Political classes leap on bandwagon seeking cardinal's resignation

Whenever we Irish have occasion to use the phrase "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", you can guarantee a hail of bricks to come flying through the air. We are all without sin, apparently, except Sean Brady, the man who sat in as a stenographer on an investigation into the late Fr Brendan Smyth's activities and who is now being made carry the can for the clear failures of others, including the Bishop of Kilmore, the late Francis McKiernan, and the Abbot of Kilnacrot Abbey at the time, Fr Kevin Smith. It is incomprehensible that Kevin Smith did nothing to curb Smyth's activities and it is beyond belief that the late bishop let this serial abuser back into active ministry despite knowing about his evil deeds. The abuse of young people by a minority of clerics in the Catholic Church, and the handling of these incidents by the hierarchy, has left a stain on the Church. Worse, it has left the lives of the abused and their families in a shambles. Individuals have had to live with years of torture over Smyth's abuse and they can see no end to their suffering. We can afford to be cynical about the motives of some people who joined in the headlong rush to the microphones when the controversy over Cardinal Brady's role in investigating Smyth was renewed. First onto the airwaves were politicians who have advocated a clear separation between Church and State. When a bandwagon is rolling in a certain direction, and when a hunt quarry is clearly visible, the political classes just can't help themselves. Although there has been a rush by ministers to say they are speaking "in a personal capacity", we have had the unedifying spectacle of a government all but calling for the ousting of the leader of a church. They have been joined on the Northern side of the border by deputy first minister Martin McGuinness who offered the view that the cardinal should reflect on the wisdom of remaining on as the leader of Irish Catholics. That is quite rich coming from a man with his background and who, if he faced up to his past, would have opted out of public life a long time ago. Rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's is fine for them unless they see an easy target - and Cardinal Brady has been an easy target, no matter how hard he tries to defend himself with the facts. He is clearly a decent and honourable man who feels he did his best in the circumstances in which he found himself but it is also obvious that he is not at his best when having to deal with the media. He is approachable and personable on a one-to-one basis, but is clearly uncomfortable in front of a camera or microphone. Those who want to see Sean Brady resign keep moving the goalposts of debate at every turn in the controversy. When the facts are outlined, they want more - no, he should have done this or he should have done that. His role during the investigation into Smyth's activities in 1975 was that of a functionary, a cleric who was brought in to take notes of the proceedings and when he handed over the report to his superiors, he did not suppress or water down the facts. The report was handed over to those who had the responsibility of dealing with Smyth. That they failed to do so was not his fault and he has expressed his horror at their failure to follow up the report which left young children open to more abuse from Smyth. A decision by Sean Brady to resign now would be to give into a very evident mob mentality. He has done nothing wrong and the sins of omission in dealing with this awful case should be left to other people to deal with.