Charlie Sheen's father on the meaning of life — UPDATED

Martin Sheen talks with Irish interviewer Gay Byrne about life, faith, conversion — and Charlie.

You can watch the entire conversation right here.  An excerpt, below.

UPDATE: LifeSiteNews has picked up this significant excerpt:

Byrne asked Sheen: “The liberal causes that you espouse are readily identifiable with people in the movie business, but your anti-abortion stance is very strong indeed. And tell me what you told me on the late late show in 1987 as to why that is.”

Sheen replied, “Well we had pregnancies with our grandsons, three specifically.  And we welcomed these children and encouraged the mothers to have the children and gave them support. The lads were not happy at the time but they came to love these children. We have three grown grandchildren, two of them are married, they’re some of the greatest source of joy in our lives.”

Sheen went on to note that his wife Janet struggled after the conception of their fourth child, but chose life despite the circumstances after speaking with a therapist.

However, Byrne asked about Janet, “was she not born because of a rape?” Sheen responded that his wife would rather that he not speak about it, but does admit that she was conceived in rape. Byrne followed up, suggesting that “if there had been an abortion she would not exist.”

Sheen relates further that even after birth Janet’s mother contemplated “dumping her in the Ohio River.”  She was raised by aunts till she was six, after which her mother, with a new husband, “came to collect her,” he said.