4 days ago
Mary Kenny: Legion of Mary did more for unwed mothers and their babies than anyone – now the State is demanding redress
Founder Frank Duff and his Regina Coeli hostel for women in need were lauded as lifelines for many
Some people don't much like the Legion of Mary, the Irish and international faith organisation dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. There have always been dismissive jokes about the 'holy Joe' types who evangelise and perform charitable works – and famously closed down Dublin's red light district, Monto, the scene of erotic meanderings in James Joyce's Ulysses.
But hand it to the Legion, and to its founder, Frank Duff, in this: in the whole saga of mother and baby homes, to which unwed mothers were consigned, the Legion was the only organisation that sought to support them and to keep them together with their babies.
