CARDINAL SEÁN BRADY has expressed “deep shame” in an apology to victims of clerical child abuse, on behalf of the Catholic Church in Ireland.
However, the Primate of All-Ireland stopped short of offering a specific apology for his own controversial role in the investigation of abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth.
Speaking yesterday at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin’s RDS, Brady asked forgiveness, saying that the suffering of abuse victims continues. He said:
May God forgive us for the times when we as individuals and as a Church failed to seek out and care for those little ones who were frightened, alone and in pain because someone was abusing them. That we did not always respond to your cries with the concern of the Good Shepherd is a matter of deep shame.
He added:
I want to take this opportunity of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress to apologise for the times when some of us were blind to your fear, deaf to your cries and silent in response to your pain.
Brady did not refer specifically to his own actions in the investigation of Fr Brendan Smyth’s abuse. He faced widespread calls for his resignation after reports that he was given the names and addresses of some of Smyth’s victims, but did not protect them.
Two of the victims continued to be abused by Smyth after the inquiry in which Brady – then a junior priest – was involved had concluded, it was reported.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore was among those who suggested that Brady “should not hold a position of authority” after the revelations.
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