BishopAccountability.org
	Comment: No Moral Authority to Lead Church By John Mulligan Dundalk Argus March 17, 2010 http://www.argus.ie/news/comment-no-moral-authority-to-lead-church-2102467.html YESTERDAY 80 young boys and girls dressed in their finest celebrated a significant milestone in their lives in the Catholic Church as they made their Confirmations in the Holy Family Church in Dundalk. It will have been a proud day for them and their families, but the day will have been overshadowed by the man who should have presided over the ceremony Cardinal Sean Brady. Imagine if you will for a second the questions those young minds had for their parents, sponsors and teachers in the last forty eight hours, as the Cardinal and Church were plunged into a deep crisis over his role in the Brendan Smyth affair. How as a parent do you explain that the man who was to preside over their Confirmation, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland was the same man who sat in a room over 35 years ago and made young abused children swear an oath of secrecy not to reveal the details of their horrific abuse at the hands of Fr Brendan Smyth. Quite simply those actions in getting children to sign an oath of silence under threat of excommunication from the Church was another abuse inflicted on the young victims. Cardinal Brady cannot explain away his behaviour by saying that he acted according to Canon Law or duck the fact that as a direct consequence of his failure to report criminal acts a child rapist continued to abuse children for many, many years. Rape in 1974 was a serious crime just as it is today and Cardinal Brady concedes that he believed the testimony of the children. However what is probably most depressing and distressing about all this, is that it was forced into the open by one of the victims. The crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth has already brought down one government, now it looks as if his evil will stretch beyond the grave and destroy the career of a man who it is acknowledged has played a significant role in establishing safeguards and protocols for future cases of Church abuse. That good work sadly is outweighed by Cardinal Brady's failure to respond in the way any sensible adult should when confronted with testimony of sexual abuse. When his bishop failed to report the abuse, Fr Brady as he was then should have reported the matter to Gardai. He didn't and now that his sorry saga has come to light he has used pathetic excuses that best practice today doesn't compare to what was best practice 35 years ago. That this revelation has come to light in recent days, is another shattering blow to the faith the public has in their church and the leaders such as Cardinal Brady. Every painful shard of evidence is pulled reluctantly from the church and their leaders. There is no openness, no full disclosure, no understanding of the deep pain their efforts to withhold information have burdened victims and the damage it continues to cause the church. How can Cardinal Brady think for an instant that this matter is not a resigning matter? How can he be so crass as to say that only the Pope can ask him to resign? What about the victims of Fr Brendan Smyth? What about all the victims of clerical sexual abuse? What about his fellow clergy who have to face hurt and angry members of the public? What about his flock? How can Cardinal Brady reconcile his stance with the fact that he has a position of authority in primary and secondary schools throughout this country, when he failed young victims so dreadfully? How can Cardinal Brady continue to oversee investigations into the failings of the Church in matters of clerical sexual abuse when his own failings are so serious and were withheld from his bishops and congregations for over a generation?
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