Cardinal Seán Brady tonight said he intends to lead the Irish Catholic Church on a journey of renewal but that he has asked Pope Benedict XVI to appoint a bishop to assist him in the task.The Catholic primate said he would continue to work with courage and determination, as the pope had requested, and with “humility, sincere repentance and careful listening – to address the many challenges” which now confront the church.
“As a fellow pilgrim, searching with the whole community of faith for a clear way forward, I will do all I can to help sow the seeds for a genuine healing and renewal in the Church which, for so many of us, is our family and our home,” he said, in a statement.
Cardinal Brady has come under intense pressure to resign since it emerged earlier this year that he participated in an investigation into abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975 in his native Kilmore diocese, which involved two young people.
He believed the teenagers concerned, but he bound them to secrecy at the end of his investigation and reported his findings to the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Francis McKiernan.
“In the years that remain to me as Archbishop of Armagh, I am fully committed to building on the substantial progress made in child safeguarding in recent years and to working to bring about the healing, repentance and renewal set out for the Church in Ireland by Pope Benedict XVI. I am fully committed to the path that as a Church we must take to the truth that will set us free,” he said.
Cardinal Brady welcomed a report by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), which found that nearly 200 new allegations of abuse have been reported to the Catholic Church's child protection watchdog since April 2009.
He said he had asked that the NBSC prioritise a review of the handling of abuse cases in the Armagh diocese and the implementation of agreed policy there. He committed himself to fully implementing the findings of the review and sharing their findings.
He also said a full-time director of Child Safeguarding would be appointed in the diocese.
“In the future, it will be this statutory authority and not the Church (or any other organisation which works with children in Northern Ireland) that will decide who is permitted to work with children,” he said.
The decision to seek extra help follows Cardinal Brady having to take time off last month after he fell ill during a confirmation ceremony in Co Tyrone.
He said he made the request for help to “to assist me in addressing the vital work of healing, repentance and renewal, including engagement with survivors of abuse, as well as the many other challenges and opportunities which confront the Diocese of Armagh and the Church in Ireland at this time”.
As part of this, he said he had requested that the Diocese of Armagh be included in the apostolic visitation announced by the Pope in his letter to Irish Catholics in March.