Cardinal and Archbishops welcome Archbishop O'Hara to London
ARCHBISH OP GERALD PATRICK O'HARA, arriving in London by air on Friday from Dublin, to begin his work as Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain, remarked at Northolt that he had come back to the land which had for many years been the home of his father.
The Archbishop stated that in fact his father was born in England —at Biyth, Northumberland.
"I have often visited England. and I have many friends now among the clergy and laity," he said, "I hope to renew those friendships and make many more friends in England, Scotland and Wales."
The Archbishop --formerly Papal Nuncio to Ireland and still Bishop of Savannah-Atlantawas greeted at Northolt by Cardinal Griffin, Archbishop Godfrey of Liverpool, his predecessor as Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Grimshaw of Birmingham, Mgr. David Cashman. secretary of the Apostolic Delegation, Miss P. T. Metcalfe, representing the British Foreign Office, and the Irish Ambassador, Mr. F. H. Boland,
`Overwhelmed'
"I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of the people of Ireland, especially that of the members of the Diplomatic Corps and the Church authorities, during these last weeks prior to my departure from Ireland," said the Delegate.
"1 wish to thank everyone in Ireland for their exquisite kindness and goodness of heart which will never he forgotten by the as long as I live, especially their presence on the airport when I was leaving.
"Arriving here in England I speak only as a priest and as one sent as the representative of our 'loft Father Pope Pius XII to the Catholic Hierarch+, clergy, religious and faithful of England, Scotland and Wales.
"I bring the blessing of the Holy Father to the Catholics of Great Britain, especially to the Hierarchs of England, Scotland and Wales.
"When I met my predecessor just now I greeted him in Latin with the words Foe optimum sequeriti, which means ii is not easy to follow in the footsteps of a great man like Archbishop Godfrey, but 1 intend. with the help of God. 10 try to do for the Continued from page 1
Catholic Church in this country what Archbishop Godfrey did so well."
The Delegate is now in residence at Parkside, Wimbledon.
In a farewell speech in Cork, Archbishop O'Hara -said that one of his prime concerns would be the welfare of the Irish people in Britain. His door would ever be open to them. as they had learned at home.
"We are going to go after them, every one of them," he said. "We are going to help them rehabilitate themselves. to help them to re-acquire that love of all that is good and holy they learned here at the knees of their mothers.
"I give you this assurance that I am going to seek them out and find them and do what I can to help them."
Archbishop O'Hara, who is 59, was appointed Bishop of SavannahAtlanta, Georgia, in 1933. He entered the Holy See's diplomatic service shortly after the end of the war, when he was appointed Regent of the Papal Nunciature in Rumania. He served in that post until July, 1950. when he was expelled by the Communist regime.
He was appointed Papal Nuncio to Ireland in November. 1951.