Extract from a letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid (Dublin)

My dear Archbishop,
It was very kind of you to send me your Pastoral Letter which I received yesterday morning.

I have already carefully gone through it and I was delighted to see how much you relied on the scriptures and so little on speculative theology which has tended to distract the minds of the laity from the beauty and truth of the Bible.

Since the visit of the Taoiseach I have been constantly about to write to you. He told me so much about your extraordinary kindness to him, and to his family, and about your readiness to see him at all times, that I felt back in the old atmosphere once more. I can say to Your Grace, in all confidence, that I had felt very miserable about a certain palpable lack of sympathy on the part of my own Minister in my regards, and I didn't really know whether Jack Costello's friendship of a quarter of a century hadn't undergone a change. When we meet I have much to tell you. But I can say now that Jack's visit gave me new life and encouragement in my work and made lots of things clear which had become very obscure.

It is no use pretending to you, who always have been so exceedingly good to me, that I do not, and would not, feel anything in common with my present Minister. It was therefore an immense relief to make such close contact with Jack and, above all, to feel that his ideas and ideals coincided exactly with my own both about things Roman and things Irish. He gave great edification while he was in Rome and both the Holy Father and Mgr. Montini were very pleased indeed at the visit. Amongst other things about which he spoke to them was the esteem in which he held Your Grace, and he could not say enough about your great work in the Archdiocese. T.G. we have such a wonderful Catholic at the head of the Govt.

[matter omitted]