The Ballybrack/Killiney Patrician Group held its meetings in the Legion of Mary Hall adjoining Martello Tower No. 7 on the Killiney Hill Road.
I was involved in this group in the [late 1960s]. I particularly remember the time when Father Carberry was curate.
The Patricians were established within the Legion of Mary and under the jurisdiction of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. Their purpose was to inform and educate Roman Catholics into the implications of their religious beliefs. it was a purely internal Roman Catholic operation and was not formally related to emerging, post Vatican II, strands of ecumenism.
Participants varied, ranging from devout believers who saw attendance as an expression of devotion; through aggressive fundamentalists, who saw the group as a means to vent their egos and push a conservative view of Roman Catholicism on others; to others, who were on a voyage of discovery and attempting to come to terms with the "shaking of the foundations" which both led to, and were a product of, Vaticvan II.
At the devotional end was Mrs. Whelan. She had a very hard life throughout which she sustained an absolute loyalty and devotion to traditional Irish Catholicism. She more often listened than spoke, but if she intervened, it was to stress that "God is good" and this effectively put an end to any emerging subversive line of discussion. She was living the faith, and respect had some currency in those days.
The fundamentalist wing was best expressed by Gregory Owens (founder of the now defunct Tara Tea - a pioneer of tea bags on the Irish scene of the day). Gregory had firm orthodox Irish Catholic preconciliar views upon which he pontificated at length at the least hint of an excuse.
My role tended to be "agent provocateur" and pusher of limits. I recollect an occasion when I proposed a paper to Father Carberry entitled " All Religion is Bunk" (echoes of Henry Ford). This turned out to be a bridge too far for the Patricians and was refused.
Miss Morris was the caretaker for all to do with the Hall.
My sister, Martina, reminded me that the Hall was also the venue for hops (the then equivalent of today's discos) run by the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (from drink, not sex, but often both).
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