Irish Cardinal urged to resign

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Politicians, including the Irish Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Father Vincent Twomey, an Irish theologian and former professor at the country’s Maynooth seminary, have called for the resignation of the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Seán Brady.

“It is my own personal view that anybody who did not deal with the scale of the abuse that we have seen in this case should not hold a position of authority,” Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told parliament.

The Deputy Prime MInister was referring to a BBC programme which aired last week. The documentary accused Cardinal Brady of failing to act in 1975, when he was in possession of names and addresses of children being abused by notorious pedophile Brendan Smyth.

However, Cardinal Brady said the documentary was seriously misleading, as it had exaggerated his role in the inquiry. “I had absolutely no authority over Brendan Smyth. Even my Bishop had limited authority over him. The only people who had authority within the Church to stop Brendan Smyth from having contact with children were his Abbot in the Monastery in Kilnacrott and his Religious Superiors in the Norbertine Order.”

He said he was only a note-taker in the investigation and not the “designated person” responsible for reporting the matter to the civil authorities.

He had trusted his superiors to deal with the matter, which they had failed to do. He also noted that the Church did not fully understand the impact of the abuse at the time.

Columnist David Quinn defended the cardinal, as he was “being held to a higher standard than even the most up-to-date children protection standards of the State require today, let alone back in 1975.”

But Quinn also noted that the cardinal’s moral authority had been badly compromised. “He has to ask himself whether he is a net asset or a net liability to the Church in terms of it restoring some portion of its moral standing in the eyes of society.”

One of Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles, Brendan Smyth died in 1997, just one month into a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to 74 charges of indecent and sexual abuse of boys and girls for more than 30 years.

Image Irish Times