Offaly Express

Published Date: 18 March 2010

LIKE many once vaunted institutions in this country the chickens have come home to roost for the Catholic church, with a vengeance.

The St Patrick's Day festivities take place this week amidst the wreckage wrought by the mismanagement, greed and stupidity from those in authority in politics, business, the banks and the church.

The moment of truth has now come for the Catholic

Church, both here and abroad, as its years of obsfuscation and secrecy in the face of clerical abuse scandals is being laid bare in all its infamy.

New abuse inquiries are now underway in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, denoting the extent to which the clerical abuse scandal has contaminated the entire body politic of the church. What is happening is without precedent, reaching as it now does all the way to a Pope.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Sean Brady is this week insisting on retaining his position, despite information which renders his continuance in office utterly untenable.

Even if he does manage to hang on, he will do so without any shred of moral authority. He, and the Church he represents, has been tarnished beyond repair. And most of it has been self inflicted.

In the case of Fr Brendan Smyth, the church authorities decided that the matter would be dealt with internally. To achieve this a vow of silence was imposed on the abused.

Such was the power of priests and bishops at the time that few had the courage to question their decisions. Had the Gardai or health board been informed of Fr Brendan Smyth, then his subsequent 18-year reign of terror and destruction could have been ended.

Cardinal Brady, then a priest, was involved in this, and it is beyond tragedy what happened.

The truly awful thing in this scandal is the seeming total lack of awareness on behalf of the church of the damage it has wrought to the innocent, and continually to itself.

Cardinal Brady can cite canon law and the failure of others, but this is missing the point, and amounts to splitting straws.

In the coming days we can expect the usualy rallying around Brady from the Irish Bishops, some of whom should have resigned in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan reports. The best one could hope for now is a domino effect, which would topple them all.

The Murphy Report found that the Dublin archdiocese's preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse "at least until the mid-1990s were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities."

Sadly this mindset, or a variant of it, continues to inform the actions and policies of the catholic church in relation to clerical abuse.

guardian.co.uk

Thursday 18 March 2010 11.14

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent guardian.co.uk

The Catholic church in Ireland was today embroiled in another child abuse scandal after revelations that a victim was paid to keep quiet in a deal overseen by the bishop of Derry.

Bishop Seamus Hegarty has been named among the defendants in an out-of-court settlement after an eight-year-old girl was abused by a priest for more than a decade.

The legal papers show that £12,000 was paid in compensation to the victim on condition that she kept the agreement confidential.

The settlement between the archdiocese of Derry and the young woman, who was eight when the abuse began, contained a silence clause preventing her from discussing the case.

Her ordeal began in 1979 and lasted for a decade before she revealed at her 18th birthday party that she had been repeatedly abused by the priest.

The abuse began after he was invited into the family home by her parents, who had no idea he was a child abuser. He told the girl that God would punish her if she spoke out about her ordeal.

After she did speak out, her family approached the diocese in Derry, and the victim claims the cleric was moved to another parish in the diocese despite meetings with Hegarty in 1994 during which he told her family he would deal with the problem.

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph today, her family described Hegarty as being "totally unsympathetic" during their initial meetings.

Her father said: "He just glared at me and scowled that this priest was seriously ill, as if I should feel pity for him."

Despite reporting the allegations to Hegarty, the family say they found out the priest was in Derry and had access to other young girls.

Six years later, on 13 December 2000, a legal document was drawn up, naming Hegarty, along with Edward Daly and the victim, in an out-of-court settlement. The victim received £12,000, with a handwritten apology from the priest.

A spokesperson for Hegarty said: "They [the diocese] will not be making any comment until they have read the story fully and gone into the parish files and read all the details."

The scandal comes amid calls for national inquiries in Germany and Ireland to uncover the detail and extent of sexual abuse by priests.

With abuse allegations affecting Catholic churches across Europe, an Austrian priest today took the unusual step of criticising the pope, saying he should have taken a stronger stance against abusers a long time ago.

Father Udo Fischer, who heads a parish in the lower Austrian village of Paudorf, said Jesus would "certainly not" have stayed silent and called on the pontiff to apologise and reform the church.

Yesterday, the head of Ireland's Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, apologised for his role in covering up abuse after admitting being present at two closed tribunals to discuss abuse allegations against Father Brendan Smyth.

Smyth died in prison while serving 12 years for 74 sexual assaults on children.

During those meetings, two children were made to sign an oath of silence to the Catholic church, stating that they would not talk about their claims with anybody other than a priest.

Irish Catholic head apologises over paedophile priest failure

Cardinal Sean Brady says sorry over failure in 1975 to alert police about paedophile priest Brendan Smyth

Guardian.co.uk

Wednesday 17 March 2010 12.21 GMT

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent guardian.co.uk,

The head of the Catholic church in Ireland has used his annual St Patrick's Day sermon to apologise for his role in the cover-up of child abuse by one of the country's most notorious paedophile priests.

Cardinal Sean Brady is under intense pressure to resign after he admitted attending meetings where two 10-year-olds were forced to sign vows of silence over complaints against Father Brendan Smyth, who continued abusing children for another 18 years.

Brady said last weekend that he had taken notes during one meeting and interviewed the children in another. He referred the abuse claims to his superior but did not report them to the police, and it was only in 1994 that Smyth's appalling abuse came to light. Smyth died in prison 13 years ago, while serving 12 years for 74 sexual assaults on children.

Delivering his homily in Armagh's Catholic cathedral, Brady said he wanted to apologise to "all those who feel I have let them down".

"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. 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."

Brady's confession and apology is the latest blow to the Catholic church in Ireland, which has been the subject of devastating criticism in two reports detailing collusion, cruelty and endemic abuse throughout its institutions.

Such analysis is likely to continue for some time. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said that a national inquiry – similar to the Murphy report examining abuse cases in his diocese – may be the only way for the church to move forward.

The pope weighed in this morning on the scandal, promising to issue guidance in the form of a pastoral letter to the Irish church on abuse by priests.

He acknowledged that the Irish church had been "severely shaken" by the crisis and said he was deeply concerned. He said he hoped his letter "will help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal".

Abuse scandals have also unsettled the Catholic church in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, today described as "a despicable crime" the misdeeds of priests in the pope's home country.

In her first public statement on the German scandal, Merkel told parliament: "I think we all agree that sexual abuse of minors is a despicable crime and the only way for our society to come to terms with it is to look for the truth and find out everything that has happened. The damage suffered by the victims can never fully be repaired."

Brady has yet to indicate that he will stand down over the latest controversy, but he said in his homily that he would consider his future.

Irish organisations representing victims of clerical child sex abuse have called for him to resign. Political figures have also expressed their alarm at Brady's behaviour.

The nationalist SDLP assemblyman and candidate for the new justice ministry in Northern Ireland, Alban Magennis, said it was time for Brady to step down. Last night, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said the cardinal should quit. McGuinness said that, like many Catholics, he had been dismayed over the latest revelations. "It is a very grave situation which is before the Catholic church and Catholic people in the north," he said. "I do think Cardinal Brady needs to consider his position."

Belfast Telegraph

Monday, 15 March 2010

Cardinal Sean Brady did not tell Pope Benedict he is facing imminent legal proceedings over his role in covering up the biggest clerical sex abuse scandal in Ireland.

Despite two days of intense talks between the pontiff and the Irish Catholic hierarchy in Rome last month, Vatican officials were not told about the pending Irish High Court proceedings.

Cardinal Brady is being sued in his personal capacity -- as well as in his role as Catholic Primate of All Ireland -- by a woman who was raped by notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth over five years.

She was forced to swear an oath that she would not discuss meetings she had with clergy, including the then Fr Sean Brady, about her allegations that she was brutally assaulted by Smyth.

This emerged as Cardinal Brady strongly rejected calls for his resignation last night over disclosures he failed to report the complaints to gardai.

Smyth was at the centre of one of the first paedophile priest scandals to rock the Catholic Church and was convicted of molesting about 90 boys and girls here and in the North over a 40-year period.

The controversy surrounding the case sparked the collapse of the Fianna Fail-Labour coalition government under Taoiseach Albert Reynolds when it emerged there were serious delays in Smyth's extradition to Northern Ireland in 1994.

Asked if cardinal Brady had spoken with the Pope about the impending proceedings, his spokesman said last night that there were no specifics discussed.

"The discussions with Pope Benedict and nine curial cardinals were of a general nature," the spokesman added.

Cardinal Brady last night admitted he was at a meeting where children abused by Smyth were forced to take a vow of silence.

The 70-year-old cardinal faced down calls from prominent abuse victims Colm O'Gorman and Andrew Madden, as well as victims' advocate Maeve Lewis, to step down. They accused Cardinal Brady of reckless endangerment.

Speaking in Co Armagh, a visibly shaken Cardinal Brady defended his role in the 1975 investigation, stating his actions were part of a process that removed the cleric's licence to hear confessions because he was a danger to children.

"Frankly I don't believe that this is a resigning matter," said Cardinal Brady. "I insist again I did act and acted effectively in that inquiry to produce the grounds for removing Fr Smyth from ministry."

But Smyth was largely shielded from this sanction by the Abbot of Kilnacrott and continued to molest children in Belfast and in American dioceses until he was finally jailed in the mid-1990s and died behind bars.

Just three months ago, the cardinal stated he would resign if he felt his failure to act had allowed children to be abused.

The cardinal said he was not the designated person to report Smyth to authorities back in the 1970s.

Colm O'Gorman, who founded support group One in Four, said the cardinal was deeply personally implicated in the gross failures of the Catholic Church in the management of Smyth and stressed he must resign.

"They carried out an investigation, they interviewed the child victims of this priestly rapist, Sean Brady determined in his own mind that these children were telling the truth and he then simply passed the information up the line and did nothing," said Mr O'Gorman.

"For another 18 years, as Sean Brady rose through the ranks in the Catholic Church hierarchy, Brendan Smyth continued to rape and abuse children."

However, it has emerged that 35 years ago Cardinal Brady -- then a part-time secretary to the then Bishop of Kilmore, the late Bishop Francis McKiernan -- took notes during two meetings with children whom he believed had been abused by Smyth.

The complainants then signed undertakings, on oath, to respect the confidentiality of the information-gathering process.

The cardinal denied he was involved in any kind of cover-up.

"I brought what I heard to the bishop, who proceeded to act," said a visibly shaken cardinal.

INTERVIEWED

The woman in the case maintains Cardinal Brady was one of three priests who interviewed her as a teenager and failed to ensure it was reported to the civil authorities.

It is understood an affidavit submitted to Dublin's High Court accuses the country's most senior cleric of failing to report the formal signed complaints to gardai and of failing to take any adequate steps to ensure Smyth did not continue to perpetrate sexual assaults.

The other clergy named in court papers are Fr Gerard Cusack, as head of the Norbertine Order of which Smyth was a member, and Bishop Leo O'Reilly of Lismore diocese, as head of the diocese.

Neither men were involved directly with the young woman and are not being sued in a personal capacity.

Cardinal Brady is unlikely to face criminal prosecution over the alleged cover-up.

Irish Independent

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/cardinal-sean-brady-didnt-tell-pope-of-smyth-abuse-case-14721052.html#ixzz0iFsbJPb5