GRIM REAPER ON RAMPAGE AROUND DUNDERRY.

There were two funerals in the Parish today.Mrs,Finnegan from Robinstown's funeral was held in Robinstown Church and Johnny Gough's funeral Mass was held in Dunderry.
Last week it was  Danny Mc Gourty's turn.
And we all know a few others going through the wringer of severe illness.
Those of us who are religious ought say a prayer for the ill and their families and those who are not might find that a prayer would not be wasted either.
Having been through the mill myself I well know devastation the bereaved feel after the death of a loved one.
Religious people believe that death is a new beginning in an altered state .
I believe this although it is hard to believe in a merciful God at times of distress and overbearing suffering.
Oremus.'

Proud day for Dunderry Gaels.

Today in Croke Park Meath beat Louth in the Leinster Junior Football Final.
Conor --Bomber--Farrell,Paddy Kenneally and Stephen Coogan were on the crew.
Not bad for a Small Parish.
Well done lads.

Mount Mellary Monastery and quitting the fags.

I recently saw a clip on the Trappist Monastery in the Knockmealdown Mountains in Waterford and it set my mind racing back to a true story I was told by the late Maurice Kennedy with whom I once worked in the Estate Duty Office many moons ago.
That particular Office ,which was in my view erroneously disbanded  many years ago ,produced many people bordering on the cusp of genius and it is undoubtedly true that two former members had indelible and long lasting consequences for  Irish society in the persons of Yvonne Murphy who after leaving that Office produced the Report bearing her name on clerical sex abuse and John Hurley,who after leaving that Office headed up the Dept.of Finance and later the Central Bank during the implosion of the the economy of this country during and in the run up to the financial recession.
Both of these persons had left the Office before I joined but Maurice Kennedy was still there when I  joined and left.
To me he was a genius who had a massive store of knowledge on Estate,Legacy and Succession Duties at which we worked and more importantly he had the rare ability to condense the most complicated matters  into short concise paragraphs.
If he had a vice it was his love of the cigarettes which blighted his health and which he tried many times unsuccessfully to quit.
He was from Waterford and when a child went on retreat to Mount Mellary,which he much enjoyed.He appreciated its remoteness and its accessibility in particular and enjoyed the fact that it had no shop nor was near any such place.
Years later when living in Dublin he was smoking 80 Craven A fags a day and hit on the plan of signing in to Mount Mellary for a period to kick the habit.
He was s dropped off at the gates with only his suitcase and only a few  shillings in his pocket ready for the fight.
When settled he went walkabout and to his horror discovered that not only had a tuck shop been opened but that the only fags they sold were Craven A.
Another failure clocked up.
Later still this oral spray came on the market which when sprayed caused the partaking of tobacco fumes to make the victim  vomit .This worked perfectly for him and he quit the fags.
The only problem was that he became addicted to the spray ,which was more expensive than the fags and he had to go back on the fags to fix his addiction to the spray.
My father was right when he said to me on my wedding day "You just cannot win Dai".
As long as I knew him Maurice never did succeed in quitting the fags,