CARDINAL Cabal Daly says the bad image of the Christian Brothers in some sectors of the media is "totally unjustified, unfair and unjust".
The Cardinal was speaking at the celebratory Mass for Blessed Edmund Rice in St Peter's Basilica yesterday.
He admitted, however: "There have been patches of tares here and there among the rich broad acres of golden wheat which is the harvest of Edmund's planting. When I say that these are the exceptions in an otherwise outstanding spiritual and educational record, I do not many way minimise the pain and the hurt caused by cases of abuse of children. Sadly, religious consecration or priestly ordination do not eliminate the weaknesses of our fallen human nature."
Cardinal Daly also rejected accusations that the Christian Brothers had taught "an extreme and narrow nationalism". He said they had, rather, encouraged their pupils "to believe in themselves and to take pride in their country, its culture and its history".
Both the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers empowered Catholic boys and young men to play "a huge part in building the foundations of a self confident Irish nation", he went on, pointing out that many of the men who had created the State and played leading roles in its literary, cultural, educational and social development were past pupils of the two orders.
"Ireland owes them an immense debt, recognised here by the presence of a large and distinguished Oireachtas delegation."
Cardinal Daly quoted the writer John McGahern, who had his own problems with the Catholic Church and its harsh rules for teachers, on his days in the Presentation Brothers School in Carrick on Shannon. "I look back on those five years as the beginning of an adventure that has not stopped ... I look back on my time there with nothing but gratitude, as years of luck and privilege, and, above all, grace, actual grace.
The Mass was concelebrated by bishops and priests from Montreal, the Solomon Islands, Waterford, Callan, Co Kilkenny, Sierra Leone and Peru. The prayers of the faithful were read in English, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Pidgin, Sotho and Hindi.
It featured original music composed by Brother Declan Smith from Australia, and sung by the Brow o' the Hill Choir, Derry; Kells parish choir from Co Meath; the Abbey Singers, Kilkenny; the Brother Rice High School choir, St John's, Newfound land; the John Paul Singers, Sydney, Australia; and the Edmund Rice Musical and Choral Society, Waterford.