Diversity and Stability in the Post-Vatican Irish Catholic Church

Social activist, feminist historian, and nun Dr. Margaret MacCurtain, O.P., delivers "Diversity and Stability in Post-Vatican Irish Catholic Ireland" for the sixth annual Irish Institute of New York Lecture

Described by Dubliner's Magazine in 2004 as "many people's quiet hero," Margaret MacCurtain entered the Dominican order in 1950, a vocation she has balanced with her secular career even when an advocate for controversial or unpopular positions that challenged authority in Irish society. Now 82, she has campaigned for the abolition of corporal punishment in Irish schools and for children with special needs; against domestic violence, for birth control and the right to remarry after a civil divorce; and against Apartheid, among many other human rights issues.