Letter from +McQuaid to +O’Hara returning correspondence from Patrick McDonell and enclosing a letter from Canon Turley, McDonell’s Parish Priest. The man caused a ‘great stir’ in The Standard by ‘…representing his dire poverty as unrelieved by parochial or other agencies’. He suggests that the man may not contact the Nuncio again when his letter fails to draw any money.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid thanking him for copies of the letters he addressed to priests of the diocese. He is sending one of the copies to Rome. He states the Holy Father will be very pleased that special prayers have been requested for the persecuted Catholics of the Oriental Rite during Church Unity Octave.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid thanking him for enclosures relating to the Lenten Regulations and the Apostolic Constitution ‘Christus Dominus’. He much admired the statement in relation to attendance at Trinity College and the declaration on Catholic education. He also thanks him for allowing Dr. O’Connell to accompany him on a recent trip to Northern Ireland and the ‘West Coast’.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid, marked Confidential. He encloses a copy of a letter he is sending to Cardinal D’Alton and the Archbishops of Tuam and Cashel in relation to Fr. Edward Lodge Curran, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn who is due to visit Ireland where he wishes to give a number of open-air public addresses. The priest is persona non grata in many American Dioceses. He had visited Ireland previously and addressed several public meetings. Fr. Lodge Curran claims there was never any objection to these by the Irish Hierarchy. He wishes the Cardinal and Archbishops to inform their Bishops. Annotated by +McQuaid stating ‘The address was given in O’Connell Street without my knowledge. I should never have allowed it’. See item 483.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid thanking him for his action in relation to the persecution of the church in Poland and the house arrest of the Cardinal Primate of that country. His Holiness will be duly informed.

8-20 October 1953 Correspondence between +O’Hara and +McQuaid regarding the Religious Institute of the Little Sisters of the Assumption. The Italian Province of the Order requests the Government of Italy to recognise them as a legal body. To do this, they need to know what the special work of the Order is and what influence it has on local social life and activities. The Nuncio seeks the Archbishop’s input and is informed that they visit and care for the sick poor in their homes. Their work has enormous spiritual and social value.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid concerning the anniversary mass for the 300th anniversary of the death of Mgr. Rinucinni. A requiem mass will cause some problems and seeks the Archbishop’s advice. Annotation by the Archbishop suggests Mass on the 8th, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, and this would cause very little attention.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid regarding the Maria Duce group. They have asked to meet with the Nuncio and he wishes the advice of the Archbishop.

Letter from +O’Hara to +McQuaid inviting all the Irish Hierarchy to dinner following Mass in the Pro Cathedral on 15 December. It will be a friendly and informal gathering. He also mentions that any further correspondence on the Marian Year will be communicated directly with the Bishops.

Letter from +O’Hara to Cardinal D’Alton regarding Catholic principles and policies in relation to UNESCO. He states the Holy See is concerned with the activities of the programme and policies of OMEP as they deal with the education of children of pre-school age. This is a delicate matter ‘…since there is considerable Masonic influence at work in OMEP, which is tinged with communism’. The Holy Father wants Ireland to bring its influence to bear at the Congress in Rome in August. He also asks that a competent ‘layman’ to establish contact with the International Catholic Co-ordinating Centre for UNESCO in Paris. He also suggests that the Irish Hierarchy establish a National OMEP Committee in Ireland.