A week of disappointments

By JOAN NEWTON
TN. and Radio. 1 find it sad to have to report disappointment in most of the Catholic contributions to radio and television this week. It is only a month since I commented on the beauty of the transmission of High Mass from St. Cuthbert's, Manchester, and it is certainly heart-warming to have another television High Mass through, A.B.C. to speak about again so soon.
Last Sunday the Mass came from St. Joseph's, Lancaster. I would not have thought that the presentation of High Mass could be so different.
Of course, it is a privilege to be able to watch the ceremonies at all, and 1 will say from the start that the singing was first-class. The fault lay in the planning of the camera angles and the fact that the producers didn't seem to make the most of the material they had at hand in the way the previous A.B.C. team had done.
ABORTION
I N the A.T.V. network produc tion on "Abortion," though the director, Michael Rcdington, gave Catholics a good chance to state their views, I do not feel that this opportunity was used to the best advantage. As a mother, 1 naturally have the strongest feelings on this subject, and I was longing to hear the case against abortion put with clarity and competence.
The competence was there all right, as Mgr. Tomlinson spoke and had a Catholic specialist speaking with him, but they both lacked clarity, and it was left to the Church of England clergyman to put the Christian views with the necessary :vigour and clearness.
THE LAYMAN
" AST Sunday evening on the radio in the "Way of Life Series" was a feature on "The Place of the Layman in the Modern Church". I don't know whether this was meant for the converted, the lapsed, or the unconverted.
Taken as a whole, the feature did its job well, and by the time it was over I was feeling nearly as inspired and as encouraged as, 1 am sure. I was meant to he. But it had a very, very slow start, and ninny listeners might have switched off before the really inspiring part of the programme emerged.
Knowing the excellence of Bruce Stewart's usual radio-work, I was disappointed in the tameness of a
lot of this feature. It was a mistake to have the worthy, but deadly dull voices of members of lay organisations talking about their work at the beginning of this programme before we had been warmed up by the discussions on the lay apostolate and the inspiring histories of saints and apostles.
Though I liked the musical insertions very much as music, they broke up the programme too much. I wanted more fervour and more action and I did not get enough of it.
HOMECOMING
IDEODED, for a change. last I Sunday to sit through the whole of I.T.V.'s "Armchair Theatre" instead of switching over to that part of it that remained when the B.B.C. Sunday Night Theatre production was over. The play was called "Homecoming" by Nelson Bond, and starred Ann Todd and Hugh Williams. George More OTerrall directed it, and that may have had something to do with my decision to watch IL
The theme was quite intriguing --a beautiful young widow returns home from a sea-cruise a year after her husband's death because the shock of that death had made her desperately ill. On her return she finds many changes in her family's way of living and is very puzzled because she cannot remember the events which led up to her hus band's death or the reasons for these changes.
All this was very well put over. The settings and action were admirable hut then, suddenly, the whole thing went to pieces and the play galloped to a finish with nearly all the knots of the plot untangled.
Would this, perhaps, be one of the results of I.T.V.'s decisions to cut down the length of their plays ? If so, then it was a fine argument against that decision.
Bishop dies at Lourdes
Bishop Etienne Bornet, Auxiliary of Lyons, died recently as he knelt in prayer before the grotto at Lourdes. He had assisted Cardinal Gerber, Archbishop of Lyons, in leading a group of about 10,000 pilgrims on a diocesan pilgrimage to our Lady's shrine. Bishop Bonnet was 76.