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Correspondence between the Air Ministry and Chaplains Branch,R.A.F. H.Q., Northern Ireland, mainly from Monsignor H. Beauchamp, (Principal Chaplain (R.C.) R.A.F.) and the Irish Fr Provincial (Laurence J. Kieran SJ, then from 8 September 1941, John MacMahon SJ) concerning the R.A.F.’s request for Catholic chaplains; Fr Tony MacSeumais’ acceptance of a post with the R.A.F. in July 1943 and Fr Joseph McSweeney’s acceptance in 1945. Includes;

• Letter from Mgr. Beauchamp to Fr MacMahon: ‘You are probably aware that I am very short of chaplains in the Royal Air Force. At many Stations there are as many as 300 young airmen who…have no chaplain to prepare them for their great ordeals…You probably know as well as I do the temptations that young Priests in the Services, particularly in the Royal Air Force come up against, hence you will know the special type of man that is wanted’ (12 March 1942, 1p.)
• Letter from G.J. Corboy, Senior Chaplain (R.C.), R.A.F. H.Q., Northern Ireland to Fr MacMahon: ‘I met Father Sweeney (sic) last week, when I was down, and I am very grateful to you for the offer of his services, as a R.A.F. Chaplain’ (30 April 1945, 1p.).

Correspondence with Dr John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin (mainly holograph letters from the Archbishop and copies of Irish Fr Provincial’s replies) on various matters. Includes letters concerning :

• information for the Commission established to ‘investigate and report upon the existence and title of all collections for pious purposes in the Diocese of Dublin’;
• the supply of Altar wine to the Society;
• the appointment of Fr Thomas Counihan SJ to the Commission on Youth Unemployment;
• his request ‘not to use candles at the end of Retreats and Missions during the present war-circumstances’;
• the death of various Jesuits including Frs [Thomas Counihan], Michael Kirwan, James Tomkin, Laurence J. Kieran (former Provincial) and Vincent Byrne;
• circular comprising the decisions of the 1942 October Meeting of the Hierarchy;
• 1944 Decree concerning the education of Catholics in non-Catholic Schools, Colleges or Universities of the Dublin Diocese (See also ADMN/3/38);
• the proposed visit of Fr Adelard Dugré SJ, ‘formerly an Assistant of our late Father General and now an Assistant of our Father Vicar General’ to Ireland and his appointment with the Archbishop;
• the granting of diocesan faculties to various Jesuits and the results of diocesan examinations;
• the ‘Solemn Votive mass’ to be celebrated in the Pro-Cathedral on 25 June 1945 on the occasion of the Inauguration of the President, Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh (See also ADMN/3/59 and 76);
• copies of letters concerning the Archbishop’s instructions as to the ‘attitude to be adopted in regard to the strike declared by the Central Executive Committee of the Irish National Teachers’ Organization’ and the restoration of ‘normal conditions’ in the schools following the Teachers’ Strike;
• the collection by secondary schools of used clothing ‘for the very destitute young people of Europe, especially the Catholics of Hungary’;
• the answers of the Milltown Theological Faculty to certain questions posed ‘concerning the question of defining as a dogma of the Faith the doctrine that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven’;
• statistical reports on the Society in Ireland required for the ‘Relatio Status’ of the Archbishop to the Holy See and for the Annuario Pontificio;
• the appointment of Fr Thomas Counihan SJ to conduct the Thirty Days’ Exercises at Holy Cross College, Clonliffe in October 1947 and September 1948;
• proposals to purchase Churchtown House, Dundrum for use as a secondary school and the alternative plan to build a school on grounds adjoining Milltown Park (See also 1950s correspondence with Archbishop McQuaid);
• the institution of the ‘Tribunal for the Ordinary Informative Process in the Cause of the Beatification and Canonisation of the Servant of God, John Sullivan, Priest of your Society’ (24 October 1947, 1p.) (See also ADMN/3/24; 48 and 49);
• the purchase of Baymount Castle, Dollymount for use as a Retreat House (Manresa House) (See also ADMN/3/6 and 74) and
• letter of condolence following the fire at Milltown Park in 1949 (11 February 1949, 1p.).