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	Cardinal Brady Urges 'Renewal' As Irish Bishops Meet Pope By Patsy McGarry Irish Times February 15, 2010 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0215/1224264468749.html?via=rel VATICAN CITY -- THE UNPRECEDENTED meetings today and tomorrow between Ireland's Catholic bishops, the pope and senior members of the Curia were described last night by the Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady as "one step in a process . . . which will lead to a journey of repentance, renewal and reconciliation". He said that process "hopefully, will gain momentum when we get back to Ireland". Cardinal Brady was speaking in Rome after a month's mind Mass for Cardinal Cahal Daly, which was celebrated at the late cardinal's titular church in Rome, St Patrick's. Earlier yesterday, the Bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy said he and his colleagues "have a responsibility to be as frank and as open and as candid as is possible for them" about child sex abuse by clergy and institutional abuse at their meetings with the Pope and senior curial figures. Speaking at a press briefing in the Irish College, Bishop Duffy, who is chairman of the communications commission of the Irish Bishops' Conference, said the meetings were "not just a cosmetic exercise. They are serious". It would be "a complete flop" if the meetings were "seen as a formality or a glossing over of difficult points", he said. At 8am today 24 of Ireland's bishops will meet Pope Benedict and seven leading members of the Curia in the first of three sessions, which will continue to 1pm and resume after lunch until 8pm. Tomorrow's session begins at 8am and ends at 1pm. Each Irish bishop is expected to speak for about seven minutes. Last night Cardinal Brady said these two days were "another step on a long journey. We will have an opportunity to give our views, which we have prepared well for in Knock last week and before". Asked whether all the Irish bishops were in agreement, he said "we certainly are singing off the same hymn sheet as regards child safeguarding. There is absolutely no disunity about that and anybody who says otherwise is doing a great disservice to the cause of safeguarding of children in Ireland today." However, when asked whether this also applied to views on the resignations of all bishops named in the Murphy report, he said "we are united about this policy of bringing people forward". Bishop Duffy said he and his fellow bishops would "be keeping survivors at the top of the list of priorities" in addressing the pope and the curial cardinals. Each bishop had been invited "to account directly to the Holy Father", he said, and he referred to "the failure of all of us, including bishops, for not doing what we were expected to do". He agreed that there had been "tensions" among the bishops over the fallout from the Murphy report, "but to describe them as 'divisions' is another matter. Last week at Knock we had a very cordial retreat. Things were thrashed out fully and frankly", he said. Asked about the Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan's claim that comments by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin were an attack on the former's integrity, Bishop Duffy said: "We're dealing here with a very emotive issue where people's personal integrity is in question and I think any of us, if we were to be totally honest about ourselves, we would be indignant initially certainly if anyone questioned our integrity". He continued: "For that reason we would be entitled to the fullest possible explanation behind any kind of allegation of that kind." He added: "I think Archbishop Martin is on record that he expects and expected bishops named in the Murphy report to give an account of themselves, to be publicly accountable. That's not the same as saying he believes they should resign, which unfortunately is the meaning people have taken out of it." Bishop Drennan's resignation or otherwise was "not on the agenda" for the meetings today and tomorrow, he said. As bishops "it is not our business as individuals to discuss resignations publicly, except possibly one's own resignation", he said.
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