Describe yourself in three words<\/p>\n
Funny. Creative. Welcoming? I think that people are very often afraid of entirely being themselves and letting their true feelings come out. Having a sense of humour is humble making. It shows you\u2019re not judging anyone. Some people could come to church and they have had very frightening or sad or joyous experiences. They want to feel that it\u2019s a home for them emotionally and spiritually. I want them to be really and entirely comfortable. You don\u2019t want people to feel rejected. A really central thing for me is that they don\u2019t have to be somebody other than who they really are. <\/p>\n
When did you last get angry?<\/p>\n
I get very angry at the misuse of power. People in a position of power and don\u2019t think of those weaker than themselves. They use their power to really just manipulate and get what they want. That really makes me upset. <\/p>\n
What is your strongest childhood memory?<\/p>\n
My father used to put me on the swings and he would push the swing and then say that I was not to come back down. To just stay up there. Then the swing would come down and he\u2019d push it and say it again. I\u2019d come back down and he\u2019d say, \u201cYou really can\u2019t keep doing this.\u201d I would be hysterical and I wouldn\u2019t be able to stop laughing. <\/p>\n
I remember my brother Matthew<\/a> and how he loved this certain game. We had this long hallway and I would put him in a pillowcase and drag the pillowcase really fast up and down the hallway and he would be giggling the whole time and would keep asking for me to do it again. <\/p>\n My father got me these beautiful antique earrings at an antique shop in Donegal town. There were rubies in the centre with gold on the outside. I lost one and I kept the other one for many years and I\u2019ve finally lost that one. I would really like them back. <\/p>\n Where do you come in your family\u2019s birth order and has it defined you?<\/p>\n I\u2019m in the middle so I can\u2019t ever make up my mind. I see both sides all the time. I think I should pick a side sometimes but it never feels really comfortable. I think when you\u2019re in the middle it really increases your understanding of other people, different social and economic backgrounds. There\u2019s this beautiful psalm, it talks about God picking you up and setting you down in a wider place. I think that\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re with people from different backgrounds. <\/p>\n When do you think you were happiest?<\/p>\n I remember when my children were placed on my stomach. It was incredibly moving. There are also moments when you\u2019re preaching a sermon and you can see that people are really experiencing love.<\/p>\n What do you think happens when we die?<\/p>\n This story really has a lot to do with my faith. I was in Ireland when I was 14 and a woman who I really loved, a neighbour in a cottage near us, was being waked. It was the first time I\u2019d been to a wake of someone I really cared about and loved. Then it got dark and they were saying the rosary and the priest came in. I was walking home and the stars were shining and I thought: this woman is not in just her physical body. She\u2019s eternal. She has a soul. We live on beyond our physical time on this Earth.<\/p>\n Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?<\/p>\n I\u2019d like a cross between Lily Tomlin<\/a> and Ingrid Bergman<\/a>. Super sophisticated and gorgeous. <\/p>\n What is your biggest career\/personal regret?<\/p>\n Doing other things rather than listening or really being present. Fear kept me from doing what I really wanted to do or say. I regret times I was afraid to take risks. I regret being too affected by the fear of being disliked. I regret that a lot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How agreeable are you? I think life has made me agreeable. The people who like me think I\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[811,1485,93,61,60,21198,156814,145668,976],"class_list":["post-582159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-california","tag-donegal","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-manhattan","tag-matthew-broderick","tag-religion-beliefs","tag-weekendreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Rev](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4MFZ2ZVWZVGG3ILQXO3QST3A7U.jpg\")
Rev Janet Broderick Rev Janet Broderick with her brother, Matthew Broderick, in 2018. Photograph: Bobby Bank\/Getty Images What have you lost that you would like to have back?<\/p>\n![\"Rev](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EZTBW6CT2FHOPICXLEK2DICFE4.JPG\")
Rev Janet Broderick pictured in Portnoo, Co Donegal. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n