Thursday, May 18, 2006

Clothes Make the (Wo)Man

Until today, I had no idea that it was against the law in Italy to dress up in clerical garb, unless of course one is, indeed, a cleric. And apparently, the crew from RTE's Would You Believe didn't know that fact either.

Oh, and did I mention that the person adorned in a bishop's robes was a woman? And did you know that The DaVinci Code movie is opening - in fact, it's already been shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Which is closer to the Vatican, in terms of miles, than Dublin.

So there they were, these innocent young Irish television people, creating some lovely footage for the folks back home. A program about the role of women in the Church, apparently, so what would be more entertaining than a few clips of an Italian actress in the guise of a bishop? I can see the comic possibilities, or even the surrealistic art house feeling that could have been invoked.

Well, the police pounced on this law-breaking crew, hauling them off to the station for questioning. What might the lawmen have asked?
"This actress, does she represent Annie Murphy? Are you making a comment about Bishop Eamon Casey fathering a child with the woman who came to him for counseling?"

"Bishop Casey has returned to Galway and the parishioners are comfortable with it. He has reconciled with his bastard son. Are you trying to stir up trouble?"

Chastised, the film crew shuffled out of the station, only to learn that their permission to film the Pope's audience had been abruptly cancelled. Their excuses must have fallen on deaf ears. After all, they pointed out, no one could believe that they were trying to fool people into believing the person in a bishop's coat was really a bishop. That person was a woman, you see. A female member of the species. To no avail. No filming of the Papal audience, and so they are returning home, to cut and splice and put together their television program as best they can.

Now, if they were to pop up to Galway and ask Bishop Casey what he thinks of the whole thing....now there's a sound bite for the late night news.

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