Sir, I notice with some concern that Fintan O'Toole believes that the Brendan Smyth case should have brought about not only the fall of a Government that seemed much more effective on the Northern question than its successor, but also the resignation of Cardinal Daly.
Like many of his kind, he seems to think the Catholic Church is an organisational monolith, with a single chain of command from the Pope through cardinals and bishops to the local believer. Things are far more complex. First, there can be disobedience and recalcitrance among clerics and others in the Church, which usually gets generous coverage in the media. Church authorities cannot do much about them. Then, there is the exempt status of monasteries and religious orders something that is taken very seriously in the Church. Bishops cannot lightly intrude there.
If things go wrong in a religious order, there is a chain of command to deal with it, beginning with the local superior. In the Fr. Brendan Smyth case, the system of command and responsibility broke down badly, as systems occasionally do. It happens even in the offices of the State, after all. And people are removed from office, and lessons are learnt. The Cardinal had minimal involvement.
Alastair Cook once remarked on that peculiar affliction by which journalists who could hardly be trusted to manage a popgun, feel entitled to advise Presidents and general secretaries of international organisations what to do in all circumstances. When I read Mr O'Toole's high toned moralising, I had to smile. Does he really have to take himself so seriously? Yours, etc.,
The Abbey.
Galway City.