R O O T & B R A N C H
forum for views
friend of the voiceless
community for empowerment.
Forthcoming talks
​Pop the kettle on, settle in, and join us again on Thursday, 30th April (7.30 pm UK time) for an informal Chat Cafe with our speaker to continue the conversation!
We'll be chatting for about an hour and we'd love to see you there!
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Use the 23rd April meeting link again. No need to register!
'Being Human'- Saturday 16th May - Augustine Vattoly
Vattoly is no stranger to protest and refuses to be silenced. He has campaigned against a Coca Cola plant in Kerala, and demonstrated against Franco Mullakkal, the former Bishop of Jalandhar accused of raping a nun and very recently in support of nurses striking for better pay at the archdiocese’s flagship hospital.
He says “I entered the seminary ‘full of love for Jesus’. By the time I left ‘they made sure that not one particle of Jesus remained in me’. I was ‘devoid of the consciousness you should have’ as a fellow human being.”
In conversation with Root & Branch’s own Penelope Middelboe, Vattoly will speak about his belief and values about what it is to be human and what it means to fully live a Christian life.
Join Root & Branch for a thought-provoking and challenging dialogue in our ‘Breaking Silence’ series to hear from Augustine Vattoly, a priest of the Syro-Malabar Church, in Kerala Sate, India.
Recently resigning from parish ministries in the Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese, saying in his resignation letter that “too much power is concentrated in the hands of the men in mitres”.
AUGUSTINE VATTOLY
Saturday 16 May, 13.30, London Time
Saturday 16 May, 13.30 – 14.00 London time
14.30 ROME 14.30 DURBAN
08.30 NEW YORK 05.30 LOS ANGELES
05.30 VANCOUVER
18.00 INDIA
20.30 PERTH 22.30 SYDNEY
Sunday 17 May
00.30 WELLINGTON
Dear Friends, we rarely ask for donations, but right now we must.
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Our small Core Team give their time voluntarily, but we need your financial support to keep Root & Branch running, enable our outreach to grow, and ensure that our webinars and events remain free to all.
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Please give to our fundraising appeal if you possibly can.
A regular monthly donation, especially, increases our ability to plan for the future.
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Our dear friend Brian Devlin died on 5 March 2026.
We will miss you and remember you.
Brian's funeral service was held at
St Peter and St Boniface church, Fortrose on 20th March 2026.
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​ To view Brian's Requiem Mass
click on his photo above
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Brian was an inspiration to so many of us and a dear friend of Root & Branch.
A man of kindness, truth and justice.
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On March 1, the 41st anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, one of us asked him what the best thing was about being a priest.
He said ‘I found the best thing was the intimacy and connection you had with people when they were at their most fragile or lowest point. It was a sacramental moment.’
Then he went on, ‘To be honest since the book [Cardinal Sin] came out I really learned what being a priest is. It’s not really about liturgy. Or ordination come to that. I’ve been very blessed to meet many people in need.’
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Brian, you are irreplaceable. Rest in Peace.
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