LOOKING and LISTENING

Mass for Mothering Sunday
By JOAN NEWTON
MOTHERING Sunday, like
' Christmas and Easter. is becoming more and more commercialised. It was fitting, therefore. that the commercial television should keep the day in the best liturgical manner, too, with a presentation of a fine dialogue Mass from St. Mary's Training College, Strawberry Hill, with an address by Bishop Beck.
Unfortunately for us, the reception was rather poor and, though the sound never broke down, at times we could see very little on the screen. When I was listening to the bishop's sermon I could not help wondering whether his message—on family life and the duties of parents—was being listened to by the right audience.
Presumably most Catholics would be at Mass in their own churches at that time, and do many non-Catholics switch on their TV sets especially for the service on a Sunday morning? I hope they do and did, and that they benefited from his sermon and realised that Mother's Day, as it is now called, can mean more to all the family than just giving mother a bunch of flowers.
The "TV Times" for this week has a charming little article in it about Mother's Day by Lady Pakenham in which she stresses the religious significance of this particular Sunday. As a mother of a big family myself I endorse everything she said.
Patient cows
AS a mother, too. I would like to comment on another excellent feature last Sunday in the B.B.C. TV programme "Farming".
I have always had the greatest sympathies with cows (cats, too) because, when we lived on a farm. I used to hear them groaning in labour and knew what they were going through.
They are such good, patient animals, and now my respeot for them has gone up a hundred-fold since watching the quiet resignation of a poor beast going through a most uncomfortable operation in a film shown on this programme.
Not enough THIS "Farming" programme every Sunday morning on television is fascinating. as is radio's "On Your Farm" on Wednesday mornings, too, on the Home Service. But I do not think that one hour a week only divided between sound and television is nearly
enough time devoted to such a vital part of our national life.
Possibly farmers themselves might not have time to listen to or watch much more, but what of the coming generation of farmers and the ignorant townecs who could certainly do with plenty more information about every aspect of farming?
There is an enormous attraction for children in watching a tractor or any farm machinery at work.
This was proved by the great success of I.T.V.'s schools series "The Farming Year" last year which showed many details of farming life from the beginning to the end of the harvest, etc.
Now that a new cycle of the farming year is under way, I would like to suggest that we have, perhaps, another hour a week given over to the land and that hour taken away from the superabundance of mediocre dance music we do get on the air.
Clashing
HOW sad it is that whenever " I.T.V. have an apparently interesting or worthwhile programme on view, there is something equally enticing on B.B.C. TV. Last Wednesday night, Associated-Rediffusion were giving over an hour to a study of Hitler called "Tyranny" while, a little later, B.B.C. were devoting 45 minutes to an interview with Bertrand Russell.
I chose to watch the latter because I know from experience that these "Enquiries" can be disappointing, and now I believe mine was the right choice.
We may not approve of a great many of Bertrand Russell's views, but he is undisputably an interesting man who has lived a great many years. so that any interview with him could have plenty of interest. John Freeman. the interviewer, was discretion itself, as we only saw the back of his head and heard his quiet questions.
Successful
j 0 R'D RUSSELL'S profile
showed up magnificently and, as television, it was very successful. I would, myself, liked to have heard a great deal more reminis
cence about his early boyhood and less about more modern happenings.
The story of his sacking from his New York university job during the war sounded a very poor business and. if he really did lose his job for making the remarks which caused offence to Catholics (and which I need not mention here), then his tolerant remarks about it in this interview were most Christian in tenor.
His hatred of suffering and war, too, marks him as a lover of his fellow creatures. There is obviously so much to admire in his views that it is a pity that there is, too, so much to deplore.
"A DAY IN THE LIFE OF POPE JOHN XXIII" will appear on Italian television screens next week. The 35 minute film was made by an Italian company and some of the scenes were shot in the Pope's study.