Catholic delegation : inter-departmental correspondence

              I.C.3.
TRADES UNION CONGRESS GENERAL COUNCIL.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE.
From   DR. H.B. MORGAN.
To     MR. H.V. TEWSON. 
Department      Social Insurance.
Date     10th February, 1937.
SUBJECT.
CATHOLIC DELEGATION.
The delegation of Catholics who met the Archbishop of Westminster about three months ago was a private delegation. Certain Catholics in the Labour Movement had felt deeply the acute divergence which had arisen between the Labour Movement and the Catholic Community by means of the exaggerated accounts of anti-religious exhibitions in Spain and the exploitation of these allegations in the Catholic Press. This was in addition to the apparently usual indifference to Catholic electoral opinion in Great Britain.
Private discussions took place between a few individuals as to how this situation could be improved.     I did not feel disposed to act personally as the convenor of such an interview in view of my positions, so the duty of convenor and the arranging for the interview with the Archbishop divulged on Mr. Young, who was once a very prominent member of the Union of Post-Office Workers.     He was then secunded for duty as telephonist at Buckingham Palace - a position now lost by the inter-changing resulting from the late King's abdication.     After consultation with me Mr. Young selected the following delegation:
Mr. Bernard Sullivan of the Tailors' & Garments' Union, 
Mr. T. O'Brien of the Theatrical Employees Assocn, 
Miss A. Somers, Women's Organiser for the London Labour Party, 
Dr. H.B. Morgan, and 
Himself.
The interview was arranged and the Archbishop met the delegation.
At the interview, to the surprise of the delegation, another individual was present who had not been asked by the delegation, but who was subsequently found to be a Trade Unionist and a member of one of the Catholic Guilds attached to the Trade Union Movement.
Unfortunately no Press announcement of this interview was agreed on, and, without the Archbishop's consent, a certain account of the interview appeared in both the "Herald" and one of the Catholic Weeklies.     A disclosure to which I subsequently objected.     No authoritative report of the proceedings is extant, as I, personally, have always regarded the talk at such an interview as strictly confidential; but if the matter is of importance to the Irish Labour Party — as the one individual of the delegation who subsequently had interviews with the Archbishop —  I will be very pleased to prepare an account of the interview and ask for the Archbishop's endorsement of the discussion, not for publication but for perusal by selected organisations or persons.
As you know, this is a matter on which I hold definite views, as I have friends who are in a position to inform me of moves which Catholic opponents of the Labour Movement are
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