Mary Kenny“Irish leaders…seem to strive to avoid underlining faith’s role in Christmas traditions” unlike our English neighbours, writes Mary Kenny
In my youth, Irish emigrants to England were frequently warned that they were going to a “pagan” country where faith would not be upheld as it was in Ireland. Many emigrants’ services in Ireland were anxious to ensure that Irish people would have access to religion, and even protection against the lax ways of the English.
English households looking to employ Irish staff would often add, in the “domestic help wanted” columns of the newspapers, an assurance about time off for religious devotions and the propinquity of Catholic churches.
Today, I sometimes wonder if there is almost a role reversal – certainly, considering public utterances of faith values in the two countries. Over the Christmas period, Queen Elizabeth and the British prime minister always mention faith in their Christmas message: the Queen increasingly emphasises how vital the Christian message is, and, by the way, the main photo-opportunity for the paparazzi is snapping shots of the royal family attending St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham on Christmas Day.
The BBC is conscientious about broadcasting many religious services, and even commentators who are not themselves religious, such as Peter Wilby of the New Statesman, write about how meaningful it is to go to church and sing carols at this time.
By contrast, Irish leaders – President and Taoiseach – seem to strive to avoid underlining faith’s role in Christmas traditions.
The Irish media emphasises the family aspect, but the casual visitor would not be struck by the centrality of Christ in Christmas. Christianity is permitted a space – more like a cultural ghetto – in which an archbishop or a Pope may be reported, but generally, in the public realm, Irish secularism seems rather more thematic among the influential classes.
Which is the “pagan” society now?
Remembered forever in the shadow of Mummy’s Star
One of the saddest, and most touching, reports over Christmas involved the case of a mother diagnosed with cancer, Heidi Loughlin of Somerset, who deferred full chemotherapy treatment while pregnant with her daughter Ally Louise.
Pregnancy can cause a breast cancer to flare more virulently, because of the hormonal boost. But Heidi refused the abortion suggested by medics, and chose to delay taking a life-saving drug for the sake of her unborn baby.
The baby was induced 12 weeks early but she lived for only eight days. Heidi, aged 33, wrote a touching poem to Ally Louise expressing deep love for a baby daughter who lived for such a short span. Ms Loughlin and her partner Keith also have two sons, but, she wrote “we forever have three children, not two”.
We often hear about ‘the woman’s right to choose’ abortion: more rarely do we hear of heroic mothers who choose to give their babies a chance of life, even at the very risk of their own lives. Heidi Loughlin is surely such a heroic mother.
And there are other remarkable mothers, who, though ill themselves, want to give life to their unborn infants. Pete Wallroth of Glossop in Derbyshire, whose wife Mair died from a breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy – the baby survived – has founded a charity called Mummy’s Star to provide medical information as well as emotional (and financial) support for families in this very situation.
His wife wanted their child to live, and also deferred her own treatment.
Mr Wallroth says that the hopeful aspect is that medicine is now addressing this situation with more focus, and developing better treatment to save both mother and child. British doctors were, in the past, inclined simply to recommend termination of pregnancy, but they are growing more aware of alternatives.
A cause well worth supporting, surely.