Cardinal Brady repeats that he will not resign

May 04, 2012

Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, was reportedly conferring with advisers on May 4, weighing the calls for his resignation.

Cardinal Brady denied reports that he had already offered his resignation last year, only to be asked by the Vatican to remain in office. The Irish bishops’ conference issued a statement explaining that in May 2010 the cardinal had “asked Pope Benedict XVI for additional support for my work, at episcopal level”—in other words, requested the assignment of an auxiliary bishop to help him—but had not offered to resign. The cardinal has renewed that request for help, the statement said.

Father Vincent Twomey, an influential Irish theologian and former professor at the country’s Maynooth seminary, joined the public figures who have called upon Cardinal Brady to step down. Columnist David Quinn offered a partial defense of the cardinal, noting that he was “being held to a higher standard than even the most up-to-date children protection standards of the State require today, let alone back in 1975.” Nevertheless Quinn said that the cardinal’s moral authority has been badly compromised. “He has to ask himself whether he is a net asset or a net liability to the Church in terms of it restoring some portion of its moral standing in the eyes of society,” he wrote.

 

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Further information:

• Cardinal Brady meets with advisers amid growing pressure (TV3)
• Church denies Brady quit offer (Irish Times)
• Theologian calls on Cardinal Sean Brady to resign (BBC)
• Cardinal Brady has lost his moral authority (Irish Catholic)
• Leading Irish politicians call for Cardinal Brady's resignation (CWN, 5/3)