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	Anger As Primate Refuses to Resign By David Young Scotsman May 19, 2010 http://www.scotsman.com/news/Anger-as-Primate--refuses.6302946.jp CARDINAL Sean Brady is facing a fresh storm of criticism after refusing to quit as head of the Catholic Church in Ireland over his handling of child abuse claims. The decision by the Primate of All Ireland to remain in his post, made public yesterday, comes despite an unrelenting clamour for him to step down, and provoked an angry response from victims of clerical sex crimes and even fellow members of the cloth. But Cardinal Brady, 70, was in defiant mood outside his residence at Armagh Cathedral, vowing to stay on and lead the Church's efforts to improve child protection safeguards. He confirmed he would stay on following the announcement yesterday of an all-Ireland audit into how the Church handles abuse allegations. "It certainly wasn't an easy decision," he said. The cardinal has been under intense pressure since it emerged earlier this year that he was at a meeting in the 1970s where two young victims of a notorious paedophile priest, Brendan Smyth, signed vows of secrecy. The civil authorities were not informed, enabling Smyth to continue his reign of abuse for a further two decades. Survivors of clerical abuse said the cardinal's refusal to go was a clear sign the Church had not changed, while a number of priests broke rank to criticise their leader's decision. Marie Collins, who was abused as a child in Crumlin Children's Hospital in Dublin, met the cardinal several weeks ago as he canvassed opinion on his future. "I think the Church needs new leadership and I'm disappointed that we're not going to get it," she said. "It's not a question of revenge, it's a question of taking responsibility." Another victim, Andrew Madden, said he was not surprised by Cardinal Brady's pledge to stay in his post. "I think they have a huge credibility problem if they try to speak of child protection or other moral issues when their own leadership was involved in the cover-up of the sexual abuses of children and kept it quiet for 35 years," he said. Dublin-based priest Pat McCafferty, himself a victim of clerical abuse as a child, said the cardinal's position had been undermined. "All of this continues to provoke the suffering of victims, and I believe that Cardinal Brady may as well have resigned, because I believe his position is very damaged." But the Primate and Archbishop of Armagh insisted that the majority of people he had spoken to over the last two months had urged him to stay. He said: "I was on pilgrimage to Lourdes yesterday with 800 people from this diocese, and not one said they had no confidence in me. They said they wanted me to stay and continue this work." Cardinal Brady told the congregation at his St Patrick's Day homily in March that he would take a period of time to reflect on his future in the Church. Hundreds of cases of sexual and physical abuse in recent decades by priests have come to light in Europe and the United States, as disclosures encourage long-silent victims to go public with their complaints. On Monday, Ireland's National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church said nearly 200 new allegations of past abuse had been reported between April 2009 and March.
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