Religious Programmes for
Holy Week and Easter, 2012
On RTÉ Television and Radio
Sunday 1st April – Palm Sunday
0700-0900 Gloria - Tim Thurston introduces seasonal sacred music, including a Russian Orthodox Passion, Bach’s Passion Chorales for organ and a stunning version of Allegri’s Miserere. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
1000-1100 Mass for Palm Sunday from the Divine Word Church, Donamon, Co Roscommon. The celebrant is Fr Tom Cahill, SVD. Music comes from the parish choirs of Kilbegnet and Glinsk. (RTÉ Radio One LW 252 / Digital platforms)
1100-1145 Passiontide Reflection led by Canon Maureen Ryan, a Minister of the Church of Ireland parish of Galway. (RTÉ Radio One LW 252 / Digital platforms)
1115-1210 Fr Philip McShane celebrates Mass for Palm Sunday with the congregation of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty, in the Cork & Ross Diocese. Music is by the Clonakilty Folk Choir, led by Sigrid Rose. (RTÉ One TV)
1130-1230 Aifreann an Lae ar Dhomhnach na Pailme, deo ó Shéipéal Muire, an Daingean, Co Chiarrai. (RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta)
1735-1745 Passover: A Celebration of Freedom. Every year Yanky Fachler a member of the Dublin Jewish Progressive Community runs a communal Passover – he recounts the story of his father’s escape from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport and how his departure from oppression into freedom is very much the theme of Passover. (RTÉ One TV)
2235-2305 Would You Believe? The Secret Peacemaker. Fr Alec Reid never meant to have a public role in the Troubles, but when he knelt to give the last rites to one of two British Corporals killed by a West Belfast lynch mob, in 1988, the image went global. Behind the scenes, he was already starting to work as a secret peacemaker between Gerry Adams, John Hume and the Irish Government – efforts which were rewarded ten years later with the Good Friday Agreement. As he turns 80, WYB? tells his remarkable story, with contributions from key players and commentators, including Gerry Adams, Martin Mansergh and the Rev. Harold Good. (RTÉ One TV)
Thursday 5th April – Holy Thursday
1900-2000 Monsignor Dan O’Connor celebrates Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the RTÉ Television studios with the choir of St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Duboyne, Co Meath, directed by Hannah Evans. The Mass also marks the culmination of the Trócaire Lenten campaign. (Live simulcast on RTÉ One TV & Radio One Extra /LW 252)
Friday 6th April – Good Friday
1345-1400 Good Friday and So Forth – A Note on the Compassion Narrative, written and presented by Aidan Mathews. (RTE Radio One. All wavelengths.)
1400-1500 Music for Good Friday With Tim Thurston. Music from Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and Allegri’s Miserere. (RTE Radio 1 FM)
1400-1430 Why Did He Die? A Special Edition of The God Slot for Good Friday. All we can say with historical accuracy about Jesus of Nazareth is that a young Jewish Galilean healer, preacher and exorcist called Jesus was executed by the Romans in or around the year 33 AD, and that he had such an effect on his group of followers that their lives were transformed forever, so much so that they believed that he was the Christ, the Son of God who rose from the dead and walked among them. Those are the facts, but there is a lot more to truth than mere facts, and on Good Friday, one of the most sacred days in the Christian calendar, The God Slot asks: Why did he die?
All aspects of the death of Jesus are examined, from traditional Theology to the Hollywood treatment of the event to its impact on our world. The programme is repeated on all wave-lengths at 2200 and an extended edition will be available on podcast. (RTE Radio 1 Live Extra / 252 LW)
1430-1500 The Tullamore Passion The Rev William Hayes, Msgr Sean Heaney, the Rev. Rosemary Lindsay, Canon Gerald Field, Fr Shane Crombie and Pastor Oladipo Niran lead Christians of all denominations in a commemoration of the Passion of Christ, through readings, reflections, music and prayer, on the streets of Tullamore, Co. Offaly. (RTE Radio 1 Live Extra / 252 LW)
1455-1600 Solemn Liturgy for Good Friday Fr John McCarthy leads liturgies marking the crucifixion of Jesus, in St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, in the Diocese of Cloyne. The combined Cathedral and Chamber Choirs are directed by Dominic Finn. (Live on RTÉ One TV & simulcast on Radio One Extra / LW 252 from 1500, with commentary by Mary Curtin.)
Good Friday ceremonies today will be broadcast from Séipéal Mhic Dara in An Cheathrú Rua, Connemara. Celebrant is An tAthair Ciarán de Blácam. (RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta)
2000-2200 The Lyric Concert presented by Paul Herriott Haydn: Seven Last Words on the Cross. RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet with Denis Conway (narrator) , recorded in the Unitarian Church in Dublin in 2010; Mozart: Requiem: Ton Koopman conducts the Amsterdam Baroque Chorus and Orchestra with soloists Dorothee Mields, Bogna Bartosz, Tilman Lichdi and Klaus Mertens. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Saturday, 7th April – Holy Saturday
2100-2230 The Easter Vigil Mass from St. Clonleth’s Church, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. The celebrant is Fr. Joe McDermott. Music from St. Clonleth’s Parish Choir. (RTÉ Radio One LW252 / Digital Platforms)
2315-0045 The Easter Vigil Mass from St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork. The Principal Celebrant is Fr Michael Leamy; Dominic Finn conducts the combined Cathedral and Chamber Choirs. (RTÉ One)
Sunday 8th April – Easter Sunday
0700-0900 Gloria. Tim Thurston offers a selection of sacred music to celebrate Easter Sunday. (RTE Lyric FM)
0915-1100 Mass for Easter Sunday celebrated by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter’s Square, Rome with live commentary by Fr Thomas McCarthy, OP. (RTÉ One) Followed by…
1100-1135 Urbi et Orbi: The Pope’s Easter Message, with live commentary from Fr Thomas McCarthy, OP. (RTÉ One)
1000-1045 Mass for Easter Sunday from the Church of the Assumption, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The celebrant is Fr. Patrick Donnelly. Music comes from the Family Mass Choir. (RTÉ Radio One LW252 / Digital Platforms)
1045-1130 Easter Sunday Service of Worship from Cavan Presbyterian Church, led by Reverend Jean Mackarel. (RTÉ Radio One LW252 / Digital Platforms)
1100-1145 Aifreann an Lae. Craolfar Aifreann an Lae beo ó Shéipéal Mhic Dara ar an gCeathrú Rua. An tAthair Ciarán de Blácam. Beidh Raidió na Gaeltachta ag ceiliúradh 40 bliain ar an aer i mbliana. Ba ar Dhomhnach Cásca sa bhliain 1972 a thosaigh Raidió na Gaeltachta ag craoladh, lá stairiúil do phobal na Gaeltachta agus na Gaeilge. (Raidió na Gaeltachta)
Sunday Mass will be broadcast from Séipéal Mhic Dara in An Cheathrú Rua, Connemara. The celebrant is Fr Ciaran de Blácam. (Raidió na Gaeltachta)
Raidió na Gaeltachta is celebrating 40 years on air this year. On Easter Sunday, in 1972, Raidió na Gaeltachta came on air for the first time. It was an historic day, and the result of a battle hard-won by the Gaeltacht Civil Rights movement for a radio station for the Gaeltacht and Irish-language population of the country.
2235-2315 Would You Believe? As every Irish schoolchild knows, on Holy Saturday, over 1500 years ago, St Patrick lit a Paschal fire on Slane Hill to banish pagan darkness and transform the Irish into a Christian people. The trouble is there’s absolutely no evidence that he did anything of the sort. Mick Peelo goes on a journey to find out what we really know for certain about Patrick… from an Archbishop, a Bishop and a mitre-ful of historians and scholars. He discovers that much of our “knowledge” is a mixture of myth and propaganda, which is often in danger of eclipsing what Patrick actually himself revealed about his life, faith and legacy. (RTÉ One TV)
For further information, please call: Roger Childs (01 208 4586) or Vivienne Flood (01 208 3164) for television enquiries and Joe Hoban (01 208 2399) for radio enquiries.