It all happened at very short notice. This is the way it was:
The painting was completed and brought to Ireland at the end of June. BASIC approached the Late Late Show about a public launch; and the RTÉ staff seemed interested, but had a very busy schedule. They said they would get back to us; and time passed.
A friend, writing to Soline, advised her to pray to God for patience. Soline, taking the matter to God as is her wont, told God "I don't want patience - I want action!" Action she got.
Meryl Streep, who was in Dublin for the premiere of the film version of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa on September 24th, decided not to appear on the Late Late Show, leaving a vacancy. On Thursday, Soline was asked if she could put in an appearance on Friday evening. A meeting to which she was committed was fortuitously cancelled; and her husband Colm was able to join her because a company meeting was deferred when the M.D. came down with food-poisoning. With all obstacles swept away, Soline participated in the show (to a very sympathetic reception), and the painting was duly unveiled.
Afterwards, I said to Soline that I did not think I would like to be in the way of anything she felt called to do. Soline, whose sense of humour has carried BASIC through many a crisis, replied "Now you know how a bishop feels"!
Gay Byrne interviewed Soline about her vocation to the priesthood. Soline spoke about her personal sense of calling which she first had 25 years ago when she was a student in Trinity College, Dublin. At that time it was not possible for a woman to speak publicly about such a calling, and her vocation went "underground" when she married and had two children. But in 1990 the calling to be a priest in the Roman Catholic church came back again stronger than ever, and since then it has never left her. Gay Byrne asked if she might become a nun, or join the Church of Ireland or ask Bishop Pat Buckley to ordain her. But Soline stated quite clearly that her calling was to be a priest in the RC church - it was not a career choice by her but a calling from God which did not leave her with any other choice. The interview was warm and friendly and free from heavy theological debate. Soline came across as a very "normal" person with a strong sense of her vocation to the priesthood.
We are currently trying to find a suitable place to put the painting on public display. We will provide information about this as soon as it is finalised, but it may be close to BASIC's 5th anniversary, the 6th of November 1998 (Feast of All the Irish Saints). Large posters of the painting have been printed and will be available shortly. Members of the BASIC Core Group will present a framed copy of the poster to the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, at Árus an Uachtaráin on Monday 9th November 1998 - three years after Mary McAleese came with us to present President Mary Robinson with a copy of the BASIC Seminar book!