In a sermon at a memorial Mass, at Westminster Cathedral on Wednesday, Cardinal Hume said that Cardinal Conway was a man of massive commonsense and stable temperament. He was a man said Cardinal Hume, "to whom each violent death was a personal pain."
He recalled Pope Paul's unusual gesture in writing to Cardinal Conway in Holy Week this year when Cardinal Conway knew he was dying. 1-le also spoke of his bravery in the face of death and the calm letter he wrote to the bishops of Ireland three weeks before he died.
Cardinal Hume said "He kept always at hand a meticulous record of names, dates and details of all the sectarian assassinations in Northern Ireland from the outbreak of the first violence in 1969. The last eight years of his life were dominated by the moral, social and political problems to which this violence gave rise."
Cardinal Hume spoke of Cardinal Conway's commitment to developing good relations with the non Catholic Churches in Ireland and mentioned his great learning. Yet said Cardinal Hume, "in the end he was a man of the people. He was openhearted and generous and Possessed a keen sense of humour."