Anne Harris: The church and the cult of the Irish mother

Men who didn’t know how to look a woman in the eye used the Virgin Mary to turn Irish women against themselves and their own humanity

There is one corner of a Tuam field that is forever Ireland’s story. In that field, sodden with relentless rain, which news bulletins bring to our living rooms every day, is a classic grotto. On a good day, it is a study in Irish light, silver sky, grey stone backdrop for the flowers of May and every other month, glowing violets, pinks, yellows and green, all a foil for the central virgin blue ...