Item 19 - Rev. John A. O'Brien correspondence, 1955-1956

12pp

Correspondence involving American progressive Catholic scholar Reverend John A. O'Brien, University of Notre Dame. Includes:
-Letter to Henry Ford II, president of the Ford Motor Company, from O'Brien and copied and forwarded to Canon Hayes. O'Brien writes that a Ford plant has been established in Northern Ireland and wonders if something comparable might be established in the Republic where the need for work 'would seem to be much more urgent' (16 October 1956), 1p);
-Letter to Monsignor Patrick J. Temple, New Rochelle, New York, from O'Brien and copied and forwarded to Canon Hayes. O'Brien expresses his delight at Temple's support for Canon Hayes and Muintir na Tíre (19 October 1956, 1p);
-3 letters to O'Brien from Michael J. O'Donoghue, lawyer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, regarding Michael O'Malley's Electronics Company of Ireland and its attempts to start operations. O'Donoghue states that: the English have a monopoly on the electronics trade in Ireland; the 'English influence is still paramount in America through the Masonic order'; the Ford plant should be established in southern Ireland as 'They have already all the major industries in Northern Ireland'; and the letters he has written to Irish officials to obtain permission to issue stock for O'Malley's company in America have not been responded to. He also is working to write a history of the Kelly clan in honour of Seán T. O'Kelly. (17 February 1955, 1p; undated, 1p; 23 October 1956, 1p);
-2 letters to O'Brien from W.J. Burke, Stoke Newington, London, forwarded to Canon Hayes. Burke thanks O'Brien for his book, 'The Vanishing Irish', notes the 'propaganda' being given to places of refuge in London that are misleading destitute Irish emigrants into thinking that they will have a place of rest through the Christian Society, and writes about the serious effect of emigration on the church (28 September 1956, 4pp);
-Letter to O'Brien from Canon Hayes noting that he has returned from England where 'we now have an excellent Guild with the archbishop of Liverpool as Patron' and that he is trying with the government regarding the Electronics Company of Ireland. Canon Hayes wishes to establish a 'Folk school' in the Danish model at Bansha Castle ('It would be a real force against Communism... ...I believe a Folk School would save rural Ireland') and suggests the Ford Foundation purchase the castle on behalf of Muintir na Tíre (10 November 1956, 2pp).
-Airmail letter to Canon Hayes from O'Brien supporting Canon Hayes' Folk School idea and encouraging him to write to the Ford Foundation (15 November 1956, 1p)

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29/07/2025