A chara, – In her review of Frank Duff: A Life Storyby Finola Kennedy (Weekend, July 16th), your reviewer Catriona Crowe writes that "it is possible to admire Frank Duff's idealism ... and achievements without accepting ... his total subservience to the Irish clerical philosophical framework".
She writes from the perspective of the early 21st century. I suspect that Frank Duff was far more realistic than she is willing to recognise, and that, in his realpolitik, he was able to achieve far more in the context of his times than he would have by confronting the establishment of his day. Contrast The Irish Timesof today with that of the establishment Irish Timesof the early 20th century, as seen occasionally in the column "From the Archives". – Is mise,