Cardinal Brady Put the Church before Victims in Smyth Case
By Anne Campbell
Drogheda Independent
March 17, 2010
http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/news/is-he-the-right-man-to-lead-the-diocese-2101848.html
IRELAND -- CARDINAL Sean Brady defended his actions after he met abuse victims in Dundalk in 1975. Speaking to reporters in Armagh on Sunday, Cardinal Brady said he didn't consider the issue of how he dealt with allegations of abuse made against Brendan Smyth to be a resigning matter.
He said: 'In 1975, (former Bishop of Kilmore) Bishop Francis McKiernan set up an canonical inquiry to establish firm grounds to withdraw the faculties, the licence to practice as a priest, from Fr Brendan Smyth.
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'It took the form of a questions and answers sequence under oath before a notary. I was that notary and I didn't have decision making powers in that inquiry.
'And that inquiry set to work and within two or three weeks, it had provided to Bishop McKiernan the reasons, the firm grounds, he needed to withdraw faculties from Fr Brendan Smyth'.
When he was asked why he didn't report the allegations to the Gardai, Cardinal Brady said: 'I wasn't the designated person. I acted and acted effectively to produce the grounds for removing Fr Smyth from ministry'.
Cardinal Brady said the oath of silence the abused children took was 'to give the inquiry credibility, to its evidence trustworthiness, so it could resist a challenge.
'There was no cover-up. I believed these people and I brought what I heard to the bishop who proceeded to act'.
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