Saoirse Ronan, lifelong Catholic, has never confessed: Im not doing it
Saoirse Ronan covers the April issue of Flaunt Mag. I’m sort of in love with Saoirse these days, probably because I’m still enchanted by her performance in Brooklyn. It was such a small, perfect little gem of a movie and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise! Saoirse is currently in previews for another Broadway run of The Crucible. The show doesn’t officially open until April 7th, but people are already pretty pleased that Saoirse would come to New York to do a Broadway show at this point in her career. She plays Abigail Williams, and she’s joined by Ben Whishaw (as John Proctor), Sophie Okonedo (as Elizabeth Proctor), and Ciaran Hinds. As for this Flaunt interview, she ends up talking a lot about religion and being raised Catholic. As it turns out, she’s never confessed. Which I thought was a big part of being Catholic? Don’t ask me, I was raised by a Protestant and a Hindu.
She went to mass every Sunday: “As a Catholic you grow up believing that there’s an answer for everything, and a reason for everything.”
Her first Communion & her Confirmation: “I was six years old, and I had nothing to confess. I remember all of us kids were like ‘what are we going to say? Do we make something up like, we cheated on our homework or in an exam?’ Even as a kid, I didn’t feel like it was right for us to make up something just for the sake of it. So I said to my mum and dad, ‘I’m not doing it.’ I said no. So I’ve never confessed.”
Whether Ireland is really “calm, charming, and civilised”: “Calm and civilised? Maybe. We are definitely very fun. And we’re honest. And yes, maybe we are a little bit charming.”
Her next film is On Chesil Beach: “On Chesil Beach was something I had wanted to do for years but I wasn’t the right age until recently. I haven’t seen Ian in years! That was another draw for me to the project, we all shared a very special experience when we made Atonement and Ian was so supportive and relaxed about it all. Getting to work on another adaptation of his work is so exciting because I’m a huge fan but also because I just love Ian as a person.”
I know some people just love everything about Ian McEwan (author of On Chesil Beach, Atonement, etc), but I think his books are SO overrated. I read On Chesil Beach several years ago, and I loathed it. Is it somewhat cinematic? Sure. I can see why people would think that it would translate well into a movie. But the book was awful and the story is cheesy and silly. I also f—king hated Saturday too. And Atonement.
As for Saoirse not going to confession… canon law says that children must confess before their first communion, although some parishes let it slide. What I find odd is that although Saoirse might not have been feeling confessional as a child, surely she’s sinned since then, and thus would have true sins to confess? But she makes it sound like she’s never been into it. Many modern “cafeteria Catholics” pick and choose what they like from Catholicism these days, so perhaps Saoirse’s choice isn’t that odd.
Photos courtesy of Flaunt.
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