Letter from C. Ní Bh.[radaigh] to Hagan

View/Open

View/Open: HAG1-1923-529.pdf (118MB) Bookview

Repository

DigitalGeorgetown

Pontifical Irish College

Contributor

Brady

Hagan, John, 1873-1930

Description

Holograph letter from C. Ní Bh.[radaigh], (New York) (U.S.A.), to 'Monsignor' (Hagan), introducing herself as a member of the family he met in Lugano; giving her opinions on the difficult relationship of the Irish laity and the church in America and Ireland. Enclosing copy of a petition sent by them to the Archbishop of Chicago – asking him to follow Dr. Mannix's lead – and a cutting from the New York Times (3 October) on the result (neither extant). Deploring Archbishop Hayes's participation in welcoming Lloyd George to New York – the latter's government 'financed the massacres of hundreds of Catholics in Belfast from 1919 till 1922'. Observing with disdain that the church in America and in Ireland is alienating itself from the people: their long-standing loyalty 'is fast yielding to a modernistic outlook' and Ireland might at a future point stop producing missionaries. The Vatican is more concerned with Japan, Turkey, and England. Remarking that in the States the congregations are predominantly Irish still, but that increasingly the sacraments are not observed. Irish people who were refused the sacraments are loth seeking them when coming to America. A movement is on foot to proclaim these opinions; it would mean that 'Ireland will go farther than France'. Asking his opinion; advocating delegations of people to the Vatican. Apologising for her pessimism.