That's not something she has to worry about
any more.
Having recently marked the fifth anniversary of leaving Áras an
Uachtaráin, life these days is very different as she studies for her
doctorate in Canon Law - something she wearily described as "sleeping in
the same bed as a python".
"You never finish it, you just get to the point where you have to abandon it," she explained.
She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican, with a quip that her social life was "very active" given the 11pm curfew.
She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican, with a quip that her social life was "very active" given the 11pm curfew.
Her studies have "filled her head up with crap", she said, but the
plus side is that it has cleared her mind of "a whole lot of things".
The eighth President of Ireland, Mrs McAleese recently joined over 100 academics in challenging the Catholic church's ban on artificial contraception.
The eighth President of Ireland, Mrs McAleese recently joined over 100 academics in challenging the Catholic church's ban on artificial contraception.
Mrs McAleese was honoured at the annual Tiffany Ireland
funds lunch for women in business and philanthropy at Restaurant Patrick
Guilbaud in Dublin.
Guests included Sabina Higgins; Fionnuala Kelly, wife of the Taoiseach; Director General of RTÉ Dee Forbes; and Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital.
Guests included Sabina Higgins; Fionnuala Kelly, wife of the Taoiseach; Director General of RTÉ Dee Forbes; and Dr Rhona Mahony of the National Maternity Hospital.
Amongst the guests was Ann Buckley, helped from homelessness by charity Daisyhouse and who is now studying journalism.
Former President McAleese was interviewed on stage by Claire Byrne, who asked what outcome she wants from her religious studies.
Former President McAleese was interviewed on stage by Claire Byrne, who asked what outcome she wants from her religious studies.
Most practitioners of canon law end up annulling marriages, Mrs McAleese said, explaining that she doesn't want to do that.
advertisement
As the only married person in her class, nobody ever asked her a
question, she said, claiming they have an "unhealthy interest in bad
marriages".
Instead, she wants to look at the hierarchical structure of the church which she says is "not serving its purpose."
She slated the Vatican's recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children's Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.
She slated the Vatican's recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children's Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.
The former President said she is "enormously proud" of Ireland,
adding that "perplexing events" in the US and the UK prompt her to say:
"Thanks be to God I live in Ireland."
She spoke of the "radical" European Union which had healed the divisions of two world wars and she warmly praised Ireland's embrace of new emigrants.
She spoke of the "radical" European Union which had healed the divisions of two world wars and she warmly praised Ireland's embrace of new emigrants.
"We are not saying what they are saying in the United States," she
said, adding that all our political parties are pro-inclusion because of
the history of the Irish people who experienced discrimination yet
stuck it out, and went on to become "corporate Britain and corporate
America".
There is some racism here but "that's not how most of us feel", she said. Realising that older Irish communities in the UK were going to vote for Brexit over fears "immigrants were taking their jobs" was "so depressing," she said.
As President, she told how she visited a new building in Wales and was told by the then First Minister that the chief architect and other key players in the construction were all Irish. He told her if she had walked onto the site 40 years ago, everybody carrying a hod would've been an Irishman.
There is some racism here but "that's not how most of us feel", she said. Realising that older Irish communities in the UK were going to vote for Brexit over fears "immigrants were taking their jobs" was "so depressing," she said.
As President, she told how she visited a new building in Wales and was told by the then First Minister that the chief architect and other key players in the construction were all Irish. He told her if she had walked onto the site 40 years ago, everybody carrying a hod would've been an Irishman.
"The Irish don't carry the hod anymore," he'd told her.
"That's a measure of how we've moved on and moved up," Mrs McAleese said.
"That's a measure of how we've moved on and moved up," Mrs McAleese said.