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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Why do Irish media lynch mob want Cardinal Sean Brady to resign?-- Brady acted in good faith at the time investigating a notorious pedophile priest

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Why do Irish media lynch mob want Cardinal Sean Brady to resign?-- Brady acted in good faith at the time investigating a notorious pedophile priest

Posted on Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 08:24 AM

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Cardinal Brady speaks to the media outside Armagh cathedral (Credit: Reuters)

The harsh clamor for the resignation of Cardinal Sean Brady because of his alleged involvement in pedophile cover-up is a mistaken call.

Back in 1975 Brady was given a job to report to the-then Bishop of Cavan, Francis McKiernan, on the findings of an ecclesiastical commission on the matter of Father Brendan Smyth, a known and notorious pedophile.

The BBC is now reporting that Brady was more than just a note taker as he claimed, but they do not dispute that he gave a full and complete account of the activities of Smyth to his superiors,

In other words, all sides agree that Brady collected the information then passed it on to his superiors.
He acted correctly in that respect. Those higher up who ignored his report and allowed Smyth to keep on abusing did not obviously.

With hindsight Brady is now being blamed for not following up on his own and exposing Smyth.

But we are talking about a time 37 years ago when church hegemony ruled Ireland and a junior priest like Brady at the time would never have spoken out of line with decisions made by princes of the church.

It was simply not done. Think of a buck private contradicting a general and you get some sense of where Brady was coming from at the time.

Could he have shown bravery and courage and kicked over the traces? Chances are he would have been buried and long since consigned to some distant and remote parish. Remember, at the time the power of the church was such that police alerted to pedophile priests did not arrest them in many cases.

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Read more:

Another abuse victim calls on Cardinal Brady to quit now in shame

Irish Deputy Prime Minister calls on Cardinal Sean Brady to resign over pedophile cover-up - VIDEO

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Remember that the Irish government at the time was utterly complicit in the activities of the hierarchy and their carefully choreographed cover-ups. They allowed the church to run orphanages that were breeding grounds for pedophile priests and turned a blind eye.

When the heroic Father Flanagan, all the way from Boystown in Nebraska, tried to expose the activities in such institutions during a visit to his native Ireland a generation earlier, he was roundly criticized and told to go home by Irish politicians

A harsh word from an archbishop to a politician instantly drew him back in line.

So it was no surprise that Brady did not go out on a limb and attack his superiors for lack of action.

It may not be heroic, it may smack of craven behavior to many but Brady was no different than thousands of others who were unable to confront the corrupt system at the time.

Under Brady now the Catholic Church has become far more responsive on the issue and he has by all accounts done a fair job of securing the priesthood against any such future pedophile interlopers.

So let's not hang Brady to make a point. He has admitted he should have done more, we know why he didn’t so lets get on with it and ensure that kids are safe forever in the future instead of wasting vitriol on the past.

If Brady is fired then every complicit politician, clergyman, and policeman from that era has to be fired too.

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Nicoletta | May 03, 2012, 03:55 PM EDT

Patrick Roberts, congratulations for thinking outside of the box. The media mob, led by the BBC, hates the Church and will do anything it can to vilify it - not that certain Judases have not given them plenty of ammo. I worked for years with a teacher who had been moved from school to school at this same time. Things got brushed under the carpet then. He was not tried and convicted until a couple of years back - this was not in Ireland, and he was not a priest!

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Will Hamilton | May 03, 2012, 03:11 PM EDT

Even for the kind of ill informed biased journalism that we see too often this one is out on it's own from the start. There is no lynch mob and the majority of people in Ireland who want rid of the likes of Mr. Brady are not in the media. The Catholic Church only thrived and only survives in Ireland by the coercion of children. The next pope might be from outer Mongolia but he will automatically run 92% or Irish schools as soon as he dons his crown. It's a typical sham to paint over the attention paid to the little we know of the Vatican's crimes as being as being caused by the "media". There could be no better indictment of the hollow claims for Roman Catholicism that the sinister little men in the Vatican have peddled for centuries than this article. The problem is the nature of the delusion is such that even Romes defenders can't see the yawning hole at the centre of their defence. If Mr. Brady had no guidelines at the time then where did his much vaunted "faith" disappear to. And if he was a minor in an organisation that would have squashed him for attempting to prevent the rape and torture of small children then everyone from himself up to the top is therefore rotten to the core.

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ChrisVogel | May 03, 2012, 02:26 PM EDT

Well, now that you mention it, I guess this was business as usual for the world's largest organized network of child molesters.

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lokionline | May 03, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT

Brady is the very symbol of what was most wrong and what continues to be unaddressed in the RCC -- the cover-up.

If Irish Catholics continue to look to this man for leadership, they are all complicit in condoning the worst crimes of the priesthood and hierarchy.

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rainbowbrew | May 03, 2012, 01:45 PM EDT

Remember also that keeping silent meant that he would rise to the top as he has done. So his current position is based on his crimes thus he does not deserve his current post. At teh least he should resign.

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rainbowbrew | May 03, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT

Then fire them - politicians who do this are no better than the priests. I like this quote "to confront the corrupt system at the time" At the time what has changed? it is still corrupt.

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SeamusMor | May 03, 2012, 01:29 PM EDT

To answer the question in the article's title; the reason for the current media frenzy in reporting about Cardinal Brady, along with anything bad about the Catholic Church, is that it sells newspapers and drives traffic to websites. It is financially motivated muck raking.

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EphraimKibbey | May 03, 2012, 01:27 PM EDT

When a crime is committed and anyone learns of it, they are complicit after the fact if they do not report it to the authorities - crime #1. If the criminal then goes on to commit similar crimes later those who could have prevented them are also complicit in those crimes as well - crime #2. If they actually help the criminal escape and set him in a position where his crimes are facilitated they are now his active accomplices - crime #3. At Nurenburg, we all learned that "I was just following orders" was not an acceptible defence. Where was Brady's willingness for self-sacrifice on behalf of the least of these placed in his care? Some disciple of Christ he has turned out to be. It is time for all those complicit in this criminal organization to go to speedy trial by the civil authorities all over the world or in international courts where aplicable.

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Stropaire | May 03, 2012, 01:02 PM EDT

It seems to me that we're all missing the elephant in the room. There's a lot of guff about Brady reporting to his superiors etc. BS! As either a citizen of Ireland or as a Subject of the United Kingdom he has a legal responsibility to report what he knew to the civil authorities. HE DID NOT. End of story. The truth is that the hierarchy of the catholic church place themselves above the law. Oh sure, when some crime comes to light that can in no way position the CC in a bad light it is as loud as anyone in condemning it. It even adjusts its role in various matters depending on where they are propaganding. Sure the politicians were under the thumb of the church. That's what happens when the church is almost completely in charge of the educational system during the formative years of this state, -why do you think the church is fighting tooth and nail to maintain their hold on the primary schools of Ireland? Wasn't it a church saying "give me the boy"?

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Bythebay | May 03, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

Patrick Roberts, Brendan Smyth and Sean Brady were in Northern Ireland, NOT Ireland. 37 years ago the Royal Ulster Constabulary attempted to arrest Smyth but were stymied by Brady who sent Smyth to Ireland to avoid arrest. You are also misinformed about Brady's current responsiveness on the issue. It is non-existent which is why the Pope sent Cardinal Sean O'Malley from Boston to Armagh in recent weeks to force him to comply. Not only should Brady resign ASAP, he should also be jailed ASAP for life. You in the US should not be making excuses for him.

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snapbowie | May 03, 2012, 12:21 PM EDT

I don't buy most of these arguments/conclusion but just for the sake of argument, pretend I do. Hi lack of courage, even as a young priest, and his lack of compassion and follow-up preclude him from having the post that he has in the Church. For the obvious lack of courage he should be rewarded with this powerful post. That position should be given to people with compassion, skill, ... and courage.

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hermitTalker | May 03, 2012, 11:58 AM EDT

Wise and honest article, folllowed by the usual gombeen anti-clerical critics. The Irish bishops as well as the UK and Australain confrences, probably others as well have developed guidelines for child abuse, training for their workers and parents. The pope told them to report such action as well, after it was started elsewhere, Ireland was ahead of him. A model that has yet to be copied by State school teachers, other professions. Meantime the Dublin Dail is still waiting to propose a law ( Mr Kenny while in Coalition in the 90s (?) did nothing to start the process for a law) and social workers are warning that they do not have the staff or resources to handle it when family, physicians, dentists and dance coaches and others are reported, including possibly C of I and Presbyterian and Jewish clergy too. It happens in other countries. While this cardinal has been a strong leader in working for the future.

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Murph46 | May 03, 2012, 10:58 AM EDT

Swinford just hit it out of the park with his remarks-Right on!

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DCVietVet | May 03, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT

If he in fact covered it up, he should resign,posthaste. All these "so called" priests who molest anyone,should be hanged!!!!

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dkbertroch | May 03, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT

"If Brady is fired then every complicit politician, clergyman and policeman from that era have to be fired too." I wonder if in this case perhaps it is best to throw out all the baby(s) with the bath water and fire all those who were complicit. Even though it was a while ago the issue still occurred and perhaps time will put things to right.

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