Convents formed ‘the backbone of Irish Catholic society’
Cistercian Sr Angela Finegan looks out of the church window at St Mary’s Abbey in Glencairn. Dr Gillian O’Brien is on a mission to raise awareness about the significance of Irish convents and the women religious in them. Photo: CNS/Clodagh Kilcoyne, Reuters
We are writing the history of women out by ignoring convent buildings, Dr Gillian O’Brien tells Ruadhán Jones Last week, the front page of The Irish Catholic blazoned a tragic tale of decline in the number of women religious in Ireland. We had the figures, but while that story was going to print, another real-life…