IRELAND
The New York Times
By DOUGLAS DALBY
Published: May 2, 2012
DUBLIN — The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said Wednesday that he would not resign despite new accusations that he failed 35 years ago to alert the parents of victims of a serial pedophile priest, allowing the abuse to continue for more than a decade.
The cardinal’s statement blamed other members of the church hierarchy for failing to act to halt the priest, Brendan Smyth.
“With others, I feel betrayed that those who had the authority in the Church to stop Brendan Smyth failed to act on the evidence I gave them,” Cardinal Brady said in his statement. “However, I also accept that I was part of an unhelpful culture of deference and silence in society, and the Church, which thankfully is now a thing of the past.”
Cardinal Brady resisted calls to step down two years ago over his role in a 1975 church investigation, saying his role had been confined to taking notes in interviews with a child who said he and others were being sexually abused by the priest, Brendan Smyth, a teacher, canon lawyer and bishop’s secretary. The cardinal maintains that his notes had been passed on to his superiors and it had been up to them to deal with the matter, given that in 1975, he had no major role in the church and no authority over Father Smyth.
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