The national broadcaster has been attacked over its portrayal of nuns in Resistance, its new historical drama on the War of Independence. Speaking to the Irish Catholic, Fr Conor McDonough OP, said that a sub-plot involving nuns the drama showed an astonishing lack of nuance and balance. The true story upon which the sub-plot is loosely based involved a woman losing custody of her son after a court battle with her parents-in-law, only to be reunited with him, thanks to the help of a priest, by agreeing to spy for the IRA.
“The writers of the show apparently felt this story lacked something so they modified it: now the woman has her child taken from her by nuns, who effectively sell her child to wealthy Americans,” he said, adding: “The ‘evil nuns’ trope simply had to be deployed, apparently.”
Presbyterian theologian, Dr Kevin Hargaden, added to the criticism of RTE remarking sardonically that “the only thing worse for the Irish than centuries of brutal occupation was the devoutly held religious convictions of the vast majority of the people involved”.
