Monday 15 March 2010

Cardinal Sean Brady is still Primate of All Ireland and the Church is disgraced

Incredibly, Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has admitted that he witnessed two children who had been victims of paedophile Father Brendan Smyth being ordered to sign agreements, under oath, that they would not disclose his sexual abuse of them with anybody other than an approved priest. And he is STILL Primate of All Ireland!!

It is beyond belief. But it gets more incredible

The Cardinal defended his role saying that he had been part of a process that resulted in Smyth having his licence removed. He said that three weeks after he submitted a report to the Bishop of Kilmore, Smyth was suspended from practising as a priest in the diocese and across Ireland. But this was in 1975, and the paedophile remained free to abuse children until 1993.

He did not report the allegations about the priest to the police because, he said, he was not the designated person to do so. Amazing isn't it?


So for nearly 20 years more, although he was no longer a priest, Smyth went on with his filth. So awful were this man’s crimes that in 1994 the matter brought down the Irish government. Smyth was imprisoned and shortly after died, but only after 40 years of abuse. An unbelievable record of horror.

Cardinal Brady was in the Vatican last month with all Ireland’s bishops for a meeting with the Pope to discuss the findings of government-appointed inquiries into the Irish Church’s record of child sex abuse. One of these reports found that the government along with the Church and legal authorities had covered up a sad and sickening history of 40 years of sexual abuse and beatings by priests and nuns of thousands of children in state care.

The other report showed the extent to which senior clergy had lied and deceived to protect the Church’s reputation. Just what the Church is all about really. Oh no, wait, it’s all about truth and honesty.... silly me. Still, it’s an easy mistake to make.

Wherever you go, the Roman Catholic Church, like many other churches, has a wide remit to break or override the law of the country in which it operates. It can, for example demand that its priests are all male, which is against the sex discrimination legislation of most countries; it can also insist that any people working for it, in any role at all be followers of the faith (even if they are eg, a cleaner, administrator, teacher of non religious subject at one of their schools, and have no Clerical function).

It seems that in Ireland the Church being above the law was taken to a higher level. The Cardinal was, at the time of his collusion, a recorder with a tribunal which meant that he took the notes of evidence on behalf of the bishop at the tribunal sessions. He also questioned witnesses and recorded their answers. The hearings were held behind closed doors at a Dominican friary and at the Norbertine Order’s Holy Trinity Abbey. They were presided over by three canon lawyers.

So they were religious courts which dealt with matters which were quite clearly civil law offences (a little like the House of Lords in England, but in this case much much more serious matters).

This man should immediately be fired by the Pope. How anyone in Ireland can have even the least confidence in sending their children to anywhere that this man has charge of is beyond my comprehension. Quite literally God only knows what he continues to hide.




Pictured: Cardinal Brady and The Vatican City State, to which he was summoned by His Holiness Pope Benedictus



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6 comments:

  1. In a real world, he would not only be fired by the Pope but would be looking at legal action by the State. Also, as a supposed "man of God" he would be bound by his concience to take some moral responsibility. The part of the article that claims that he said that "he did not report the allegations about the priest to the police because, he said, he was not the designated person to do so" can in my mind be compared to Nazi concentration camp guards who's defence for their actions was that they were following the orders of their superiors and cannot be blamed for their actions.

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  2. Quite shocking. It just goes to show what happens when you let the church have undue influence over the political or judicial processes.

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  3. Good points Anon:

    He has hidden a horrible and foul crime; he allowed a paedophile to go free to spend another 17 years making life a misery for girls and boys he came into contact with knowing that it wasn’t just against the law, but horribly against the law. It’s not like ‘not telling’ on a petty shop lifter.

    So yeah, he should be in the pokey for being an accessory before the fact. Of course he was a junior Canon lawyer and the church can be scary, but what I wonder is.... if he was a man of truth and love why oh why did he feel he could go on in the Church once he knew that it was into the cover up of such foul crimes.

    Mind you, I now find myself asking how anyone could possibly go to a catholic church given that we know that this was widespread... across America, Britain, Ireland, and now we hear about investigations in Germany.

    I’m not a religious person, but I completely respect other people’s religion, be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu... whatever... and I feel as an outsider, somewhat embarrassed about criticising... but this? This is too much for me to be quiet about.

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  4. Yes Munguin. But it's a pretty fundamental question ... There's a lot of fuss being made about the possibility of Sharia Courts in the UK... or more correctly in England, as the legal jurisdictions are quite separate. But should we not also be looking into these Canonical Courts that the Church is allowed to have, and over which ultimately the power is in the hands of a ruler of a tiny state set in the middle of the Italian capital.

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  5. At least we can comfort oorsels wi the thought that he'll no be goin to heaven.

    Neither will i but only cos it doesnae exist. He probably still kids himsel that it does. Mibby no though, he's no that daft.

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  6. I've always wondered about that Naldo.

    They truely believe that God sees everything that they do... or at least he knows about it.

    They believe too that he will judge them on the day that they die.

    And they also believe that if they are judged and found wanting they will go to hell.

    Is it that they believe that if they confess and do their penance that they will be excused; that, regardless of the crime and of how many times they have committed it, they are scot free?

    I'm beginning to see why they need a priest at the moment of death for the extreme unction thing.

    I don't want to put anyone's beliefs down, but wow...... that's weird stuff. They shouldn't be allowed to inhale...

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