Paul KeenanRTÉ broadcaster Marty Whelan has spoken of the strength he gained from his faith following the recent death of his mother.
Speaking on the last episode of Beyond Belief for this season, to be broadcast on RTÉ 1 next Monday night, Whelan says: “I am a believer, absolutely. I have a great faith in God.”
Acknowledging that “we’ve all had our difficulties with the Catholic Church in recent years,” Whelan nevertheless says of the faith he grew up with, “it never leaves you, even if you leave it”.
On the programme’s topic of ‘The Meaning of Life and Death’, Whelan said that, as he gets older, it is a question he frequently tackles though without much success, and reasons: “You get up every day and do the best you can and not hurt anyone and try to make the world better for your children.”
His mother’s recent death, “still raw”, he says, has also brought his faith to the fore of his mind.
“I am an only child so it sustains me,” he says. “I feel the need to believe I will see my mother again.”
And Whelan reveals that he prays, though, by his own admission, perhaps not in the “traditional sense”.
“I talk to God,” he says. “My real prayer is a ‘one-to-one’ with God.”