CARDINAL SEAN BRADY

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

Cardinal Sean Brady got two young children to sign oaths of silence after they came forward having been raped by the vicious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975.Smyth then carried on abusing for nearly twenty more years.This paedophile abused over 100 children over a forty year period in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States and was only finally brought to justice in 1994.He was first arrested in Northern Ireland in 1991 but fled to the Republic of Ireland, where he spent the next three years on the run.The RUC wanted him extradited but the poor handling of an extradition request by the Irish Attorney General's office led to the delay of Smyth's trial.This behaviour of the Irish Government ultimately led to its collapse.Smyth died at 70 in prison of a heart attack in 1997, one month into a twelve year prison sentence.

Cardinal Sean Brady is now Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. In March 2010 it came to the publics knowledge about the swearing to secrecy of these two children by Cardinal Brady and he came under intense pressure to resign, however, he said he would reflect on his position and announce his decision in May. Unsurprisingly, he announced he would not be stepping down.

I think it is an unbelievable situation that a man in his position can get away with what he is getting away with and for this reason I feel he deserves a thread of his own so his actions can be documented.

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

In December 2009 Cardinal Sean Brady made the following statement in relation to the Bishop of Limerick Dr Dónal Murray:

Quote:

He went on to say that he would resign himself if a child had been abused as a result of a failure on his part. “I would remember that child sex abuse is a very serious crime and very grave and if I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant that other children were abused, well then, I think I would resign,” he told RTÉ.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... king8.html

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

In March 2010 the revelations of the secrecy oaths come to light.

Quote:

Cardinal Sean Brady is being sued in his personal capacity by a victim of serial paedophile rapist, Fr Brendan Smyth, who is claiming the primate was one of three priests who interviewed her in 1975 about her five-year long ordeal and then failed to ensure it was reported to the civil authorities, including the gardai.

The cardinal was present at two meetings at which clergy interviewed victims of Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975. At both meetings the victims, a young woman who Smyth had abused for five years and a boy who was also abused, were made to sign oaths saying they would not discuss their meetings with anyone other than authorised clergy.

After 1975, Smyth went on to abuse many more children.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 98868.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 98867.html

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

After this revelation there are calls for Cardinal Brady to step down.On 15 March 2010 his response is that he does not think it is a resigning matter.

Quote:

In an interview broadcast on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Dr Brady said he was aware of the calls for him to resign. “I’ve heard those calls, I’ve said I don’t think it was a resigning matter,” he said. “I’ve also heard other calls, many other calls, to stay and to continue the work of addressing this most difficult problem.”

Quote:

Cardinal Brady said the fact that Smyth had gone on to commit further acts of abuse was "because others didn't do their duty."

"I felt I did my duty, the duty that was assigned to me by my bishop. It's not fair to judge actions of 35 years ago by the standards we are following today," he said.

Quote:

He said he would only resign “if asked by the Holy Father”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing18.html

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

Over the next few days serious pressure comes on Cardinal Brady to step down.However,revelations that the Pope was directly involved in abuse coverups also come to light and the Pope's soon to be published pastoral letter divert some attention away from Brady.

Cardinal Brady's next move is to appologise to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on his behalf.

Quote:

In his homily during Mass yesterday morning at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, Cardinal Brady said: “This week a painful episode from my own past has come before me. I have listened to reaction from people to my role in events 35 years ago. I want to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologise to you with all my heart.”

Quote:

In his homily, Cardinal Brady also said: “I also apologise to all those who feel I have let them down. Looking back I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in.”

Quote:

More generally he said, “we as bishops, successors of the Apostles in the Irish church today, must acknowledge our failings. The integrity of our witness to the Gospel challenges us to own up to and take responsibility for any mismanagement or cover-up of child abuse. For the sake of survivors, for the sake of all the Catholic faithful as well as the religious and priests of this country, we have to stop the drip, drip, drip of revelations of failure.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fro ... 14031.html
He still refuses to step down.

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

18 March 2010 Abuse survivors repeat their calls for Cardinal Brady to resign.

Quote:

Andrew Madden, who went public with an abuse lawsuit against the church in 1995, dismissed the comments made yesterday by Dr Brady in his St Patrick’s Day homily in Armagh.

“The notion of careful reflection is nonsense – he’s had 35 years to reflect on what he did then,” he said.

“If the Catholic Church in Ireland is to be led by a man who accurately reflects it in its current state, then maybe it’s only right and fitting that it should be led by a man who has covered up the sexual abuse of children by a priest.

“He’s either going to go or he’s not going to go and if he doesn’t, the Catholic Church can’t pretend to be serious in any way about the issue of child protection and about reaching out to people who have been abused,” said Mr Madden, who was abused by former priest Ivan Payne.

Quote:

Bernice Donoghue, who was abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, said Dr Brady did appear contrite and humble. However, she said that as the head of the Irish church, he had to lead by example and resign.

Quote:

Colm O’Gorman, who was abused as a child by a priest and later founded the One in Four charity, said he felt “some compassion” for Dr Brady.

“But I’m afraid an admission of regret and statements of shame, whilst important, don’t go far enough to acknowledging the significant responsibility that he has but also that the institution he heads has had for the cover-up.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... ml?via=rel

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

17 March 2010 Cardinal Brady gets support from his flock at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Quote:

“It wouldn’t be for me to judge what he should do or not do,” said one man. “We know Cardinal Brady is a lovely man. It’s a sad situation for the Catholic Church. We just hope it will right itself, but it’s going to be a very painful business.”

Quote:

One woman was convinced Dr Brady had said the right things.

“He was really terrific today. He’s really a good man,” she said, adding that the congregation had broken into applause following Dr Brady’s sermon.

Quote:

We didn’t need to clap him,” one parishioner said, “because I think God will applaud him. But that was the reaction of the decent people of Armagh. I think he’s a true and genuine person who’s done no wrong. He definitely has to stay; he has done no wrong.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 13413.html

Dev · **Posted:** Sun May 30, 2010 9:47 pm

Tony,

As much as I appreciate the story and thread, we are all keeping an eye on the Sean Brady case and AI is a good place to discuss it and the topic is all well and good. I'd like to draw your attention to the edit button though. It's useful for updating a post before others have had time to reply. It keeps the thread nice and tidy and makes for easier reading to others.

Thanks,

Sean.

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

On 20th March 2010 the Pope's pastoral letter is published.There is a backlash from abuse survivors.

Quote:

Clerical abuse survivor Andrew Madden reiterated his call for the resignation of Pope Benedict and Cardinal Seán Brady after studying the Papal pastoral letter this afternoon.

Expressing disappointment with the document, he said: "It changes nothing. They should both resign.''

Mr Madden said that the document represented "not an inability to do the right thing, but an unwillingness to do the right thing''. He did not feel that the pope would be any more willing to do it on a visit to Ireland than in Rome.

Quote:

He said that a major problem with the pastoral letter was the pope's failure to accept the cover-up of clerical sex abuse.

"The whole Murphy report was about the cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests in this country for three decades,” he said.

"For the Pope not to acknowledge the cover-up, and the part that Irish bishops and the Vatican played in it, is really just not on.

"Obviously, if we are going to respond in any meaningful way to the Murphy report, in particular, and the Ferns report, because it revealed the same thing...that ought to have been addressed.''

Dismissing the suggestion that the Papal document was part of a process, Mr Madden said that approach was "buying time, moving things out.''

He said that when the Irish bishops went to Rome there were great expectations that something useful would come out of that meeting. Instead, he added, the bishops had said at the time that people should wait for the pope's letter.

"They beefed up that quite a lot, as if this was going to be the thing,'' he added.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing20.html

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

31 March 2010 Brady meets clerical abuse survivors

Quote:

Marie Collins said that she made it clear to Cardinal Brady her conviction that he should resign, and her belief that while she was "not looking for heads on plates" that more bishops should also resign. "I see Cardinal Brady as a damaged leader rather than a wounded healer. Wounded healer is an unfortunate phrase because if he is wounded the wounds were self-inflicted," she added.

Ms Collins also contradicted what she felt was a suggestion in the Pope's letter that a lack of rigour following from Vatican II could partly account for the priestly abuse. "I was abused before Vatican II," she said.

Michael O'Brien of the Right to Peace victims' group said that after he demanded that there be proper financial reparation for survivors of abuse Cardinal Brady said the Irish Church did not have such funds. "I said 'don't tell me that, because the Catholic Church is the richest organisation in the world'."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing73.html

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

Wouldn't expect anything less from the man who got children to swear an oath of secrecy after being abused. He should be facing a prison sentence.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 60220.html

Quote:

Cardinal on a collision course with State over confession
By Tom Shiel and Grainne Cunningham

Monday August 29 2011

CARDINAL Sean Brady has voiced vehement opposition to government plans to criminalise priests who do not report sex abuse admitted in the confessional.
...........

bipedalhumanoid · **Joined:** Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:55 pm **Posts:** 2675

Anyone catch Vincent Browne last night? Father Twomey (from NUI Maynooth) actually stated that he thinks Brady should stand down.

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

It amazes me that Cardinal Sean Brady has not resigned.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 50802.html

Quote:

Church makes settlement with man abused by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth
By Sarah Stack

Wednesday November 30 2011

CARDINAL Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, today made an out-of-court settlement with Brendan Boland who was abused by notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

After his 14 year fight for justice, Mr Boland issued a statement outside Dublin's Four Courts through his solicitor, Paul Horan.

Here it is in full: "I was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth between 1973 and 1975. I was 12 years of age when the abuse commenced.

"Ultimately, I confided in a young priest who was attached to my local youth club. He brought the matter to the attention of the Church authorities who convened an inquiry or Ecclesiastical Court at which were present three priests, one of whom was the defendant, then Fr Brady.

"I was interrogated principally by Fr Francis (Frank) Donnelly, (subsequently Monsignor), on my own at the said inquiry/Ecclesiastical Court.

"While my father was in the building, he was not allowed in to the room.

"I was subsequently required to swear an oath which was written down, administered and attested by this defendant: - 'I, Brendan Boland, hereby swear that I have old the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and that I will talk to no-one about this interview except authorised priests.'
........................................

tony · **Joined:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:58 pm **Posts:** 186

He is coming under severe pressure now. The longer he holds on the more damage he is doing to the church.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 97558.html

Quote:

Church in crisis: At least 30 abused after Cardinal Brady didn’t report Smyth
Thursday May 03 2012

NOTORIOUS paedophile priest Brendan Smyth abused 30 or more children in the years after Cardinal Sean Brady failed to report his crimes, a former RUC officer has revealed.

Pressure was growing on Dr Brady to resign today as Barnardo’s chief Fergus Finlay joined the calls for him to step down.

Dr Brady’s position is becoming increasingly untenable after new revelations about his failure to report child rape allegations or inform the parents of some of Smyth's victims.
...............................

Beebub · **Joined:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:22 pm **Posts:** 1014

In some ways I hope he doesn't resign. At least not until after the Eucharistic Congress. It will make it all the more interesting if he's in attendance as head of the church in Ireland. If he's there, as the head of the church, there'll be a much bigger groundswell of protests at it than if he steps down before it.

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