Cardinal Sean Brady

Bill2673

I'm sure most people are familiar with the story that broke ten months ago regarding how Cardinal Sean Brady had, in his role as church investigator into Brendan Smyth's child abuse in the 1970s, sworn two of his victims to secrecy. And also that he failed to report Smyth to the police.

I remember discussing this with my sister at the time. She thought he would wing it and muddle his was through the uproar. I was sure that he would have to resign. I thought that his position would be impossible in the light of these revelations, that it would not be possible for him to be leader of the church in Ireland having done this and kept quiet about it for so long. I also thought it would be good for the church if he did go, and for the country.

Ten months on, 2011 is here and this guy is still in office. I'm amazed. How has he managed to stay on? Am I completely missing something here?

seamus

The church is a private institution not subject to democratic will.

Him staying "in office" is a matter for that private institution, which has a long history of putting its fingers in its ears and refusing to admit fault and punish legal offenders.

What amazes me is that there are people who still attend mass and support this organisation when they've happily turned around and attacked bank officials who have committed far less atrocious legal crimes.

Why do people boycott the banks, yet refuse to boycott the catholic church?

Bill2673

But is there no accountability there to the law of the land? (And thats a genuine question). Should the police not be investigating him for this?

Why did the bishops implicated in the Murphy report have to resign but not Brady?

seamus

Bill2673 wrote: »

But is there no accountability there to the law of the land? (And thats a genuine question). Should the police not be investigating him for this?

They may very well be. But given the time lapse and the relative lightness of the crime (obstructing the course of justice or similar), gathering evidence can take a long while or it might simply be impossible to build any coherent case against him.

It's also possible that there have been agreements in back rooms, such as Brady being told that he won't be investigated if he otherwise co-operates with other investigations.

Manach

My understanding is that he was undertaking a legal role, taking statements.
As such that attracts a level of confideniality, such as that enjoyed by members of the law society?

Bill2673

But it was an internal church investigation; there is no legal role in that. Anyway, the point was that he imposed an oath of confidentiality on the victims, not that he imposed one on himself.

prinz

Bill2673 wrote: »

Ten months on, 2011 is here and this guy is still in office. I'm amazed. How has he managed to stay on? Am I completely missing something here?

It's called having little or no integrity and what must be some neck. The Gardaí should be investigating Brady and what he got up to.

seamus wrote: »

What amazes me is that there are people who still attend mass and support this organisation when they've happily turned around and attacked bank officials who have committed far less atrocious legal crimes.

Simple. The faith does not equate to some of the people involved. Dealing with a bank teller at the counter for day-to-day banking is not the same as 'supporting' the actions of some of the former high-ranking bankers who gambled fortunes.

seamus wrote: »

Why do people boycott the banks, yet refuse to boycott the catholic church?

How many people have actually done that? How many people still get paid into bank accounts, still use debit cards etc...

marienbad

What amazes me is that people are amazed he has'nt resigned. This is the Catholic Church ! There has never been an organisation better at hunkering down and waiting for it to blow over. 'It ' being Vandals , Huns French kings , German Dictators what ever . And all this will blow over also. No organistaion has mastered taking the long view quite like the Vatican . It took over 400 years to apologise about Galileo, what is 10 months ?

Bill2673

With respect, maybe thats part of the reason that he hasn't resigned......people are so cynical about it that their reaction is, like my sister's, 'watch this, he'll just muddle his way through hit like they always do'.....and just leave it at that.......

seenitall

Definitely. There is far too little outrage in this country on behalf of its vulnerable members, and more to the point effectively harnessed outrage. It ties in with a recent thread on here entitled "The Death of the Question", imo at least.