Trouble brewing

12 January 1915. Most Rev. Michael Kelly, Archbishop of Sydney, meets with Rev. Father Edward Gell (pictured), the parish priest at Ryde. Archbishop Kelly is concerned by Father Gell’s patronage of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor and the relationship between its two co-founders, Eileen O’Connor and Rev. Father Edward McGrath msc. Father McGrath has recently been expelled from the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for disobedience, while Eileen has engaged a legal firm with the intention of suing Church authorities for defamation. Archbishop Kelly advises Father Gell that Eileen and her supporters could face excommunication if they proceed with legal action.