09012024 - Flipbook - Page 9
9
TUESDAY JANUARY 9 2024
Newry convent features
in new RTÉ documentary
bution in the round.
Newry was the location for the
SUZANNE MCGONAGLE
A
The
Nuns
and
of
CONVENT in Newry is set to
feature in a new documentary
examining
the
RTÉ
programme,
role
of
religious sisters in Ireland.
Ireland,
The
follows
broadcaster
Last
journalist
Dearbhail
established
rst
s.mcgonagle@irishnews.com
McDon-
convent
in
Ulster
since the reformation. Ms McDonald
spent 14 years at two local schools
run by the Order of St Clare.
Returning to Newry, she meets Sr
Julie McGoldrick, her former teacher,
who is now Mother Abbess of the Sisters of St Clare’s in Ireland.
As she makes her way around the
Some sisters said they feel that
religious life is at an end, whilst others are convinced there will always
be a place for nuns in Irish society.
For
Ms
McDonald,
this
process
makes her examine her own precon-
ceptions of religious life and question
how
current
and future ashpoints
involving the State and the Catholic
Church in Ireland can be navigated.
“I
have
spent
a
signicant
part
ald as she returns to her home city
island of Ireland, meeting a combina-
of my own vocation as a journalist
lives, including her own, for better or
gains a deeper insight into the cir-
lic Church’s once powerful hold over
to investigate how nuns shaped Irish
for worse.
She examines the role of female
religious sisters in Ireland, from earliest times to the present day and asks
whether the achievements of these
tion of religious and academics, she
cumstances in which nuns and sis-
ters came to be so rmly embedded
in the lives of towns and villages – in
Ireland as well as abroad.
However, nuns were also linked
women can be acknowledged amid
to the Church-related scandals which
The average age of nuns in Ire-
Speaking on camera for the rst
the legacy of abuse scandals.
land is now over 80 – and the sup-
ply of vocations to religious life has
slowed to a trickle.
In
once
a
ran
society
where
practically
‘the
every
nuns’
element
of education, healthcare and social
services, Ms McDonald asks herself
if she is ready to look at their contri-
emerged in the 1990s and 2000s.
time, several sisters tell their side of
those controversies.
They
and
speak
dismay
at
about
their
learning
shock
about
the
scandals, the challenges to their own
faith and how they have had to deal
with
negative
perceptions
legacy to Irish society.
of
their
criticising ‘the nuns’ and the CathoIrish society”, she said.
“But
this
is
a
way
of
life
that
could be gone in 10 or 15 years’ time.
“This journey forced me to revise
many
of
my
own
prejudices
women in religious life.
about
“We cannot avoid our shared his-
tory, but we do need to nd ways to
navigate
the
complicated
relation-
ships between Church and State in
the future.
“Exploring the lives of ‘the nuns’
has helped me reect on the need for
those important conversations.”
The
two-part
series
January 15 and 16.
will
air
on
Journalist and broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald, left, with Sr Julie McGoldrick at the
Order of St Clare convent in Newry
Ban on using ‘Óglaigh na hÉireann’ to refer to Provisional IRA members
later
ALLAN PRESTON
a.preston@irishnews.com
A
NEW
law
is
to
al
IRA
in
prevent
members
of
term
the
using
Republic
referring
the
Óglaigh na hÉireann.
The
during
the
Irish
Inde-
Sinn Féin’s use of the term as “a dis-
Various republican paramilitaries
women currently serving in Ireland
pendence of 1919-22.
Provision-
the
translates
to
phrase,
roughly
as
volunteers or warriors of Ireland and
is the ofcial term for the Irish De-
fence Forces. It was originally used
by the Irish Volunteers of 1913 and
War
of
have since claimed the title – styling
themselves as the legitimate succes-
sors, including the Provisional IRA,
Continuity IRA and Real IRA.
the
Sinn Féin gures have also used
phrase
over
the
years
at
com-
memorations and in referring to Pro-
visional IRA members. The party also
sell items like an Óglaigh na hÉireann
pin badge in their online shop.
Fine
Gael
has
previously
called
grace
and
an
affront”
to
men
and
and abroad.
by
After a law change was proposed
Fianna
Fáil
senator
Malcolm
Byrne, the Irish Independent report
that nes of up to €1,000 will soon be
imposed for any unauthorised use of
the term that has not been approved
by the Defence Minister.
Welcoming
the
decision,
Mr
Byrne said he expected the legislation to be passed by the summer.
“I
proud
think
of
we
the
should
role
of
always
those
be
A
Sinn
Féin
spokesperson
“Sinn Féin accept the term Óglaigh
and their work should always be rec-
Forces. Óglaigh na hÉireann is spelt
donned the uniform of the Irish State
ognised,”
he
said.
“This
legislation
does not apply in a historical con-
text, so for example those who were
involved in the War of Independence,
na hÉireann applies to the Defence
out as the name of the Defence Forc-
es in the Constitution and it would
seem that affords legal protection.”
They added it wasn’t “the most
we will still have recognition of the
pressing issue” for the Defence Forc-
much in a contemporary context, to
failures of governments to deal with
title
Óglaigh
na
hÉireann.
It’s
very
recognise there is only one Óglaigh
na hÉireann and that is the Defence
Forces of the Irish State.”
es, and would prefer to focus on “the
the
real
Forces
issues
around
facing
pay
PER MONTH
+
100GB
DATA
SCAN HERE
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conditions,
and veterans and their families.”
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