Archbishop Seán Brady reflects on 10 eventful and challenging years as Catholic Primate with Patsy McGarryReligious Affairs Correspondent
It often seems to many observers that the Catholic Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Seán Brady would be happiest serving in a rural parish with a good Gaelic football team. That the observation has gained currency underlines an appreciation of the genuinely humble nature of a man whose warm, humorous, and self-effacing personality - as well as his passion for football - has done much to deflect some of the more trenchant criticism aimed at his Church over the past decade.
Even at fraught press conferences over recent years he has rarely attracted flak from a sometimes outraged media, which is not to suggest a pallid character. He was a county footballer after all, and for Cavan at a time when Cavan footballers did not have a Francis-of-Assisi-type reputation. There is grit there, but his abiding popularity among brother bishops, his clergy and his people is testament to his decency as a human being.
He had great office thrust upon him. In 1994 after serving 13 years at the Irish College in Rome, where he had been rector for seven of those years, he was appointed parish priest of Ballyhaise in his native Cavan and he couldn't have been happier.
Just months later, in December 1994, he received a call from the papal nunciature in Dublin. The then papal nuncio Archbishop Emmanuele Gerada requested he accept appointment as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, meaning he would succeed Cardinal Cahal Daly as archbishop and Catholic primate on the latter's retirement. He had no warning and, at his Ara Coeli residence in Armagh last Thursday, he recalled his shock and trepidation on being asked to accept the invitation. He was installed as Coadjutor Archbishop in February 1995 and as Archbishop on November 3rd, 1996.
He spoke of his belief in "the grace of office" and, while acknowledging that nothing could have prepared him for what has happened in the life of the Catholic Church in Ireland this past 10 years, he had, then as now, "put trust in the Lord".
What has been happening the Church over the past decade was about "purification". He recalled the words of Cardinal Daneels of Brussels: "Now that we are weak and humble of heart we have greater freedom to do the real work, unshackled."
Yes there had been difficult moments, not least press conferences, but "all you can do is be assured of God's love. Self-pity is no good". What had been learned above all was about "the great suffering of [ abuse] victims and their families. We need to do everything we can to heal that suffering as fully as possible and to ensure it can never happen again."
Child protection was "a priority" and, whereas the Our Children Our Church child protection policy, published last December, "needs further refinement, North and South", they would press on. The Church had made "a huge commitment and investment" where child protection was concerned and would also work closely with the authorities in both jurisdictions so its child protection policy was compatible with civil requirements in both.
The past 10 years had also seen a rapid decline in both vocations to the priesthood and attendance at weekly Mass. He felt using attendance as a yardstick was "an incomplete way to assess the life of the Church". There had been, for instance, no decline in numbers at Catholic schools. The victims of falling attendance were "those who stopped worshipping. They are the poorer for it". That said, he felt liturgies and homilies should be more vibrant and relevant to people's lives.
Archbishop Brady said there was "very deep concern, particularly among parents, about where we are going, morally and spiritually". There was "a growing coarseness and aggression" in Irish society, as evidenced "on the roads, in drinking, the increase in sexualisation of children at an earlier age, stress, excess generally. It is dehumanising".
He attributed this to increased secularisation and the marginalisation of religion. "Do we want to have a culture of Podge and Rodge, or one of decency and respect?" he asked.
This "is not just in Ireland". He recalled a discussion at a recent synod of bishops on Europe where they were told "more and more people were fearful of the future, isolated, and made no life commitments", a point was reflected in falling vocations.
And as witnessed over recent weeks there had also been a growth of violence in Irish society, as respect for human life and the integrity of the human person declined. Such "dehumanisation is linked to secularisation", he said. It was opposite to traditional Christian core values which "called on Christians to look out for one another" and to develop "a good caring attitude, bringing healing to brokenness", he said. Christianity was about "life and hope."
A smaller number of priests meant parishes would continue to be amalgamated but also more opportunities for the lay faithful, whether in teaching the faith or in leading prayer services. The new permanent deaconate also meant that, within four years, men would be available in dioceses to perform most of the functions of a priest.
Turning to the the North, he said it had become "a much more normal society, much more relaxed" in the last 10 years. The meeting with Dr Ian Paisley and others on a DUP delegation at Stormont last October had helped create a climate where such meetings could now take place at parish and community level, he said. He emphasised it was "not an ecumenical meeting." They discussed marriage, the family, poverty, jobs, policing, devolution and education.
He repeated his call for Sinn Féin to join the policing board, believing that an acceptable policing board was essential to any democracy. But he added that "if a Government gives over responsibility for policing, it must also give over the powers to exercise it."
He noted that at that meeting with the DUP in Stormont it had been remarked to him that the Catholic Church had been wise to hold on to its schools in the North when other churches hadn't. The Catholic Church intended doing so, he said, despite draft proposals for new structures there which would give a proposed Education and Skills Authority exclusive powers without any requirement to take account of Catholic interests.
Accepting the demographic need for greater rationalisation where Northern schools were concerned, and with which he would "willingly engage", he said the right of Catholic parents to supply a Catholic education for their children "must be respected". Catholics had to struggle to supply those schools, which had provided an education that was second to none, he said. "Education is not a neutral process. It is not right for the State to seek to monopolise education," he said.
He did not accept that the segregation of children attending school along religious lines contributed to sectarianism. "Experience in other countries has shown that sitting side-by-side [ in school] was not the answer. Respect, encouraging dialogue and debate, is the answer. That has to go on."
He felt the draft proposals might also be "a cloak for secularisation in education, which was not confined to the North". It was about "relegating religion to the margins".
As regards Fr Gerard McGinnity, a priest of Armagh diocese, he repeated his public apology to him. Fr McGinnity was removed as senior dean at St Patrick's College Maynooth in 1984 when he tried to draw the attention of its bishop trustees to seminarians' concerns about the behaviour of then college vice-president Miceal Ledwith. Archbishop Brady said Fr McGinnity was "a respected priest of this diocese. I am very sorry about what happened to him. I know he is very hurt and I am doing what I can to heal that hurt. I apologised publicly to him and I do so again now. The bond, the relationship between a priest and his bishop is a very important one."