The minister for external affairs in 1965, Frank Aiken, sought
permission of then Catholic archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid to
attend a Protestant service.
Aiken, excommunicated by the
Catholic bishops in 1923 for his part in the Civil War, wrote to McQuaid
on March 19th, 1965, “anticipating” an invitation from the Swedish
ambassador.
It was to attend a memorial service for Queen Louise of
Sweden at the Lutheran Church in Dublin.
In a same-day reply to
Aiken, McQuaid said: “In view of your position as Minister for External
Affairs, I should not object to your attending passively at a Lutheran
Service”.
The correspondence is published in the book His Grace is Displeased, edited by Clare Cullen and Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh.
In
a letter to then RTÉ director general Kevin McCourt in February 1966,
McQuaid said: “I have just seen the Late Late Show. I am afraid that it
was, in part, really unworthy . . . And I think that Gay Byrne need not,
for a second week, return to the Bunnies.”
He was referring to
Victor Lownes of the Playboy clubs who visited Dublin in February 1966
to recruit 50 Irish women for London’s first Playboy club.
McCourt thanked the archbishop for “the generosity and kindness of your letter”.
He “knew of that ‘bunny’ man and thus had his intended appearance cancelled immediately”.