David QuinnThe Vatican’s swift acceptance of Cardinal Brady’s resignation signals a determination to see a new era in the Church, says David Quinn
Everyone who knew him and knows him agrees that Cardinal Seán Brady is an extremely decent man, but he was unavoidably associated with the clerical sex abuse scandals, and especially with the most notorious abuser of all, Fr Brendan Smyth, because he took evidence from two of Smyth’s victims almost 40 years ago.
If the hierarchy is to put those scandals behind it (to the extent that it can), Cardinal Brady’s resignation had to happen because he was a constant reminder of those scandals. In many ways, it is unjust that he is so associated with the scandals in the public mind because there is much more to his life than what happened in 1975; but that is the unfortunate fact of it.
Now that his resignation has been accepted, it means that Dr Eamon Martin immediately becomes the Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All-Ireland and, most likely, the next President of the Bishops’ Conference.
Resignation
In fairness to Cardinal Brady, he reportedly offered his resignation to Rome earlier, when he first got into trouble over the Fr Smyth case in 2010, but Rome seemingly would not accept his resignation then because it had no successor in mind.
The man who now succeeds him is young for such a senior role – he is 53 in October. The advantage of this is that he will bring plenty of energy to the role. He has a reputation for hard work.
The disadvantage is that, in the unlikely event he doesn’t work out in the role, he will be Primate of All-Ireland until at least 2036. That is a long time. But then St John Paul II was Pope for almost 27 years and, even when his health was failing, he was able to use that as a sign of witness.
By the same token, if he proves he is the right man for the job, and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown has chosen him well, he will have more than two decades to make his mark on the Church in Ireland.
Archbishop Eamon will have a lot on his plate as he takes up his role. As is well-known, Mass attendance continues to fall and vocations are at rock bottom. Knowledge of the faith is poor, even among Mass-goers in many cases, and a proper sense of what it means to be a Catholic and to be part of the Catholic, Christian communion is lacking.
This last point was abundantly clear during the debate on our abortion law last year. Catholic politicians who voted in favour of that law decided that being a member of their political party was more important than being a member of their Church.
Archbishop Eamon will not be able to reverse Mass attendance trends on his own and, even in concert with
others, it will prove difficult. But what seems to work isn’t so much what happens at a national level, but what happens at a local level. Good, energetic, evangelical-minded parishes seem to be able to increase Mass attendance, and Archbishop Eamon could find out which parishes are doing things right in this regard and then have those examples copied elsewhere.
The vocations crisis is linked to this of course. It will be very hard to grow a parish without good, energetic pastors. Again, what happens at the local level seems to work better than what happens at the national level.
Awareness
If a parish and a diocese look like they want vocations, and are constantly promoting vocations awareness, evidence suggests that, over time, they will attract vocations. But again, an ongoing commitment is required.
As for poor knowledge of the Faith, while schools and third-level courses are important, not enough happens at parish level. It seems to be taken for granted that ordinary, Mass-going Catholics have a good working knowledge of their faith. But in many cases, they don’t.
For example, there is a referendum on the very meaning of marriage to take place next spring. But how many Catholics can really explain what marriage is, and why it is intrinsically the union of a man and a woman and cannot be anything else by its very nature?
That is something that has to be tackled at both a national and a local level.
Apart from energy and hard work, Archbishop Eamon is very personable and approachable. He isn’t naturally shy like Cardinal Brady and is better with the media, to judge by his outings to date.
Indeed, he is very interested in improving relationships with the media. He has already met many journalists who work in and comment on religious affairs.
Archbishop Eamon must lead a Church that is more evangelical in outlook, that knows it has to convince people once again of why it is worthwhile to follow Christ and to belong to the Catholic, Christian community.
He must also lead a witnessing Church, that is, a Church that witnesses to the truth of the Gospel both by words and example. This might also make it a suffering Church because witnessing is often prophetic in nature and prophets are rarely popular.
In short, what he faces is challenging. But he knows that.
He also knows he will have plenty of support and goodwill.
He knows there are many Catholics anxious to see the Catholic Church in Ireland enter a new era, one that he above all will now represent to the nation.