Correction note from the Catholic Communications Office
concerning Irish Independent published article of 18 March 2010

By Martin Long
Irish Catholic Bishops Conference
March 19, 2010

http://www.catholicbishops.ie/media-centre/press-release-archive/71-press-release-archive-2010/1813-19-march-2010-correction-note-from-the-catholic-communications-office-concerning-irish-independent-published-article-of-18-march-2010

The following is a correction note from the Catholic Communications Office regarding the Irish Indepedent article "Revealed: Oath taken by Smyth, children, and Brady" by Breda Heffernan published yesterday, 18 March 2010. [See the Heffernan article.]

In relation to the wording of the oath involved in the 1975 enquiry involving the then Fr Seán Brady and concerning Fr Brendan Smyth, the published words used in yesterday’s Irish Independent (18 March 2010) were incorrect. The wording of the oath is as follows:

“I [name] hereby swear that I have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and that I will talk to no-one about this interview except authorised priests.”

In addition, the following sentence was included in the second oath:

“So help me God and these holy Gospels which I touch.”

Authorised priests in this case refers to the personnel who were taking evidence. The intention of the oaths was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the enquiry’s evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth. It was understood by canonical personnel in Ireland that the oaths were no longer binding when the taking of evidence from all witnesses was complete.