Faith, motherhood, and the final curtain - remembering Catherine O’Hara

World-renowned and much-loved Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone star Catherine O’Hara has died aged 71 at home in LA after what was described as a brief illness. Tributes have been pouring in from around the world, and colleagues have recalled her as a ‘wonderful person, artist and collaborator’.

Actress Catherine O’Hara’s role as the loving, protective, mama-bear Kate McCallister in the blockbuster comedy film Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) were among those who shot her to fame. It was co-star ‘Kevin’ Macaulay Culkin’s tribute that went viral on social media, and that brought a lump to my throat: ‘Mama… I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.’

This Christmas, I treated my husband and sons to go and see Home Alone on the big screen with a live orchestra. One of my favourite moments is the iconic, hilarious moment of a mum realising she has dropped the ball, and she cried out: ‘KEVIN!!!’

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Although mums like me might find the thought of leaving one of the kids behind when going on holiday pretty horrifying, that moment of a mother’s intuition that something is amiss, and then realising she forgot something important, is not only funny but super relatable.

O’Hara was Canadian and was part of Toronto’s Second City improvisation troupe and SCTV before shooting to fame in America through 1988’s creepy satirical Beetlejuice, then in Home Alone. Her most recent roles were in the Emmy-winning comedy The Studio and HBO’s The Last of Us.

She grew up in a Catholic family as the youngest of seven siblings.

She grew up in a Catholic family as the youngest of seven siblings. In an interview in 1983, she said: ‘I’m pretty much a good Catholic girl at heart. And I believe in family. I also have a basic belief that God takes care of me. I believe in prayer, even though I’m not that religious. I just have that foundation from my family.’ Her first role came from the church when she was just seven years old, playing the Virgin Mary in a Nativity Parade. Later on the SCTV show, O’Hara dug into her Catholic roots when she did a sketch as character Lola Heatherton who interviewed Mother Teresa.

Her acting career didn’t come without hurdles of sexism and misogyny. O’Hara was yet another woman who wanted to be taken seriously for her acting and not just for her looks. She used to turn down offers before they were not quality: ‘I always got offered these parts where the character would say to the guy, ‘Gee, you’re looking good. What’s your name?’ she told People Magazine in 1986. ‘That’s the Hollywood woman’s part — the friend of the leading actor. I guess they need a woman — the only alternative would be having the male character just talking to himself.’

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Both her roles in Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone were those of slightly unhinged female characters. O’Hare saw this as a mirror of what people are really like: ‘We’re all delusional, really,’ she explained. “I love that about us humans, and I love playing it.’ In particular, Moire Rose, a fictional character played by Catherine O’Hara in the TV series Schitt’s Creek, displayed the hysterical emotionality and fragility that misogynistic attitudes have historically manipulated to oppress, label, and dismiss women. That didn’t stop O’Hara, it lit a fire under her feet to give the male masses what they wanted, drawing on an inner rage that fuelled her to act with even more passionate determination. She is quoted as saying: ‘I will play who you say we are - b*tches be crazy. But I will be so much more than you can imagine — more deranged, more fragile, more surprising — that you won’t be able to write me off. I will win out over you, and I will do it using the weapons you try to wield against us!’

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O’Hare channeled a righteous anger through her art. Whether her anger represented resentment towards the male-dominated Catholic church from her background, I don’t know, but one thing I know is that she was an incredible actress. I have been meaning to watch Schitt’s Creek ever since it became popular during the pandemic, so that will be on my next watch list.

Another clip of Catherine went viral on my Insta feed this week, from February 2024, when she was asked which role she wanted to be remembered for most, and she replied: ‘for being the mother of my children.’ 

Another clip of Catherine went viral on my Insta feed this week, from February 2024, when she was asked which role she wanted to be remembered for most, and she replied: ‘for being the mother of my children.’ Behind the career, and the glitz and glam, was a woman, a mother, a friend. This statement of hers is a powerful reminder that for all of us, whatever we do on this earth, whatever talent God gives us, second to knowing him, connection to others is what gives our lives the most meaning.

O’Hara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke, as well as her sibling, Michael O’Hara. I’m praying for them in their grief of losing a precious wife and mother. May they also be stirred to explore what it really means to have a relationship with God through Jesus, and that, through him, we can have a life that goes beyond the grave.