NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times
Gerry Moriarty
Retired Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady has said he was “truly sorry” for the “totally inadequate and ineffective” manner in which the church dealt with paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.
He also admitted that the church applied a “shroud of secrecy” in relation to Smyth in order to protect the good name of the church.
This policy of secrecy was counter-productive, Cardinal Brady (75), the retired Archbishop of Armagh, acknowledged at the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry in Banbridge, Co Down on Thursday.
In his evidence, the cardinal chiefly concerned himself with how in 1975 he was involved in separate secret interviews with two boys who alleged they were sexually abused by Smyth, then 35. The then Fr Brady was charged by the late Bishop of Kilmore, Francis McKiernan, with establishing if the allegations were true.
The boys, after giving evidence, which Cardinal Brady said he believed, had to sign oaths of secrecy. The boys were also interviewed without their parents present and the Garda was never notified about the boys’ allegations.
“There was a shroud of secrecy and confidentiality with a view not to destroying the good name of the church,” Cardinal Brady told the inquiry.
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