Bishop Undercover Tonight RTE I 22:35 (IST)

Turtwig

In a two-part Would You Believe? special, Trevor Williams, Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, goes undercover, to find out firsthand about the needs of the people on his patch, before challenging himself and the Church he leads to do a better job of meeting them.
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At a time of national emergency, when people's social and spiritual needs are as great as they have been for generations, why, instead of people turning to the Church for inspiration, support and guidance, are they turning away from it?
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Source.

Saw the advertisement for this after the news. I know that advertisements are nearly always misleading but TV shows are rather predictable so I think most of us can guess what this will entail. The concept is just bizarre though! A bishop going "undercover" (leaving aside the obvious intention to deceive others which I'm fairly sure is a sin) in order to better understand society and learn to better influence them. That just makes me feel a little uneasy. I'm just wondering when we're going to see an atheist or humanist undercover show. You know, in the interest of balance and all that.

Oh and can I be the first to point out that even if the church's record was completely unblemished I still wouldn't be believing in it or turning to it?

CerebralCortex

Jernal wrote: »

...Oh and can I be the first to point out that even if the church's record was completely unblemished I still wouldn't be believing in it or turning to it?

Dude that goes without saying.

Turtwig

CerebralCortex wrote: »

Dude that goes without saying.

I don't think it does, a lot of folks probably think you are irreligious because it's trendy or because of the wrongs of the church. Not because you are a nutter who believers in the singularity!:p

MagicMarker

If this wasn't made by RTE I might consider watching it.

goose2005

Jernal wrote: »

I don't think it does, a lot of folks probably think you are irreligious because it's trendy or because of the wrongs of the church. Not because you are a nutter who believers in the singularity!:p

It's about a Protestant bishop. But given that Limerick and Clare have minuscule Protestant populations he probably knows most of his 'flock' by name anyway.

And was I the only one imagining this when I read the thread title?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDnE-5lD7w8

Turtwig

goose2005 wrote: »

It's about a Protestant bishop. But given that Limerick and Clare have minuscule Protestant populations he probably knows most of his 'flock' by name anyway.

And was I the only one imagining this when I read the thread title?
<YOUTUBE>gDnE-5lD7w8<YOUTUBE>

Call me a cynic but I'd say that bishop is perpetrating hero homicide.:D

Delirium

From what I saw of the ads, it was filmed where I live. Such a chance for mischief missed :pac:

recedite

goose2005 wrote: »

It's about a Protestant bishop. But given that Limerick and Clare have minuscule Protestant populations he probably knows most of his 'flock' by name anyway.

Bishop, (removing his false beard and glasses with a flourish);
"It's me, the Bishop! I wished to walk among you, the common people, so that I could best ascertain your needs".

Parishioner;
"Yes, Trevor, nice one. I kinda thought it was you again".

Aswerty

I watched while knocking back a couple of cans of Heineken so didn't feel too inclined to heckle my TV too much. The obvious question that comes across is if not wearing his bishops regalia allows him to better interact with his community why doesn't he do away with it? Same goes for his honorifics.

To be honest he did seem like a fairly down to earth sort of guy but then again I find Protestantism a lot more sensible in comparison to Catholism.

I must say I did enjoy the preview for the next episode with your wan saying "oh his surname is Bishop" when hearing they had bishop among them.

Mark Hamill

I have a feeling that he is doing this so that all the other bishops and priests will have to call him the "Undercover Brother"

Galvasean

"At a time of national emergency, when people's social and spiritual needs are as great as they have been for generations, why, instead of people turning to the Church for inspiration, support and guidance, are they turning away from it?"

They seem to be making the assumption that the current 'bad times' are what is instigating this without acknowledging that perhaps people may be turning away from the Church because it is the 21st Century and medieval style mythologies no longer wash with a great many people.

goose2005

Galvasean wrote: »

"At a time of national emergency, when people's social and spiritual needs are as great as they have been for generations, why, instead of people turning to the Church for inspiration, support and guidance, are they turning away from it?"

They seem to be making the assumption that the current 'bad times' are what is instigating this without acknowledging that perhaps people may be turning away from the Church because it is the 21st Century and medieval style mythologies no longer wash with a great many people.

This is the CoI though - they have wishy-washy Victorianstyle mythologies.

Gregor Samsa

It was a bit telling that they didn't seem to be able to find any of his own flock to interact with in society. The meals-on-wheels place and the secondary school were obviously Catholic. I imagine when he reveals himself, most of them will be thinking "Church of Ireland? So he's not a real Bishop."

Turtwig

Just caught the second half of this, felt very uneasy about the last 8 minutes.


Young people with "Spiritual Needs". They don't have spiritual needs, they have psychological needs.