A short Sunday

There's no time today for a detailed post about this morning's Sunday on Radio 4 (you may be relieved to hear), so here's a short one instead.

I will admit that it had me tutting even more than usual today - more tuts than a party involving Elvis' drummer Ron Tutt, actor Julian Rhind-Tutt and King Tutankhamun. 

Gay marriage was the leitmotif which ran throughout the programme. Archbishop Welby was asked about it, as was Chief Rabbi Mirvis, and so was a Catholic Conservative MP - so that's representatives of Anglicanism, Judaism and Catholicism. 

It's rare that you get a Conservative MP on Sunday - it's usually Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs who appear on the programme - but Conor Burns MP was invited on today to criticise his own Catholic bishop for excommunicating him over his vote for gay marriage. (This is a classic Sunday story.)

I may not be a Catholic but I've become slightly more clued-up on Catholic matters over the past couple of years or so, and if there's one English 'bogey-Bishop' for the likes of Edward Stourton and his fellow liberal Catholic Tabletistas, it's the new(ish), conservative-traditionalist Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan. And, lo and behold, here he was being slated on Sunday - just as he's been slated in recent days in The Tablet. 

In fact, although I've never heard about  the story before, as soon as an unnamed bishop was mentioned as being the 'villain of the piece' I guessed it might be Bishop Egan. 

After the Bishop was well-and-truly bashed, Edward Stourton said, curtly, that they'd asked Philip Egan to come onto the programme to respond, and he'd said "No." I wonder why.

The opening report from an Anglican gathering of religious communities featured just two 'vox pops' out of the hundreds of people there, the first just happening to mention the hardship caused by the economic 'cuts'.

It wouldn't be liberal Catholic Sunday these days without some 'Pope Francis is great' piece, and here was Ed and David Willey (of the BBC) talking about how President Obama was wowed by the pontiff. David mentioned Pope Benedict in passing with that usual chilly tone in his voice. They also talked about a singing nun. 

They didn't talk though about the suspension of the Tablet's Vatican correspondent, Robert Mickens, for posting an offensive tweet about Pope Benedict. As Ed is a Tablet trustee, David Willey also writes for the Tablet and Robert Mickens used to be a regular commentator on Sunday, that may not be surprising.

I've written before about how Sunday has its own favoured charities. Islamic Relief is one of them and and, lo and behold, here they were again. 

This week Sunday went one step further and included a report from one manager of Islamic Relief, Martin Cottingham, followed by an interview with the director of Islamic Relief, Jehangir Malik. Mr Cottingham's report pretty much amounted to a puff-piece for the achievements of the charity - a Radio 4 appeal in disguise. (Is anyone on the Sunday team a trustee at Islamic Relief?)

Finally, Catholic script consultant Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington talked about the new Noah blockbuster, starring Russell Crowe. She give it two thumbs very firmly down - and rightly so by the sounds of it. 

Now, as Ed always says, enjoy the rest of your weekend.