Brady's Exit Gives Church Here a Chance for a Fresh Start
By Michael Kelly
As Cardinal Sean Brady sends his retirement letter to Pope Francis this week, he'll surely breathe a sigh of relief - and hope it'll be swiftly accepted. As Primate of All Ireland for almost 20 years, he has been responsible for guiding the Catholic Church through some of its darkest days and most turbulent times. It has rarely been out of choppy waters and often on the rocks. He has been the subject of sharp criticism and intense anger from many people over his own failures in the case of the notorious abuser-priest Brendan Smyth. Dr Brady has stubbornly resisted calls for his resignation over his failure to save further victims by reporting Smyth's crimes to the police. Dr Brady and his supporters point out that he was only a note-taker during the canon law investigation into Smyth, that his role was periphery. But that misses the point: as Archbishop of Armagh he presented himself as the leader of a church which had learnt the lessons of the past and had cleaned up its act on child abuse. Yet, every time the cardinal appeared, he was a potent - and for survivors, a painful - reminder of a corrupt church culture which put the avoidance of scandal and the reputation of the church ahead of the rights of children. Few people doubt that Sean Brady is a decent man. He has worked hard in his ministry and, in many ways, been an exemplary priest. Given that obvious decency, it's hard to know why Sean Brady has clung to power, resisting pressure to fully accept responsibility. There's no doubt that he is a stubborn and determined man. But, one can't help getting the feeling that his remaining in office may not have been entirely of his own choosing. He has cut somewhat of a wretched figure in recent years as he has limped towards the mandatory retirement age of 75. At public events, the cardinal has often looked uncomfortable; some priests describe his mood as distant and burdened, almost as if his heart is no longer really in it. Could it be that the Vatican blocked him from resigning under intense pressure from survivors' groups and the media? Recall, at the time Cardinal Brady was under fire, cardinals in Belgium, Germany, Poland and other countries were under intense pressure to quit. Maybe the Vatican chose Sean Brady to symbolise a Stalingrad-like stance and draw a line in the sand, that there would be no more resignations of cardinals. Bishops can be sacrificed as collateral damage: after all, they are chosen through Vatican bureaucratic channels. Cardinals, on the other hand, are chosen personally by the Pope: if a cardinal has to quit in disgrace, that would surely be a poor reflection on the Pope who chose him, and one cardinal could create a domino effect. We'll never really know. Vatican files aren't released under a 30-year-rule and senior churchmen tend to keep their secrets to themselves. Either way, Sean Brady's decision to stay in office until official retirement age has served to distract from talk of church renewal and reform. So, as he steps down as Successor of St Patrick, what kind of church does Dr Brady leave for his ebullient replacement, Archbishop Eamon Martin? An answer came from an unlikely source when the now-retired Pope Benedict XVI wrote to Irish bishops, telling them that their failings "have obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing". It's a critique devastating in its candour. From an institutional point of view, the church's moral authority remains in tatters. Even many devout Catholics are dismayed by failures in leadership. Mass-going, prayer, pilgrimage and other religious rituals are still relatively popular in Ireland, but many Catholics now draw a distinction between the practise of their faith and the leadership of the church. Many priests feel demoralised, and while the leadership of Pope Francis has presented the church in a more positive light, many are pessimistic. But, Irish people are fair-minded, and most have very positive experiences of the church locally. Cardinal Brady's successor, untainted as he is by the scandals, will have an window of opportunity to present a church that is more humble and more in tune with its founder. ?Michael Kelly is editor of 'The Irish Catholic' newspaper
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