Priest claims to have ‘won the war’ in ‘haunted bread’ row

The Co Kerry priest who complained about the description of the Eucharist as haunted bread on the Late Late Show of January 6th last, told parishioners in Moyvane this weekend that he had “lost the case, but won the war”.

While the complaint – the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland received eleven complaints about the panel discussion – had not been upheld, the Catholic Faith would be more respected by RTÉ going forward, Fr Kevin McNamara told mass goers at the Church of the Assumption in the large parish near Listowel on Sunday.

He had brought the complaint initially to call a halt to what he felt was disrespect for the Catholic Faith and religious values.

“As you are well aware by now I lost the case with regards to may complaint about the Late Late Show. However, I am delighted that the BAI made the following observation about how the presenter handled the item.

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He quoted the BAI’s view that “the presenter misjudged the offence likely to have been caused by the use of the term “haunted bread”( made by David Chambers known as Blindoy Boatclub of the Rubberbandits) and that his comments compounded the offence caused to the complainant.

“While the committee did not believe that the comments or the presenter’s contributions crossed a line such that undue offence was caused to the audience as a whole, the degree of offence may have been minimised if the presenter had demonstrated greater sensitivity to the potential for offence and RTÉ is advised to have regard to the Committee’s view in this regard,” the priest said.

Fr McNamara who brought his complaint to the BAI after rejecting the response from the show’s producer said he was delighted the case was closed .

“And I am looking forward to RTÉ and in particular its presenters to take on board what the BAI has suggested. I feel as a result of this deliberation the Catholic faith and indeed all faiths will be more respected in RTÉ programmes from here on.”