 1916 Rising

A documentary examining the role played by the Capuchins in the 1916 Rising will be broadcast on Monday next (25 January) on RTÉ One at 7.30pm. The documentary titled ‘Capuchins and Rebels’ will include dramatic reconstructions and contributions from the historians, Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (UCD), Dr Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh (NUIG), Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh and Fr. Bryan Shortall OFM Cap. and Fr. Kieran Shorten OFM Cap.

The Longford Phoenix: A Would You Believe Special - RTE

On Christmas Morning, 2009, the people of Longford woke up to the devastating news that their beloved St Mel's Cathedral was engulfed by flames. A fault in the heating system took hold during the small hours. Mercifully, no-one was injured, but, during one of the harshest winters in memory and in the midst of a deep recession, the disaster was a real kick in the teeth for Longford. The local Bishop, Colm O'Reilly, was heartbroken. He wept openly on the RTÉ News. But he also determined that this 170 year old landmark would be rebuilt.

In The Longford Phoenix, RTÉ's Midlands Correspondent, Ciarán Mullooly, and Would You Believe? filmmaker, Birthe Tonseth, chart the long and arduous process of transforming the cathedral from a roofless ruin back to its former glory. [You can watch the programme for 21 days on the RTE Player HERE]

Over the last five years, master craftsmen and women from all over Ireland have come together with people from the local community to work on one of the largest restoration projects in Europe. Ancient skills - lime-plastering, masonry, carpentry and glazing - have had to be re-learned and precious building materials sourced from far and wide, in order to replicate the cathedral's ruined features. Twenty-eight enormous limestone pillars have been replaced; the distinctive lime-plaster barrel-vaulted ceiling has been totally recreated and the priceless Harry Clarke stained glass windows restored. The new St Mel's also has a new 7.5 ton Carrara marble altar and some very modern stained glass windows. But will the people of Longford like these new features? Many of them had a deep affection for the old cathedral and may not welcome change.

The original was built with the pennies of the poor during the famine era. Its first stones were laid soon after Catholic Emancipation, in the 1840s, but the church was not completed and consecrated until 1893, because of the impact of the famine and emigration.

The current five-year €30 million restoration has been funded largely by insurance, so fund-raising was not the biggest issue. There were, however, those who questioned the wisdom of re-building a vast cathedral during a recession, at a time when church-going is in decline in Ireland and that amount of money could arguably be better spent. So, what will be the new cathedral's place in the community and in the hearts of the people of Longford? Bishop Colm and his successor, Bishop Francis Duffy, are determined that the new St Mel's will be more than a reconstruction of the previous one: in form and function, it should represent the renewal and future of the Church in Ireland. But is that how the people themselves will see it?

In 2014, they queued in their droves for an early glimpse inside, on the first occasion when they were allowed in to view the work in progress. But will those same people keep coming, once the cathedral re-opens for good this Christmas?

The Longford Phoenix is full of characters and stories. Many local people, for instance, see the survival, unscathed, of a Holy Family painting, St Caillin's book shrine and the Blessed Sacrament in a tabernacle as nothing short of miraculous, given that, just metres away, limestone columns crumbled in the 1000+ degree heat. Miraculous or not, those items have become symbols of hope.

For the last five year's Ciarán Mullooly and Birthe Tonseth have painstakingly captured the key moments in the phoenix-like re-birth of St Mel's from the ashes of the old cathedral. Their hour-long special documentary, to be broadcast on 30 December, chronicles the entire process, from the scenes of grief and devastation, at Christmas 2009, to the triumphant inaugural Midnight Mass, simulcast on RTÉ Television and Radio, this Christmas Eve at 11pm. always assuming the reconstruction work is completed on time. The Cathedral will then also broadcast a second Mass on Christmas morning to a European-wide audience, via eight different broadcasters.

As the destruction and restoration of St Mel's has demonstrated, a cathedral is much more than a building. The people of Longford are the human stones of the Church and when St Mel's reopens for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve - five years to the day after the fire - it will be filled with local parishioners, overjoyed to have their beloved church back.

The phoenix will be re-born.

Music Passport: From the Cloister - RTE

Kathryn Thomas meets members of religious orders, to see how much music means to them in their daily lives. Kathryn Thomas meets members of religious orders, to see how much music means to them in their daily lives.

RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 30 December, 2pm - you can listen to the podcast HERE.

Christmastide 2014 - Miriam O'Callaghan visits the Dominican Nuns in Drogheda

Miriam O'Callaghan visits a silent and enclosed order of nuns at the Monastery of St Catherine of Siena in Drogheda, for a programme of music, conversation, and reflection. A rare insight into a contemplative order of nuns.

You can listen to the programme on the RTE Radio One Player HERE.

Passion: A Would You Believe special - RTE 1

Last Easter in the parishes of Pallasgreen/Nicker (Co Limerick, Diocese of Cashel & Emily); a local group worked with the whole community to recreate The Passion of Our Lord over a 24 hour period, from Holy Thursday to Good Friday, including [in real time] the agony at Gethsemane, the flogging and crown of thorns, and His trial and Crucifixion.

For the 6000 + people who attended this was not a performance, It was an experience! The event was recorded by RTE TV and will be shown as part of the ‘Would You Believe’ series on Sunday 14th September at 10:30 pm.

Watch this video for a taster of this powerful experience....

RTE Religious Programming

For those who might be interested some programming from RTE:

Dom Mark Patrick Hederman
- The Irish Times

New Years Eve, Marian Finucane interviewed Dom Mark Patrick Hederman, Abbot of Glenstal Abbot. As always Dom Mark has some extremely thought provoking insights. Link to interview podcast here.

RTE is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the national television broadcaster and they are currently trawling through the archives. One of the programmes shown was a gentle, respectful yet informative interview with Mother Teresa of Calcutta which was repeated on 4th January 2012. Link to interview on the RTE Player here.

Please bear in mind that the RTE Player may not work in countries outside of the Republic of Ireland and that programmes on the RTE Player are usually only available for 30 days after broadcast.