'People Using Pain of Victims for Own Agenda'

News Letter
May 8, 2012

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/people-using-pain-of-victims-for-own-agenda-1-3816848


CARDINAL Sean Brady has been unfairly singled out for criticism over child sex abuse cover-up allegations, according to the Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor.

Although he stopped short of defending the under-fire Cardinal's actions, Bishop Donal McKeown has pointed an accusing finger at influential people in other spheres, saying some could be using the "pain of victims to further their own agendas".

The Catholic Church in Ireland has been rocked by recent revelations that, in 1975, Cardinal Brady was involved in a secret Church inquiry into Fr Brendan Smyth's sexual abuse of children.

Most damning of the allegations is that the then 36-year-old church legal expert failed to notify police or the parents of children at risk.

In a BBC television documentary shown last week, the Cardinal was confronted with the evidence of victim Brendan Boland — a man who was abused as a teenager by Brendan Smyth but came forward in an effort to protect five other young victims.

Rather than ending the crimes of the paedophile priest, 14-year-old Brendan Boland was sworn to secrecy by the Church inquiry panel while Brendan Smyth continued to prey on children for almost two decades.

Using the Facebook social networking site, Bishop McKeown complained that pressure had been brought to bear on political leaders to respond to a solitary question — the "narrow" issue of whether the Cardinal should resign.

Bishop McKeown said: "In my naiveté, I was hoping that at least one of our top elected representatives might have been capable of showing statesmanship by saying something like the following: 'In the north, people lived through 40 years that saw nearly 3,700 people murdered and maybe 40,000 injured. Thousands of children were abused by being mutilated, orphaned, left homeless, intimidated, traumatised and exploited. Their pain was seen as unfortunate collateral damage in the service of a greater cause.'"

The Bishop goes on to claim that most people aged over 40 in the Province were "complicit in that communal madness and voluntary blindness" – listing the alleged collective guilt of:

l "People in state forces had information but either did not pass it on, or they accepted orders to forget about it in the interest of state security. Children were brutalised or killed because of that;

l "People in paramilitary organisations did terrible things to some children and some hid crimes against children when they occurred among their own supporters;

l "People, who would later be prominent in public life, repeatedly shared platforms with those who openly justified violence in the service of their glorious national or international 'cause'."

Bishop McKeown also suggests some journalists could have "buried information" that could have saved lives during the Troubles.

His online statement ended by posing several questions, including: "How many of us, who have lived in the Northern Ireland glasshouse, are in a position to throw stones?"

Cardinal Brady has repeatedly defended his role in the 1975 inquiry saying he acted merely as a "note-taker", and that he passed on the findings to his superiors for appropriate action.

Despite mounting pressure from many high-profile Catholics –including abuse victims, politicians and senior clerics – the 72-year-old church leader has refused to step down.