Mcclays' church, and with Rev. Dr. Brownlee, expounding misunderstood Catholic doctrine in the New York Catholic Register. Father Varela attended several of the Baltimore Councils as a theological advisor to the American Bishops. When Bishop Hughes went to Europe seeking financial support, Father Varela kept him abreast of the New York public schools issues through the pages of the Catholic Register, and received his acknowledgment from a letter while in Dublin. Many thanks for the constancy in your kindness of furnishing me with copies of the Catholic Register at so many points of my wandering in Europe. To appreciate the value of this attention, one must be, or imagine himself, in my situation, absent from the scene which claims the solitude of his mind and the affection of his heart . . .
Nothing can be more pleasant than to be met or pursued by such missives in distant countries.
But Father Varela's vocation was a priestly one and he devoted his zeal, time and health to helping the poor and discriminated minorities in New York. He founded nurseries for the children of widows, founded a Sewing Society, issued the Children's Catholic Magazine, created Sunday schools, and gathered clothing for poor children. Concerned with the high rate of alcoholism, he created the New York Catholic Temperance Association. The New York City Hospital was his daily beat for almost 25 years. Despite a climate of ethnic tensions he visited the immigrant ships from Ireland suspected of bringing the scourge to the city and became an apostle of mercy for the poor, sick and destitute.