Primate offers apology to abuse victims on 'dark day'

CARDINAL'S ROLE: THE CATHOLIC primate, Cardinal Seán Brady, has apologised for the church failings outlined in the Cloyne report and described yesterday as a “very bad day” for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

He said he would not resign because he wanted to continue the work to safeguard children from abuse.

Cardinal Brady also sought to explain why, even after he was advised that a potential seminarian had complained of inappropriate behaviour by the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, he publicly defended the Newry-born bishop.

“It is a very bad day,” Cardinal Brady said in Portadown yesterday when asked what the report meant for the Catholic Church. 

“It saddens me greatly. I am very upset. I want to apologise – as Archbishop Clifford has apologised – to all the victims of abuse and to their parents and families.

“If there is one positive thing to come out of this it is the confirmation that the church structures have been proven to be effective,” he added.

Welcoming the Cloyne report, he said it represented “another dark day in the history of the response of church leaders to the cry of children abused by church personnel”.

“Earlier today, Archbishop Dermot Clifford apologised to the survivors of abuse and their families, to the people of the diocese of Cloyne and to the wider church. I apologise and express my shame and sorrow at what has happened,” he added.

Cardinal Brady said he was trying to “manage the situation” when asked why in January 2009 he publicly defended Bishop Magee even though a week earlier he was advised of a complaint by a young man against him. 

The 17-year-old youth, who was considering becoming a seminarian, complained that the manner in which the bishop dealt with him appeared far from innocent.

“I regret any hurt that I caused to people by my statement then but what I was saying was that I wanted Bishop Magee to remain to face his responsibilities and I also came to the view very soon that he should have an apostolic administrator appointed to the diocese,” he said.

Referring to his media interview in 2009 defending Bishop Magee and in which he said he had known Bishop Magee for 50 years, he said: “I did not defend him very strongly. I was not going to declare over the airwaves that he should resign . . . My experience of him was that I had known him all these years.

“But I was trying to manage the situation where he would remain but would not be in full power in the diocese ,” he added.

Cardinal Brady said he “was not free to comment” fully on the matter at that stage. The primate added that he was quite clear in his mind at the time that Bishop Magee “would need to eventually step aside”.

Of his interview defending Bishop Magee, the cardinal added: “I regret any misunderstanding that that caused people. I wanted him not to resign and not to run away but to stay and face his responsibilities.”

Cardinal Brady said he had not considered standing down because he wanted to press on with his work to ensure there was best practice in Ireland in relation to safeguarding children from abuse. 

“I want to continue to do that. Victims in the past have criticised bishops resigning and running away.” 

He said the current church environment for children was totally different from in the past.

He said, as was publicly reported by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church on May 11th, that:

*all allegations of abuse have been reported to the statutory authorities, North and South;

*all dioceses have safeguarding personnel in each of the 1,386 parishes on the island;

*thousands of volunteers in Ireland have undergone training in order to fulfil their safeguarding roles throughout the church;

*the national board has provided training to 52 groups on various aspects of safeguarding guidelines;

*priority has been given to the ongoing programme of audit of dioceses and religious congregations.

As stated by the national board last week, audits of three dioceses have been completed and three further diocesan audits will be completed by the end of the month.

“I call today for the introduction of legislation to support mandatory reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse to the statutory authorities,” he added.

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