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  Cardinal Brady Rejects Calls to Resign

RTE News
March 15, 2010

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0315/abuse.html

[with audio]

IRELAND -- Cardinal Seán Brady has reiterated his determination not to resign in the wake of new information about the way in which he dealt with paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

In an interview with RTÉ News this morning, Dr Brady said it was not a resigning matter and he rejected the suggestion that his silence had allowed Fr Smyth to continue to sexually assault children for a further two decades.

He also said he heard calls for him to stay on and deal with the matter of abuse.

Clerical child abuse victim Marie Collins has called for the remit of the Murphy Commission to be extended to every diocese in the country.

Speaking on RTÉ's News At One, Ms Collins said Cardinal Brady has lost his credibility.

Seán Brady - Does not believe he should resign over the revelations

She said the State needs to establish how many other abused children had to signs oaths of secrecy and how many other clerical abusers had been protected in this way.

Those comments were echoed by Colm O'Gorman, who said Cardinal Brady rose through the ranks in the Catholic Church while Smyth continued to rape and abuse children.

Also on Morning Ireland, Fr Kevin Hegarty, the first priest to publicly challenge the bishops' handling of clerical sexual abuse, said Cardinal Brady should reflect on his position.

Speaking on Today with Pat Kenny, Monsignor Maurice Dooley, former Professor of Canon Law, said Cardinal Brady had no obligation to report anything to gardaí.

At the weekend, Dr Brady confirmed that he was present in 1975 when two young victims of the late Fr Brendan Smyth were asked to sign an oath of secrecy.

The Cardinal - then a part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, the late Francis McKiernan - took notes during two meetings with children who he believed had been abused by Smyth.

The senior churchman said his actions in 1975 had been part of a process that removed the shamed cleric's licence to act as a priest. He maintained that Smyth's Norbertine Order was otherwise responsible for him.

Fr Brendan Smyth later admitted a litany of sex attacks on around 90 children over a 40-year period and was sent to prison - where he died in 1997.

Yesterday, Cardinal Brady rejected claims that he had failed to act and said he was not the designated person responsible for contacting the relevant statutory authorities.

 
 

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