CARDINAL SEÁN Brady “had no obligation whatsoever” to report allegations of abuse to the Garda Síochána when he first learned of them as a priest 35 years ago, a former professor of canon law has said.
Msgr Maurice Dooley said it was neither a civil crime nor a sin against the law of God for the clergy not to report such matters to gardaí.
"I'm telling you that Fr Brady had no obligation under statute law or under the common law of misprision of felony to report these matters to the gardaí," he said during exchanges with journalist Mary Raftery on the Today with Pat Kennyshow on RTÉ Radio yesterday.
Asked by Kenny if it would have been better for Cardinal Brady to have gone to the Garda in 1975, when he was working as a priest under bishop of Kilmore Francis McKiernan, Msgr Dooley replied: “I don’t think so.
“Fr Brady was dealing with a particular in camera investigation within the church. It would be a violation of his obligations if he went to the police on that. What he did was to go to the bishop, pass the report back to the bishop.
“The bishop, within the context of the church law, silenced this particular paedophile priest and that was all the church could do.”
When put to him that had the then Fr Brady gone to gardaí many other children would have been saved from abuse by paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth, Msgr Dooley said this was “hypothesis”.
He said it was the duty of abuse victims and their parents to report instances of abuse and the duty of gardaí to investigate them.
He continued: “Normally what would happen in these cases is that the person who has been abused, or the parents or whoever is in charge of the person who has been abused, should go to the police and tell them, and then the police take it up and deal with it. But the bishops and the priests are not auxiliary policemen, they’ve not done the course in Templemore, they’re not a part of the police reserve, they do not have an obligation to go down to the police,” he said.
When it was put to him that, if he were aware of a child being sexually abused, he would not be able to stop himself from going to the police, Msgr Dooley replied: “Well, I agree with you that you should go down. But I’m telling you that there is no law on the statute book that would require you to do so.
“Now, if you’re dealing with the question of a moral obligation that is not a question of crime, that’s a question of sinfulness. Is it a sin against the law of God not to report matters to the police?”
“And do you think it is?” Kenny asked.
“No I don’t think so because there are certain people who are exempt from this . . . moral obligation to report to the police and that has always been part of our tradition,” Msgr Dooley said.
Kenny put it to him that up until 1995 it was a criminal offence not to report knowledge of a crime to the police. But Msgr Dooley said: “Misprision of felony is a common law offence of very, very ancient lineage and there are certain people who are exempt from the obligation of reporting even felonies, for example parents never have an obligation to report felonies committed by their children . . . but also lawyers, medical people and clergy are exempt from the obligation under misprision of felony.”
He said it was his understanding that this applied independently of the seal of the confessional.
Msgr Dooley, who is originally from Tipperary, was ordained to the priesthood in 1959 and is regarded as one of Ireland’s foremost experts in canon law. He served on a number of leading Vatican committees and as a representative to the Holy See from 1982 to 2005.
Some other figures in the church were more critical of Cardinal Brady’s handling of the case yesterday.
Fr Brian D’Arcy told Newstalk it would be wrong to tell the cardinal what he should do but “if I were him I would resign”.
The Passionist priest and author said: “When you say to someone to resign, sometimes it has a counter effect and they don’t. What I’m saying to you, if I were him I could not stay on as a bishop or leadership in any kind of situation. I couldn’t. I couldn’t and I’d like to see what his reasons are for staying.”
Fr D’Arcy stressed “Seán is a good man. I don’t know him very well but he is a good man and everybody who does know him says he is a good man. That’s not the issue at all here, by the way. He certainly would need to consider his position. Has he any moral authority at all left as a result of this issue?”
Fr Kevin Hegarty, one of the first priests to challenge the bishops’ handling of clerical sexual abuse, also called on Cardinal Brady to reflect on his position.