In Northern Ireland, people said there would never be a solution. But once people begin to have the political will and force their governments to sit down, it can happen.

I was born into a Catholic family. I grew up in West Belfast. Faith was very important to us eight children and my mother and father. It was grounded in the Christian tradition of social involvement.

We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.

I believe we are on the edge of a quantum leap into a whole new way of organizing and living as a human family.

We need human security: food, education, health care for our children.

The experience of a lot of us women is that too much money is being spent on militarism and war.

We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible.