Praising the good work of priests and nuns

EVERY so often RTÉ really gets it right and one thing recently which blew me away was a programme entitled: On God’s Mission, which details the life and work of some of the remaining Irish missionaries working with the world’s poorest people.

Fr Jim Crowe, a man in his 60s, began by attacking the fact that 20% of the Brazilian population control 80% of the country’s wealth and went on to discuss how he has worked tirelessly to expose government and police corruption, as well as leading a crusade against drug gang lords.

The biggest shock was when he cited Che Guevara and Hugo Chávez as persons he felt had done and were doing the right thing to assist the poor.

A far cry from clerical European counterparts, who were far more comfortable in the company of Antonio Salazar and General Franco.

The documentary also travelled to India and met Sister Cyril Mooney, who works to educate the poor of Calcutta and who has established quasi-hedge schools across India to continue this task.

Her work is a sharp contrast to that of Teresa of Calcutta, whose mission, while highly exposed in the media, has over time found to be largely superficial and her connections with the likes of Jean-Claude Duvalier cast a dubious shadow over the work she conducted.

Unlike her Irish counterpart Sister Cyril, Mother Teresa worked to make poverty as comfortable as it could be for the poor of India, rather then to stimulate the conditions and opportunities to raise the people from poverty and into a higher standard of living via education.

In a time when the Irish clergy are being held up regularly as reprobates, this documentary gives great exposure to the good work that Irish nuns and priests have done in the pursuit of social justice and economic equality and to their credit draws to one’s mind that there were many who stayed in Ireland who are continuing this work at home.

Fr Seán Healy being one such person who comes to mind.

Patrick Corkery

James Street

Cork