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	Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal Clouds St Patrick's Day - Feature Earth Times March 17, 2010 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314510,catholic-sex-abuse-scandal-clouds-st-patricks-day--feature.html IRELAND, Dublin -- A shadow was cast over traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland Wednesday as pressure mounted on Ireland's most senior churchman to resign over the latest child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Sean Brady has been refusing to resign since admitting that he was present at a meeting in 1975 where victims were asked to swear oaths not to reveal the Catholic Church was investigating notorious paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. The cardinal, then a priest, took notes at the proceedings at which the 14 and 15-year-old victims signed secret undertakings not go public with their allegations, and "respect the confidentiality of the (church's) information-gathering process." Smyth, who died in 1997, went on to abuse many more children before his arrest in 1994. When asked why he had not contacted the relevant statutory authorities, Brady has said that he was not the designated person to do so. Victims of Smyth have called on the cardinal to resign amid calls for a police investigation into the legality of Brady's failure to report the abuse and the signing of the oath by the child victims. Brady has claimed he had taken action, by participating in a process which resulted in Father Smyth having his licence to practice as a priest removed. Brady said that three weeks after he had submitted a report to the then Bishop of Kilmore, Bishop Francis McKiernan, Smyth was suspended from practicing as a priest in the Diocese of Kilmore and throughout the country. However, Smyth went on to abuse many more children and committed some of his crimes in Northern Ireland. Brady now says he will not resign because he did not think it was a resigning matter. Campaigner for victims of clerical child abuse and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland Colm O'Gorman has said the cardinal must go. O'Gorman has said the harm done by the oath of secrecy victims were forced to take was very significant and Brady's position was now impossible because he lacked credibility. The Catholic Communications office has said that the then Father Brady had no decision-making powers regarding the 1975 inquiry into Smyth. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin told Ireland's national broadcaster RTE it was "very important that the truth comes out about clerical sexual abuse." Two Irish bishops have resigned since a commission investigating child abuse in Ireland from 1974 to 1995 published last November - the so-called Murphy report - named five senior clerics for their failure to act to stop child abuse. Speaking before a St Patrick's Day Ecumenical service in Dublin Tuesday night, Archbishop Martin said people should be accountable for what they have done. Resigning, however, was a personal decision, he said. He said it would be "for others to assess if legal issues arise." The Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen has not joined calls for Cardinal Brady's resignation. "The leadership I'm giving is that clearly it's important the state maintains its space and the church maintains its space. It's not a question for the state to get involved in church matters," he said late Tuesday. Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said Cardinal Sean Brady should consider his position in relation to the fallout from the Smyth revelations. Speaking in Washington which he was visiting for St Patrick's Day, McGuinness described the latest revelations as "a very grave situation for the Catholic Church." He said he would be very surprised and he believed many Catholics would be surprised if Brady was not considering his position at the moment.
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