Cardinal Brady settles latest claim by abuse victim he swore to secrecy

Does that mean the secret oath he administered to a victim has been lifted? As an institution, it implodes day after day. What we are witnessing is the end of orthodoxy and the last cardinal. What a bum steer. After a 2000 years diversion, we may actually rediscover a generic Christianity.

Thank you, proudirishlass, for sharing your perspective & experiences. I deeply regret what you went through. Had I been with you, as a contemporary, during your teen years, I would have done whatever I could have, to defend you against these lechers. As I was not a "tough boy", I don't know how much good it would have done, but, at least I would have tried. I too took the Church's rigid stance on human sexuality too seriously. I frequently ran to confession, guilt ridden over the things which are normal for boys, and girls. That is why I shun the fundamentalists. If Jesus meant Matthew 5:28 to be taken literally, he should be scorned, as an ego maniac control freak! In 10th Grade, I earned some laughter when I refused to look at a phony cover for "Lolita"! So, I understand what you mean by "sex" not supposed to have existed, until one got married. I cling to my present position, regarding consenting adults. No boss should threaten "discipline" over consensual dating, so long as it takes place after working hours, and no overt favoritism takes place, on the job. Not many companies in the U.S. attempt to enforce such a draconian measure. The ones that do are showing no respect for privacy & free association, after work. This is, I believe, a Civil Rights issue. If the offending employer is a public agency or institution, then Constitutional Rights should be included. I'm sorry if I inadvertently showed indifference towards your teen age experiences. I never intended to do so.

I feel compelled to respond to SINGLEDONALD. Try to put yourself in the shoes of this 14 -20 year old. First of all not so long ago in Ireland it was TABOO to even mention the word SEX.The church had a Powerful control over the people. If that girl told her family they would more than likely keep it a secret. They would believe that she was bringing shame on the family and their beloved church. Irish people were and still are to a great extent worried about what the neighbors think. She would be talked about laughed about and ostracized to a certain extent by everyone. They would declare her CRAZY. Her abuser knew this and had full control of her. I know what i am talking about. I was harassed and tormented sexually by many men in Ireland during my teen years.These were men in their forties and fifties and well known by my family. We owned a shop and a farm and i was required to work in the shop alone when my family was working on the farm. These sick perverted BASTARDS would come in and try to touch me etc. I dealt with it by refusing to work in the shop alone. I could not tell my parents because it was taboo to talk about such things. I was not supposed to know about SEX. My parents were very angry with me for not working and i was deemed defiant, lazy etc. It was a very troubling and scary time for me but there was no one to talk too. I was scared to walk down our country road for fear of being harassed or worse. Now try to get this in your head SINGLEDONALD. THANK GOD times have changed for the better in Ireland.

Cardinal Sean Brady- Ireland's leading ethicist whimpers that it wasn't his job to report Brendan Smyth to the Gardai. At the time he was in his thirties and a qualified canon lawyer. He knew exactly what he was doing when he applied oaths of silence to the victims. This upright ethical failure will no doubt be leading the keening and moaning at the clouds at the Hugely Optimistic Eucharistic Congress shindig at Croke Park next summer. I'm sure everyone is just dying to hear what ethical advice Brady has for Irish society 'going forward'. Maybe the late evening sunshine will illuminate the blood of at least two subsequent victims of Brendan Smyth on Brady's hands. That man should be in jail.

this is the same game the church has played for God only knows how long. These poor terrified abused victims become the victims again - of the vatican lawyers. And of course many people simply give up................ If there was justice in this world those who knowing hid these crimes would suffer the same fate and the abuser..............LOng jail sentences.......... What we need to understand is that abuse creates long term suffering................And then the church has made the victims suffer more wnk.trying to get some compensation and help....................Its beginning to look like the church molests the victims twice. the original sex molestation, and then the lawyers mental and financial molestation, trying to run the victim into the ground to protect the church's assets and reputation..................I thank God that only 2 of my large extended family will even set foot in the church of the endless hidden molestation again Also there is an interesting website that has a summary of the John Jay report on the molestation., for which the bishops paid millions..............It says that as more gay priests entered the priesthood in the 70s and 80s, molestation actually went down. IMHO I think that the priests were having their fun with each other, but thats consenting adults, not rape of children.

The Cardinal is a pompous ass who has never cooked a meal for himself, made a bed, or washed his own dirty linen. And his linen is rather dirty. The arrogance of someone to demand silence and cover up of "sins". Off to the Vatican next I imagine.

This should convince those who were "sworn to secrecy" that it is not a "sin" to report serious offenses against a priest, or any others. I have one question though, which I hope won't alienate me to the readership. How could Marie McCormick allow this activity to continue, until she was 20, and past the age of consent?? I would think she should have reported it immediately after it began, at age 14. To let it continue into her adult years leads me to believe that she wasn't so offended by it at the time, and only had 2nd thoughts later. If the activity had begun at age 18, and she willfully participated, there should have been no culpability now, or then. I also feel this way when legal age males get involved with female professors, managers, etc. "Different status levels", as I have long said, don't nullify the age of consent. I would have every right to say "yes", as well as "no", to a woman of higher status. If I said "no", and she made life miserable for me, then the sexual harassment policy could be used as a remedy.

Poor Catholics, [including me], look what we are held to ransom for, hell and brimfire excommunications ra ra ra. Yet these sons of.... no we can't say that, it's an insult of the feline species, get away with murder. One law for them and another for us including canon law.

Stories such as these make my Irish blood boil!! Vatican Inc. must be brought to their knees!!

$350,000??? Are you kidding me?? Vatican Inc. is reported to be worth well over 1 Billion dollars. I would've instructed my lawyer to ask for millions in settlement. It is my fervent hope that more abuse victims come forward and sue, sue, sue the pants off these despicable Bishops and priests. I'd love to see a large class action lawsuit brought forth with damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars against Vatican Inc.

I don't understand how he could stand to stay in the priesthood, after he was told to silence the victims of that horrible character!

Are these the first tentative steps to right wrongs by a "wounded healer"?? One can only hope so; we shall see!!!!!!!