The Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady today reiterated his determination not to resign following revelations about his involvement in a 1975 canonical inquiry into child sex abuser Fr Brendan Smyth.
In an interview on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the cardinal again insisted that his attendance at meetings at which victims of serial child rapist Brendan Smyth were asked to swear an oath of secrecy, was at the behest of the then bishop of Kilmore, Dr Francis McKiernan.
"Bishop McKiernan conducted a canonical enquiry to establish firm grounds to remove faculties from Father Smyth and this consisted of a series of questions and answers under oath before a notary and I was that notary," he said.
"My role was to take the evidence and consign it to Bishop McKiernan."
"I wrote a report on the meeting, handed it to Bishop McKiernan and he acted upon it. I had no decision-making role in the process."
Cardinal Brady said he was aware of calls for his resignation but stressed he did not believe the issue was a resigning matter. The cardinal did say however that he would act differently if presented with a similar dilemma now.
When asked about calls to resign over the issue, Dr Brady replied, "I've heard those calls. I've said I don't think it was a resigning matter. I've also heard other calls, many other calls, to stay and to continue the work of addressing this most difficult problem."
The cardinal referred to an interview on RTÉ last December in which he said he would resign if he ever found children had been abused as a result of any failing on his part while a bishop or manager. "Well, 30 years ago, 35 years ago, I was not a bishop, I was not a manager, I was a full-time secondary teacher and I was there taking evidence," he said.
"Thirty-five years ago we were in a different world. We had no guidance, we were in unchartered territory. Now we have higher standards thankfully and certainly I wouldn't act in the same way now as I did then but I repeat that I was not the manager, I was not bishop then and I did act, that's the most important thing. I did act and acquired the evidence which allowed bishop McKiernan to act decisively.
"Within three weeks he (Dr McKiernan) was able to go to Kilnacrott Abbey with the evidence and say he was withdrawing the diocesan faculties from Father Smyth which meant that he was no longer permitted to practice, to minister publicly as a priest, not alone in the diocese of Kilmore but in any diocese and I felt that was fairly decisive."
The cardinal said there were growing calls for more discourse on "this most painful, most complex and devastating problem" and resignations would not help this process. "I add my voice to those calls for more discussion on the part of all of society, and especially on the part of those most closely involved - the members of the medical profession, the legal profession, the media - about how it is handled," he said.
Dr Brady said the fact that Brendan Smyth had gone on to commit further acts of abuse was "because others didn't do their duty."
Asked if he had done his duty, the cardinal replied: "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."
Pressed as to whether he regretted not having informed the authorities, Dr Brady insisted he had not stayed silent but had passed on the information to his superior. He also apologised to the victims of Smyth
"I'm very sorry about that and I would say I apologise to those who were abused by Brendan Smyth after 1975. I am deeply sorry this has happened and I'm committed to doing my utmost now to bring healing and closure and to ensure that such crimes are never, never committed again. And our first concern as a society should always be for survivors of abuse but I would suggest for all survivors of all types of abuse."
Asked about the impact of the revelations on his authority and credibility, Cardinal Brady said: "I think we all have to work hard at establishing the church's credibility in this and this is where I would appeal to others to help us to do that, to address this problem and bring about the healing of all victims."
The cardinal said the church was in no doubt as to what its members should do now over possible instances of clerical sex abuse and that things had changed considerably over the years.
"I think our understanding of child sexual abuse was different," he said. There was a culture of secrecy and silence I suppose but it wasn't just confined to the clergy it was the way society dealt with this problem and now, we act differently and of course the first thing we have to do is report to the statutory authorities.
"We are well aware that it is a crime and should be reported and that we, the church, are not above the law."
