Frank Duff did extraordinary things

The book review below appears in today's 'Sunday Business Post'

By Michael Commane
Finola Kennedy's 'Frank Duff - A Life Story’’ opened my eyes to an inspirational man.

Frank Duff founded the Legion of Mary in 1921 Today's Ireland might well look on that organisation as an old-fashioned, unusual sort of pious grouping, which sells holy books and prays the Rosary.

This man did extraordinary things, thought out amazing projects and was light years ahead of his time.

Referring to the role of women when the Legion began in Africa Duff said: “The status of women was altogether depressed at the time. It was generally held that women should have no public life, and in fact should not open their mouths in mixed assemblies. Note this: immediately after the start of the Legion, the male members brought in the women. Then the women gravitated into officerships." Frank Duff wrote this memo to the Jesuits in 1934.

It's to my shame that I knew nothing about Frank Duff before reading Finola Kennedy's story of a man, who in 1968 said: "It is sheer folly for the white race to take up an attitude of superiority towards the others because in fact they are not superior.”

His Legion hostels came about in the face of grinding poverty and neglect in Dublin. He stressed the importance of mixing prayer and action.

He was, in many ways, a child of his time and so he gave full and total loyalty to those in charge in the Catholic Church. Nevertheless he had the vision and sense to challenge Dublin archbishops Byrne and McQuaid.

Archbishop Edward Byrne simply did not understand Duff and he was unable to see outside the clerical world. He made it difficult for Duff, as did his successor, John Charles McQuaid, in the early years. Both men refused to allow Mass to be said in Legion hostels and simply had little or no faith that those who were not priests could be involved in an intelligent way in Catholic action.

For whatever reason, whether out of fear, obedience or even faith, Duff was at all times loyal to the man in Drumcondra.

One of the first things Dermot Ryan did when he was appointed archbishop in Dublin in 1972 was to apologise to Frank Duff for how he had been treated in the past by his predecessors.

Duff's abhorrence of industrial schools makes him of course most relevant today. He was opposed to unmarried mothers being separated from their children and argued that if the church was so opposed to abortion so too must it object to babies being taken from their mothers.

He was one of the brightest of his generation as a schoolboy in Blackrock College and later he proved his intelligence and diligence as a civil servant. He retired as an Assistant Principal Officer in his 40s to concentrate on Legion of Mary work

He was close to senior civil servants and politicians, including the Secretary of the Department of Finance, Maurice Moynihan whose brother Anselm was a Dominican.

There are threads through his life, which crop up in the book, which led me to have a special interested in the man.

He was a life-long cyclist. His first Irish teacher was a German. He knew many Dominicans and enjoyed Dominican hospitality. I'm cycling 57 years, teach German and happen to be a Dominican.

Duff attended the Second Vatican Council as an auditor and for all 97 days of his Roman sojourn stayed with the Irish Dominicans in San Clemente.

It is through the influence of WT Cosgrave that Duff gets to have his say at the Vatican.

Today the Legion of Mary continues its work on all five continents with four million members.

It is still active in Ireland but it is well under the radar of fashion and celebrity status

The author suggests that his success was linked to his perseverance, maybe stubbornness, something that in old age did him few favours in propelling the organisation into a very different world than the world he was born into on June 7, 1889

Finola Kennedy opened for this reader a treasure that could so easily have been missed.

It was Duff’s claim that: “We are all called to be saints.”