Seán Brady (cardinal)

For other people named Sean Brady, see Sean Brady (disambiguation).

His Eminence Seán Brady
Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
See	Armagh
Installed	3 November 1996
Predecessor	Cardinal Cahal Daly
Other post(s)	Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh (1994-1996)
Orders
Ordination	22 February 1964 (Priest)
Consecration	19 February 1995 (Bishop)
Created cardinal	24 November 2007
Rank	Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Quirico e Giulitta
Personal details
Born	Seán Baptist Brady (1939-08-16) 16 August 1939
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church

Seán Baptist Brady (Irish: Seán Ó Brádaigh; born 16 August 1939) is an Irish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007.

Early life and education

Brady was born in Drumcalpin, near Laragh, County Cavan, to Andrew (d. 1968) and Annie (d. 1990) Brady. One of three children, he has a brother, Con, and a sister, Kitty. He attended Caulfield National School in Laragh and St Patrick's College in Cavan.

In 1957, he entered Maynooth College, from where he later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ancient Classics in 1960. He then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Irish College and Pontifical Lateran University, where he earned a licentiate in theology in 1964.

Priesthood

Brady was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Luigi Traglia on 22 February, 1964. Finishing his studies at the Pontifical Lateran University, he there earned a doctorate in canon law in 1967. Upon his return to Ireland that year, he served as a professor at his alma mater of St. Patrick's in Cavan until 1980. At St. Patrick's, he taught a variety of subjects including Latin, Commerce, Religion, and French, as well as training college football teams at all age levels.

Brady then returned to Rome, where he was vice-rector (1980-1987) and later rector (1987-1993) of the Pontifical Irish College. In 1990, he introduced Jack Charlton and the national football team to Pope John Paul II. Following his return to his native country, he became parish priest of Castletara (Ballyhaise) in 1993.

Archbishop of Armagh

Styles of Seán Brady
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Armagh

On 13 December 1994, Brady was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh by John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 19 February 1995 from Cardinal Cahal Daly, with Archbishop Emanuele Gerada and Bishop Gerard Clifford, serving as co-consecrators, at St. Patrick's Cathedral. He selected as his episcopal motto: Jesum Christum Cognoscere, meaning: "To Know Jesus Christ" (John 17:3).

Upon Cardinal Daly's retirement on 1 October 1996, Brady automatically became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and was formally installed as Archbishop on the following 3 November. He presided over Cardinal Daly's funeral services in January 2010.

Cardinal

On 24 November 2007 in a consistory Brady was created Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quirico e Giulitta as a symbol of the new cardinal's role in helping the pontiff to minister to the diocese of Rome. Following his elevation to the cardinalate he joined Cahal Daly and Desmond Connell as one of three living Irish cardinals, a record in Irish history which was unchanged until Cardinal Daly's death in December of 2009. Senior Vatican figures suggested that the Archbishop's positive contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process weighed heavily in Pope Benedict's decision to make him a Cardinal.

Cardinal Brady, as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, was elected President of the Irish Episcopal Conference.

On 12 June 2008 in addition to his main duties he was appointed by Benedict as a member of congregations in the Roman Curia. These are: the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Cardinal Brady has kept a somewhat lower profile than the recent Archbishops of Armagh, the late Cardinals Cahal Daly and Tomás Ó Fiaich, both of whom developed their reputations during the difficult days of the Troubles and the Hunger Strikes.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II chose to make the then Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, Desmond Connell a cardinal, even though Connell was technically number two in church ranking behind Brady. It was the first time in a century that the red hat was given to the Archbishop of Dublin rather than the Archbishop of Armagh. This was balanced in 2007, when Brady was elevated to the cardinalate. In 1984, the then Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Ryan, was nominated a cardinal by Pope John Paul II and transferred to a position in Rome, the Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. However, Archbishop Ryan died before the consistory that would have elevated him to the cardinalate.

Views

Same-sex unions in Ireland

On 4 November 2008, Cardinal Brady criticized the Government's plan allowing for the recognition of cohabiting and same-sex couples describing it as "perhaps the greatest revolution in the history of the Irish family".

Credit union-type insitutions

On 13 August 2009, Cardinal Brady suggested that, with confidence in commercial banks declining, the time may have come economists to take the lead in developing credit union-type institutions. These would focus on systems of lending, saving and insurance built on an ethic of authentic human development, the cardinal stated at the opening of the national novena in Knock Shrine, County Mayo. He noted that "Such initiatives would certainly increase the hope of a more humane and ethically robust economy." One such initiative was the credit union movement. Another was the Knights of Columbus ethical investment programme.

Irish overseas development budget

On 26 October 2009 Cardinal Brady said that further cuts to Ireland’s overseas development budget would have a devastating impact on the lives of some of the world's poorest people, In a letter to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan he said: "These vulnerable people have had no part to play in creating the multiple crises now facing them – climate, financial, food – yet the challenges they face are unprecedented. I appeal to you not to turn your back on them. We must ensure that we maintain our current level of aid spending until such a time as we are in a position to build it up again."

Education

Cardinal Brady said in January 2010, that it was “blatantly unjust” and “a complete red herring” to say that the Catholic Church has no right to be involved in schools that receive State funding, in a strong defence of the role of the church in education. He said that parents had a right to have their children educated in accordance with their philosophical and religious convictions and the State had a duty to support this with public funds. The presumption the Catholic Church wanted to control as many schools as it could, irrespective of parental demands, was increasingly seen to be unfounded, he added.

Murphy Report

Cardinal Brady told RTÉ News in an interview, broadcast in December 2009 after the publication of the Murphy Report, that he was confident Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick will “do the right thing” in terms of considering his position in the wake of criticism in the Dublin diocesan report[2]. He also said in that interview “If I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant that other children were abused, well then, I think I would resign.”

The unique 15-16 February summit at the Vatican with Pope Benedict and senior members of the Curia were described by the Cardinal Brady as “one step in a process . . . which will lead to a journey of repentance, renewal and reconciliation”. He said that process “hopefully, will gain momentum when we get back to Ireland”. At 8am 24 of Ireland’s diocesan bishops will meet Pope Benedict and seven leading members of the Curia in the first of three sessions, which will continue to 1pm and resume after lunch until 8pm. The 16 February session began at 8am and ended at 1pm. Each Irish bishop is expected to speak for about seven minutes.

Cardinal Brady agreed that there had been “tensions” among the bishops over the fallout from the Murphy report, “but to describe them as ‘divisions’ is another matter. Last week at Knock we had a very cordial retreat. Things were thrashed out fully and frankly”, he said.

In March 2010 it became known that the then Fr. Sean Brady, had participated in an internal Church legal process in 1975 that required victims of Fr. Brendan Smyth to remain silent about their abuse. Smyth went on to abuse dozens of children before being brought to justice in 1994. Taken alongside his statement in December, this led to widespread calls for Cardinal Brady's resignation. In fact this "breaking news" was not breaking news at all, since it had been in the public domain as far back as 10 August 1997 in an article by Declan White in The Mirror (London, UK)

One of those who was a child interviewed in the internal process is sueing Cardinal Brady on the grounds that complaints about Fr. Smyth were not reported to Gardaí, that steps were not taken to prevent Fr. Smyth from committing further assaults, that the children were required to sign oaths not to discuss the complaints and that the failure to report the complaints led to the plaintiff and others not receiving appropriate medical treatment.

Labour Party spokesman on social and family affairs Roisín Shortall TD, said Cardinal Brady was “hopelessly compromised by what has emerged”. She said “there should be a Garda investigation to determine whether or not the failure to report Fr Smyth’s crimes to the civil authorities was, itself, a criminal offence.

External links

• Archdiocese of Armagh
• Catholic Communications Office, Ireland
• bio at catholic-pages.com