Fr Kevin hits back at Bandits
MOYVANE parish priest Fr Kevin McNamara received a number of abusive phone calls to his home on Monday within hours of his RTÉ Rubberbandits complaint becoming widely known.
Fr McNamara took issue with David Chambers (aka ‘Blindboy Boatclub’ of the Rubberbandits) describing the Eucharist as ‘ haunted bread’ on the Late Late Show of January 6. He told The Kerryman that as the sacrament is a central part of his life he would defend it until his dying days.
The complaint drew ire, with some ringing the cleric to hurl abuse. But he said he has received a far greater number of positive calls.
MOYVANE parish priest Fr Kevin McNamara received at least three abusive phone calls within hours of his RTÉ’s Late Late Show complaint becoming widely known, with the callers hurling offensive abuse towards priests in general.
However, Fr McNamara is taking heart from the fact that he has received a far greater volume of calls supporting him in his complaint against the Rubberbandits comedian David Chambers’ (performing as Blindboy Boatclub), description of the Eucharist as ‘ haunted bread’ in the Late Late Show of January 6.
“You obviously can’t fully control what is being said in a live show. But what really stunned me was that the host Ryan Tubridy effectively endorsed the idea and said he thought the reference to ‘ haunted bread’ by David Chambers of the Rubberbandits was a great expression...I don’t think the national broadcaster is the place to make fun of such things.”
Fr McNamara said he was hurt ‘ beyond words’ in his parish newsletter of January 15, prompting him to lodge his complaint on the issue with RTÉ, not the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
But some of the callers to his home in Moyvane on Monday told him ‘you wouldn’t know the meaning of hurt’. “At least three were quite offensive towards priests and quite aggressive saying things like ‘thank God priests are finished’ and mentioning child sex abuse. The level of support has been huge on the other hand, with people from places as far away as Wexford and Fermanagh ringing here to communicate their support.”
Fr McNamara had no previous issue with The Rubberbandits, describing them as ‘articulate, gifted and talented’ performers but he said he took ‘Blindboy’s’ Late Late quip as indicative of a rising anti-Catholic bias within society, the resulting laughter from the audience further supporting his view.
The comment came in a discussion about faith in modern Ireland, with Mr Chambers saying that young people were not going to Midnight Mass ‘for haunted bread, but because it was a family event’. “There was a line crossed this time,” Fr McNamara said.
He hopes his complaint will now ensure such a situation - of RTÉ effectively ‘endorsing’ a comment likely to cause deep offense as he believes - would not happen again: “I hope a recurrence of this would never happen again and that there would be clear guidelines laid down as to what is and what is not acceptable.”
The Rubberbandits appeared non-plussed about the controversy, at least in response to a ‘tweet’ on Twitter accusing them of picking a soft target, in Catholicism, rather than going after Islam: “It’s none of my business. I was raised catholic. Plus, Catholicism still in constitution, therefore its political,” one of the comic duo shot back.