ABUSE victims have maintained the pressure on Cardinal Seán Brady to resign over his handling of paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth, despite issuing another apology yesterday in which he acknowledged shame at his own past failings.Andrew Madden, a victim of another paedophile priest, Fr Ivan Payne, dismissed Dr Brady’s latest promise of careful reflection as "nonsense".
"He’s had 35 years to reflect on what he did then," remarked Mr Madden.
He claimed Dr Brady had confirmed that he had no intention of resigning at this time.
"In response I say that if the Catholic Church in Ireland is to be led by a man who accurately reflects it in its current state, then perhaps it is only right and fitting that it be led by a man who has participated in the cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by a priest," said Mr Madden.
"He’s either going to go or he’s not going to go and if he doesn’t the Church can’t pretend to be serious about the issue of child protection and about reaching out to people who have been abused," he added.
Another abuse victim, Christine Buckley, believed that Dr Brady should still resign.
Ms Buckley, the founder of the Aislinn Foundation, said the cardinal’s apology, while welcome, was not enough because of his failure to show leadership given his knowledge about Fr Smyth 35 years ago.
However, the editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper, Garry O’Sullivan, suggested Dr Brady should remain on as head of the Church in Ireland given that his homily represented the first glimmer of hope that the Hierarchy understood the need for truth and humility.
"His call for the bishops to ‘own up and take responsibility’ is welcome but it is a pity that he had to be dragged to that level of accountability for the truth of his own past," said Mr O’Sullivan.
He claimed the cardinal’s wish to stop the drip-feeding of revelations could only happen if every bishop came out now and owned up to the fullness of truth.
Mr O’Sullivan predicted that Irish Catholics would accept Dr Brady in his own words as a "wounded leader" so long as he first sought the forgiveness of Fr Smyth’s victims.
The Irish Catholic editor said the cardinal could be the person to reach out to the abused and lead "a once arrogant and secretive Church to a place of healing, repentance, truth and perhaps, resurrection".
The auxiliary bishop of Armagh, Gerard Clifford, said the controversy was weighing heavily on Dr Brady but he believed the cardinal had the support of the laity based on the messages of support which had been received at the diocesan offices.
Dr Brady was applauded by a congregation of 300-plus Mass-goers as he entered St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, to celebrate Mass for St Patrick’s Day yesterday.
Following his homily in which he admitted his own and the Church’s past failings in dealing with the issue of clerical sex abuse, he received another round of applause and again on leaving the cathedral.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, also called on Dr Brady to consider his position as a result of the controversy over his involvement with Fr Smyth in the past.
Speaking in Washington where he was meeting President Barack Obama to mark St Patrick’s Day, the Sinn Féin MP described the latest revelations as "a very grave situation" for the Catholic Church.
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