De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Southend on Sea Catenian Circle (XIX) President Tom Kennedy (Leinster) speaks after Dinner at West Essex Circle’s (41) Meeting: October 2014. (Photograph by Paul Abbott). At our last Catenian meeting, our President, Tom Kennedy, read out a very moving letter received by a lady who works in the Legion of Mary office in Dublin from Fr Paul Churchill who is a Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary. He wrote this letter about his father who was cared for by the sisters at Tuam who were so scurrilously attacked in the media earlier this year (Caroline Farrow has much more detail about this here ). As always, bad news travels fast, and irrespective of how in error or how malicious a rumour is, you can be sure that, by the time the truth comes out, the world has moved on, and the initial attack will have done its damage. Still, I think it is well worth publicising this letter, which gives an honest and appropriate perspective from real experience of Tuam. It is also expressive of th...

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel to the West of Ireland for my first cousin Alan's stag weekend celebrations. Next weekend I will be privileged to attend his wedding to the beautiful and erudite Michelle. They're a wonderful couple and I am really proud to be able to attend both legs of the wedding. Despite a 5am start on Saturday, a car (well van) journey, the joys of Stanstead Airport, the joys of Ryanair, a plane journey during which I was constantly called upon to purchase various items of paraphernalia I neither wanted or need, the joys of Knock Airport and another car journey, and an afternoon and evening spent sampling the Guinness in every bar and pub in Galway City, I managed to haul myself out of bed, eat a hearty breakfast, and wander from the hotel through the quaint Galway streets, now horribly decorated with the necessary and somewhat unavoidable product of the over-exuberant libationary extravagance of literally thousands of Galway students, to Gal...