A PROMINENT victim of clerical child abuse last night renewed her call for Cardinal Sean Brady to resign before the end of the month.Survivor Marie Collins said the cardinal should take responsibility for binding to secrecy two children raped by infamous paedophile monk Brendan Smyth in 1975.
"Cardinal Brady is refusing to take responsibility for his actions in 1975. But he must do so," Ms Collins told the Irish Independent.
She was responding to a controversial speech by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, in which he warned that "strong forces" in the Catholic Church would prefer scandals about paedophile priests to be kept secret.
Yesterday the only bishop to publicly support Dr Martin's comments was the Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh.
Despite the Irish Independent contacting the country's remaining bishops numerous times yesterday, they maintained their silence in the wake of the emotional and hard-hitting speech.
In his address to the Knights of Columbanus, Dr Martin appealed to bishops to take responsibility for failures to protect children from paedophile clerics, and he described the damning Murphy Report as catastrophic.
Dr Martin was also unavailable for comment yesterday on his speech, which warned against any slippage in the protection of children.
A spokesperson for Dr Martin would not confirm if he had Dr Brady in mind in his address.
The spokesperson said that the archbishop was invited by the Catholic lay organisation to speak on the church's future in Ireland, and made this the occasion for "a full and frank, and comprehensive speech".
Last night, Dr Brady was unavailable for comment on Dr Martin's speech, which is widely viewed as a vote of no confidence in the primate's continued leadership.
In March, Dr Brady admitted he had not told Pope Benedict or Dr Martin of his involvement in the Smyth cover-up.
In the ensuing public fury, the cardinal apologised and said he would not step down unless asked to resign by Pope Benedict.
The 70-year old Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh set Pentecost Sunday as the date for announcing his decision after consulting family and clergy on whether he could remain as "a wounded healer".
Courageous
But last month Dr Brady was taken ill with high blood pressure and he has fulfilled only two public functions recently.
Dr Walsh said he was not surprised by the archbishop's remarks and supported them.
"I think it was a very powerful and courageous talk by the archbishop and largely I would agree," said Dr Walsh.
Dr Walsh said he had also been discouraged by the response of the church hierarchy to the child abuse inquiries.
Praising Dr Martin's courage, Marie Collins told the Irish Independent she still wanted Dr Brady to resign on May 23.
"Archbishop Martin has challenged bishops to take responsibility for their past failures," said Ms Collins.
"I am still hoping Cardinal Brady will resign, because he must take responsibility for his part in the Brendan Smyth case.
"We cannot move forward until church leaders accept responsibility for the past and be accountable."
Maeve Lewis, executive director of support group One in Four, said Dr Martin had shown himself to be a man of courage.
"I always had great time for him, but we felt after the bishops went to Rome that he was muted. He was like a different man," said Ms Lewis.
"But it is like he found his voice again. He really is a strong advocate for survivors and they deserve no less than that."
Ms Lewis said survivors had been deeply hurt by the response to the Ryan and Murphy reports by some people within the Catholic Church, right up to the Pope.
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