IRELAND
The Irish Times
DERMOT BOLGER
The Norbertines cast out Bruno Mulvihill as resolutely as they shielded Brendan Smyth
IN LAST week’s Anglo-Celt report on past teachers of St Patrick’s College in Cavan, the former priest, Seán Brady, received little attention. Some former students, however, recalled a contentious, dedicated teacher before he was laicised (and ostracised) in 1977, for challenging his bishop’s authority over an affair now as forgotten as he is.
Little is known about his life today. Some claimed he survived by selling encyclopaedias, but all agreed his suicidal breach of discipline ended a career that once promised high office. One interviewee said he reminded him of the MUTV pundit Bertie Ahern, who likewise seemed destined for high office before destroying his career in 1986 – expelled from Fianna Fáil for questioning his taoiseach about blank cheques.
The above paragraphs are what historians call counterfactuals: exploring alternative outcomes of past events. Today Seán Brady is a cardinal, and I hope he enjoys a long retirement when his superiors deem it expedient to remove him from his untenable position.
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