Two Views On The Angelus

Introduction

Robin Bury, Chairman of the Killiney-based Reform Movement, has written to Church & State asking the views of the magazine about the broadcasting of the broadcast of the Angelus Chimes on RTE. He enclosed copies of letters exchanged on the issue with RTE and with Government. Here are the essential points of the correspondence:

Letter From Reform Movement To Mary Hurley, Private Secretary, Department of Arts. (9.4.02)

“We have established that the Angelus is not broadcast on any public service broadcaster in the European Union. In Italy the Italian state broadcaster (RAI) does not broadcast the Angelus. The Vatican television station only broadcasts the Angelus on Sundays and feast days…

…

“Of course, the Angelus should be respected as an important part of the Catholic church’s form of worship, but that is surely begging the question? It is also known to Reform that the Church of Ireland is not opposed to the broadcasting of the Angelus, but this does not address the issue.

The special position of the Catholic church was removed from the Constitution in 1970 and we believe it is more than time that RTE followed the spirit of this enactment.…”

Section 18 (1) of the Broadcasting Act 1960 is then quoted showing the need for broadcasts to be “presented objectively and impartially and without any expression of the Authority’s own views”. The Reform Movement’s letter then comments:

“It could be argued that this constitutes a general obligation as to impartiality. It could be argued that the Angelus breaches this requirement…

“The Framework Convention for the Protection of Minority Rights, to which the Irish Republic is a signatory:

“Considering that a pluralist and genuinely democratic society should not only respect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity (my emphasis) of each person belonging to a national minority, but also to create appropriate conditions enabling them to express, preserve and develop this identity.

“We believe that RTE is not creating ‘appropriate conditions’ and signals that there is one religion that counts above others here.

“We suggest a possible solution is for RTE to broadcast the chimes of bells at noon each weekday from our Cathedrals, both Catholic and Protestant. An example and precedent for this comes from Radio Ylen Ykkönen (a radio channel of the Finnish Broadcasting Company) which plays daily from Monday to Saturday at 12:00–12:05 Turku Cathedral’s bells. Turku is the ancient medieval capital of Finland and even today the centre of the church administration in Finland. The Turku Cathedral is most important [sic] medieval cathedral in Finland.

“We ask you for your views and sympathetic consideration in the spirit of inclusiveness of the Belfast Agreement which applies to the island as a whole.”

RTE made the following arguments in response.

“Letter To Reform Movement From Tom Quinn Of RTE (30.7.02)

“…Some people tell us to stop broadcasting the Angelus while others urge its continuance. The views of the Reform Movement are noted and the following comments are offered on the points you raise.

“While RTÉ may be the only public service broadcaster in Europe to transmit the Angelus as it does, it also offers broadcasts of worship to a range of Christian denominations with greater frequency than their size would strictly merit. Your letters draws a distinction, of course, between the Angelus and other acts of worship, but it may be argued that in making this generous provision of time for these broadcast liturgies, Irish public service broadcasting adheres commendably with the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minority Rights. RTÉ also broadcasts strands of programming which reflects the wider variety of religious expression in the community.

“Broadcast of the Angelus undoubtedly reflects the historical strength of the Roman Catholic faith in this country. Ireland is no exception in this regard because, for instance, BBC radio will transmit Anglican services of morning prayer and Turku Cathedral is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Finland, as well as being the country’s most important medieval church. RTÉ has carefully avoided any representation in the television broadcast of the Angelus which would emphasise the specifically Roman Catholic aegis of the Angelus as a prayer. That sensitivity, in representation of the mother and child, was further evidenced in the current series of social images which accompany the broadcast. On no occasion of which I am aware has any official representative of the Christian Churches urged discontinuation of the Angelus.

“The Reform Movement makes an interesting suggestion in urging the daily broadcast of church bells from around the country. Further consideration will be given to this proposal in the continuing reflection on the Angelus broadcast.”

“Letter To RTÉ From Reform Movement (12.8.02)”

A reply to RTÉ from the Reform Movement (12.8.02) argues that the ringing of the Finnish Cathedral Bells is of national, rather than religious, significance: the practice dating from 1944. (It seems that the practice started when the Soviet Union captured the second most important Finnish city. Incidentally, Finland was allied to Nazi Germany right up to the end of World War Two).

Robin Bury’s main point in this letter is that, even though there is no overt religious message with the Angelus chimes, “It is well known that the Angelus Bell is specifically a call to prayer of the Roman Catholic church, centred on the incarnation and the belief that the Virgin Mary is the mother of God, a belief not shared by Protestant and other churches. It may not be announced as the Angelus yet the newspapers bill it as such in their TV listings.” Mr. Bury continues by challenging the suggestion that other denominations are treated generously in terms of broadcasting time—seeming to argue that the Protestant Churches be allocated time on their pre-independence weight in the society—

“RTE does indeed broadcast other liturgies, but it is at least disputable to describe this as a ‘generous provision of time’. The numbers of people in other religious denominations is indeed small, but there is a reason for that, which is basically an earlier policy by state and the Roman Catholic church of cleansing. There was a massive exodus of Protestants between 1920-1924 and the ne temere decree took its huge toll later, as Prof Brendan Walsh of UCD has made clear. As a public service broadcaster funded largely by taxpayers, may I suggest that it is a fundamental requirement in terms of human rights to broadcast other liturgies, particularly of a minority that was treated with ‘barely repressed intolerance’, in the words of the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, FSL Lyons? However, I would think that within the spirit of the Belfast Agreement, the broadcasting of the Angelus Bell does not indicate a pluralist attitude that treasures minorities. I find it extraordinary that RTE is the only public service broadcaster in Europe to do this. In any seriously pluralist country, this would cause outrage.

“It is worth repeating in conclusion that the Vatican television station only broadcasts the Angelus on Sundays and feast days. RTE goes much further than even the Vatican!"

Comments

1. Church & State—the magazine and the Campaign— pioneered the pushing back of the Catholic Church from secular areas of social life on which it had encroached.

We succeeded beyond expectations. Though there are still loose ends to be tidied up, we believe that anyone who would now argue that the Catholic Church dominates the public life of Ireland is not living in the real world.

It is plainly evident that secular liberalism, with a post-Catholic flavour, is the dominant ideology in Ireland. In this respect the country bears comparison with many countries in Europe.

There is nothing to be gained by attributing to the Catholic Church a control and influence which it no longer exercises.

2. Even though the tone of the Reform Movement correspondence is apparently pluralist, implicit in it is a programme to remove all religion from the public life of the nation. That is what diminishing the limited presence of the Catholic Church within RTE would amount to. Yet that is not overtly demanded, possibly because the group would then have to campaign for an amendment to the Constitution. While the special position of the Catholic Church has been removed, the general statement protecting the position of denominational religion in Ireland was retained.

To argue that no religion of any kind underpin the public life of the nation is a coherent position. It is not one that this magazine is committed to. We believe that the people need a spiritual dimension to existence—and think that, so long as public broadcasters maintain a sufficient balance, it is beneficial for people to have their spiritual needs met by public service broadcasting to a certain degree. And we don’t believe that the general level of religious broadcasting on RTE is excessive.

We would think that the Reform Movement would be better employed to have a generalised moral element included in the religious broadcasting output of RTE, along with the religious output, rather than knocking the reasonable coverage it gives to the various denominations.

3. As regards the Angelus: the Reform Movement is mistaken when it says that the content of the prayer is against the Protestant faith. If Mr. Bury looks into the matter he will find that Protestants do believe in the Incarnation (that is, that God was made flesh). They also believe in the Virgin Birth. There is nothing in the Angelus ceremony that Protestants can object to, beyond the fact that it is sponsored by the Catholic Church.

In fact, RTE broadcasts not the Angelus ceremony, but only the bell which reminds people of it. It is not clear whether the Vatican broadcasts the bell or the whole ceremony.

To deny the majority religion the expression of a prayer which most members of the main minority religion have no problem with seems to us to be the height of sectarianism: a kind of reverse religious discrimination.

4. While the Angelus was a symbol of Catholic Church hegemony in secular aspects of Irish social life, this magazine would have had no problem with opposing its broadcast. Now that the Angelus has been reduced to a devotional expression in keeping with the religious belief of both Catholics and the Church of Ireland‚ the two main Christian denominations in Ireland—we can see no objection to its being broadcast.

5. British practice is often taken as being exemplary. In fact, the equivalent to the Angelus, the Morning Service on Radio 4 is an Anglican occasion. As far as I know, the Angelus has never been broadcast in Britain where the practice has been to give the Established Church the lion’s share of broadcasting on radio and television. This practice has undoubtedly discriminated against the Catholic Church in view of the fact that Established Church numbers include a lot of nominal members, whereas Catholic numbers have tended to be of enthusiasts. Catholics have also been debarred from certain offices of State—which has never been the case in Ireland.

6. The question of the decline in Protestant numbers in the Republic is not strictly relevant to the matters at issue. It is a complicated question and there are far more factors at play than the Ne Temere rule raised by Mr. Bury.

I have never heard of any State action to expel Protestants as is claimed. (There was certainly State action in Northern Ireland to discourage Catholics from the South from establishing domicile there.)

A factor in the Protestant decline which is often overlooked is the First World War. The Church of Ireland community responded enthusiastically to the British call to arms of the First World War. This meant that it lost a disproportionate number of its young men in the carnage. This undoubtedly would have affected the reproduction rate of the community in the next generations.

Some Protestants would have left Ireland after independence, simply because they felt British and could not give allegiance to an Irish State. This particularly applied to members of the security forces and others implicated in opposing the Irish fight for independence. This factor was increased by the establishment of Northern Ireland and the concerted effort by the government there to have Protestants move up to its territory, to increase the weight of Protestants in the population.

The Protestant population in Ireland before independence had been subject to a continuing ‘topping-up’ process from England up to independence, which helped to maintain its size. This would have come to an end with the separation of the two countries.

Whilst the Ne Temere decree and other Catholic hegemonistic actions had an effect on Protestant numbers in Ireland, this ‘chill factor’ should be seen as one factor amongst others. And, if we are looking at sectarian balances of this kind, the single greatest factor which altered the religious composition of Ireland (as a whole) in modern times was the Great Famine. Prior to that, there were approximately 8 million Catholics to 2 million Protestants. After this catastrophe (which was not averted due to policy considerations of the British Government), there were approximately 5 million Catholics to 2 million Protestants: a far more satisfactory ratio, as far as some people are concerned. The idea that the Reform Movement raises, that RTE should cater not to the actual numbers in the various religious communities in Ireland, but to the number they would have been if history had worked out differently, would surely have to also have regard to such factors.

More On The Angelus

On 29th August 2002 Robin Bury indicated in a letter to the Irish Independent that his opposition to the Angelus being broadcast was on national, as much as on religious grounds. He complained of “the lack of any real constraints imposed on RTE. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission is bureaucratic and slow and deters people from querying RTE’s bias, mostly of a nationalist nature”. He continues by suggesting that opposition to the Angelus broadcast would “encourage RTE to be thoroughly pluralist in its attitudes”, and comments:

“By broadcasting the Angelus, RTE accedes to the Catholic belief that there is only one true religion and all others, from Methodist to Moslem, are completely secondary. And what about those who are humanists and atheists?…”

If RTE broadcast only the liturgy of one Church, there could properly be complaint of bias. But the station has a spread of liturgical coverage in keeping with the sizes of the various religious beliefs in the country—and, as RTE says, it gives the minorities a greater share than their numbers would warrant. The Angelus itself is in keeping with the beliefs of the two major Christian denominations in Ireland. And, as has been pointed out, the way RTE treats the Angelus is not to broadcast the prayer itself, but only the bell calling to prayer, while leaving a short space of time in which people can think their own thoughts. Surely giving people time for reflection is an unusual and valuable service by a broadcaster? If humanists and atheists want to be included in the religious dimension of RTE, they should campaign directly for that—rather than using the indirect approach of complaining of an imbalance where none exists.

Robin Bury’s claim that the Angelus was not broadcast on Austrian radio was challenged by James O’Brien of Dublin (2.9.02 II), who said: “Having lived in Austria, I can assure him that it is broadcast twice a day, at noon and at 6 pm. Usually the broadcast is followed by a short description of the church where the recording was made.”

On 5th September the Irish Independent carried two more letters on the issue, one for and one against. Angela De Burgo of Galway pleaded for retention, saying: “the Angelus is an ancient Christian ritual and, therefore, part of the heritage of Protestants, Anglicans and Methodists. Muslims also believe in angels and anyone who has visited a Muslim country would know that they are called to prayer several times a day. As for humanists and atheists, they too have a spiritual side. So I say again, leave the Angelus!”

Damien Lynch, writing from Ulm in Germany, suggested “By playing the Angelus and upsetting a large amount of people, a proportion of the citizens of Ireland feel excluded. If there was no Angelus there would be no feeling of exclusion, strengthening the idea of an inclusive society. Surely an inclusive society is the way forward?” This raises an important point. Does inclusiveness entail producing lowest-common-denominator culture, or does it mean respecting the various beliefs and giving them all opportunities to take a place in the public arena?

It seems to me that inclusiveness is a concept of nationality: only a nation can include everyone who considers themselves part of that nation, regardless of class or religious belief. So long as RTE’s output is national, it can appeal to the constituent parts of the nation: its output will be inclusive. Thus it can broadcast the liturgies of the various religious tendencies without excluding them from the nation.

If the station were to cater for two nations—as presumably it would have to do when it is more generally received in Northern Ireland—it should produce national output appropriate to each nation, rather than attempt an artificial synthesis of the two. In that situation the balance of its religious output would also change, giving greater weight to the Protestant religions.

Angela Clifford

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