All language subtitles for BBC.This.World.2012.The.Shame.of.the.Catholic.Church.576p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.Forum.mkv

Ireland's attachment to
the Catholic Church

is straining to breaking point.

The secret crimes of Irish priests
against children

have collapsed the Church's
moral authority.

I should be out playing with
other ten-year-olds, but I wasn't.

I was being taken down to the beach
and raped.

Once the bastion of Catholicism
on the edge of Europe,

successive state inquiries
on clerical abuse

have revealed ugly secrets
and left the Church reeling.

I don't know of any other
situation that I'm aware of

where the clerical establishment
has disintegrated

as quickly and as dramatically and as
comprehensively as it has in Ireland.

The clerical abuse scandal
is far from ended

and it goes to the very top
of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

I am 100% certain, I've got
absolutely no doubt in my mind,

I gave them the names
and addresses of those children.

You know that children were abused
because you failed...

in part, because you failed
to protect them.

No. I did what I was there to do.

The Irish Catholic Church once
had unquestioned authority.

Not any more.

It came in about two or three years,

where the entire business of
the Church's power over our lives

in the Republic of Ireland simply
went down and stayed down,

and it looks as though
it cannot rise.

The official end of Holy Roman
Catholic Ireland

came last summer with
an extraordinary speech by
the Irish Prime Minister.

The rape and the torture of children
were downplayed,

or managed, to uphold, instead,

the primacy of the institution -
its power,

its standing and its reputation.

That landmark speech from a leader
rooted in rural Catholic Ireland

drew on the anger and frustration of
the Irish public.

I'm in Donegal,
in the very northwest of Ireland.

It has the highest rate of
allegations of clerical abuse
in the country.

The Church is set to publish
its own report about abuse

here in the local Raphoe diocese.

It hopes it will help
to restore its reputation.

Convicted rapist Father Eugene
Greene attacked children here

and in other parts of the county
for decades,

often in the most remote
and beautiful places.

It's known the rapist was reported
to his superiors many years ago but,

until now, bishops have insisted
there's no evidence of this.

No-one knows more
about Father Eugene Greene,

and how the Church handled him,
than retired detective Martin Ridge.

He spent two years investigating
the crimes of Ireland's
most prolific child rapist.

We're crossing to Inishbofin Island,
a mile off the Donegal coast.

No place was safe for children here.

The most beautiful, idyllic place
you could imagine to live,

where innocence collided with evil.

It seemed that the wolves
were protected,

and the innocence of children,
the little lambs, weren't.

I don't believe a week went by

in West Donegal
where you hadn't a child

or a number of children
sexually abused.

It's horrendous.

Anywhere you look around here,
which is so hard to fathom -

by roads, side roads,
in churches, schools...

The abuse here was
something unbelievable.

Unbelievable!

And the fact that nobody
in the public spoke out about this,

after the total carnage here...

What happened here?

There's a little compartment
just behind here, Darragh,

just behind this very altar,
which was set up in the event

of a priest being stuck on the island
due to bad weather, you know?

And unfortunately,

Father Eugene Greene led some
very young boys up here...

..and abused them,

raped them horrifically,
just behind this altar here.

Behind the wall, basically.

Of course, he was abused time
and time again, the same boy,

but some of the abuse happened here.

The police investigation,

which ended with Father Eugene
Greene being jailed in 2000,

found evidence the priest's crimes
were covered up,

something always denied
by the Church,

which says there's
no documentary proof.

What do you expect from the Raphoe
report in a couple of days' time?

Any revelations?
Well, it's hard to see.

I mean, the review itself will show
what was on the files,

what was written down.

Will it be enough to convince us
that all the truth is written down?

I don't know. I don't like to be
a cynic like Saint Thomas,

but I only know too well
how hard it is to get to the truth
in the Catholic Church.

I know that much remains hidden here

because I used to call
this place home.

14 years ago, I gave up my job
as a BBC reporter and moved,

with family, to a new life
running a pub restaurant.

Now, Darragh,
back to the old haunt again.

Do you think there's any change since
you left? Not a lot has changed. No?

'Most of Father Eugene Greene's
26 known victims

'come from Gortahurk, where I lived.

'Until the police inquiry began,
they suffered in silence.

'One of them worked with me,
Martin Gallagher.'

This shows exactly where Greene
shared his time...

'Martin shows me the various
parishes Father Eugene Greene worked
and abused in.

'He believes the priest was moved

'every time rumours of abuse
surfaced.'

He served there,
and Gweedore, here,

and he went to... Where were
we? ..Glenties, down here.

Down here, yeah.
All the way down.

He served on Tory Island,
under Gortahurk.

Tory Island and Inishbofin.

And then he finished up
in Kilmacreehy.

That's where his last post was.

They're moving this priest...

It's like spreading a disease from
one corner to another.

The bishops spread the disease.
He had the disease, they spread it.

As simple as A, B, C.

With the Donegal Church
report imminent,

Martin has just now started to
speak publicly about his abuse.

It began when the 12-year-old
was encouraged to drive
the priest's car.

He started groping me when I was
driving...and messing about.

My hands were on the wheel
and, at that age, you were nervous,

probably, at driving, and excited,
and all that,

and you kept your hands on the wheel,
regardless.

And he would carry on...messing.

He would stop and change.
He would drive

and expect the same treatment
back from me

that I was...he was giving me.

Like...

I couldn't do that.
He was forcing me to do it.

Scary.

Like really scary, because at
12 years old, you're very innocent.

Very... How would you say?
Stupid or whatever...

You didn't know any better...

HE SIGHS

It was...

And stuff.

Did he ever say anything to you
about, "This is our secret"?

Yeah. He would...

Sorry. I've got to stop there.

Um...

You know, people looking at this
just don't understand...

..the devastation, the hurt,
the harm that that man did.

They don't...
People will never understand.

The hurt he's caused.
The lives he's ruined.

And the lives that have been lost
because of him...

that could have been prevented,
like...

..if people had taken action.

When he was with you, did he ever
mention God? Did he ever...?

No, no.

God was the last thing on his mind.
He didn't care about God.

John McAteer, editor of the local
Tirconaill Tribune,

Donegal born and bred.

The Church he knew was too powerful,
beyond reproach.

John, what about the culture of
silence that was here.

I mean, does that
culture of silence still exist?

The culture of silence is, I think,
a misnomer, to a great extent,

because of the power and strength
of the hierarchy over the centuries
and over the years here

in a very rural and conservative
diocese like Raphoe.

There was a culture of fear...

fear that if you reported that you
were being abused,

you'd probably be further abused
by your parents for
making the allegation.

This was a very serious situation.

And I think that that is ingrained
into the psyche of the people
here in this diocese,

and maybe, to an extent,

that whole history is there
to this very day.

You don't think it's gone?
I don't think it's gone, no.

Because there's a denial there,

and there remains a denial
to this very day,

that to criticise the Church
is entirely wrong.

That deference is fading,
but it almost impossible

to overstate the power
the Catholic Church once had.

For generations,
the Church influenced most
aspects of Irish life.

CHURCH BELL RINGS

Dublin, and the Eucharistic Congress
of 1932.

The Catholic Church was presiding
like a new monarchy

over the fledgling Irish state.

Exalted and respected,
and feared too.

Author Colm Toibin grew up
Catholic in a country town.

He's long scrutinised
the relationship between the Irish

and the institutional Church.

Southern Ireland was effectively,
after 1922,

a Catholic state
for a Catholic people.

The Church was an effective
government, or shadow government,

making it absolutely clear
to government

that they would control schools,

hospitals and many other areas
of public morality.

Anyone who didn't like this,
there was only one place to go

and that was OUT. Some people went
out looking for work,

other people went
out looking for freedom,

but that was a great release -

giving the church further power
over those who remained.

And there was a nobility
and grandeur about them.

I mean, the bishop lived in a
palace, but even in the towns,

the priest's house was often -
or in villages - the biggest house,

and the curate had a separate house,
and they had housekeepers,

so there was a sense
of their grandeur.

They almost replaced landlords,

or were a shadow system in the way
in which they functioned,

and the sense of their distance
and grandeur and importance.

Maynooth College was once
the world's largest seminary.

Thousands of priests left here
to work across the globe,

my own uncle, Father Noel,
among them.

That production line is
almost closed.

Fewer than a dozen priests are
expected to be ordained this year.

The class photo of 2007 shows just
four graduating priests.

Contrast that with
the class of 1954.

This is my uncle,
Father Noel MacIntyre.

As you can see up here,
Nollaig Mac an tSaoir in the Irish.

A decent man, very important to me,
growing up. A good man.

The sort of traditional
Irish Catholic parish priest

that every community deserved.

Didn't always get.

But he's a good man.

You have a sense, don't you, of just
an entirely different Ireland,

looking at this.

All these men.

You know, 60, 70 men
proudly marching to work for God.

But that was a different Ireland.
And, of course, a different Church.

That's the point.

Across Ireland,

bishops have been forced to account
for decades of clerical abuse.

Can the Church now do the same
with the Raphoe report?

That's the question
people are asking in Donegal.

People like my old neighbours,
the Breslins.

So, where was that?

'Martin's aunt, Kathleen,
and her son Paul,

'who was also abused
by Father Eugene Greene.'

That's me. That's you? That's
Martin, there. The good-looking one.

The good-looking one's Martin. I was
ugly. And that's my little sister.

It's a lovely picture of them. The
two boys. The first Holy Communion.

Their first Holy Communion,
with their rosary beads.

How tough was it for you
at the start, when it all happened?

When it all came out?
Oh, it was really tough.

I remember the first night...

Martin...
The minute he told me, I knew.

The minute he said it,
I said, "I know."

When he mentioned Father Greene,
I knew right away,

because I knew
he took the two of them. So...

I knew what happened.

Because it was starting to
come out at that time, you know?

And I heard, you know, so...

Martin told me that night,
and that was the beginning.

'It's always depended on women.

'The woman represented
the Church in the house.

'She decided, you know,'

what mass you went to.
She decided who...

"Have you been to confession?"
It was your mother
asked you that question.

There was no saying no.
You had to go, and that was it.
It's changed, surely.

There isn't as many go now. Would
people remark if you didn't go?

Oh, well, them days, you had to go.

'Not one bishop, not one senior
clergyman had stepped out of line,
had been brave enough to say,

"I know more than everyone is saying

"and it is wrong."
Not one did it.

And for women who had
brought up children,

who had done everything possible
in their own households,

that was an extraordinary
breach of something
they fundamentally believed in.

It was hard to believe it.

Because when you think that
he came in here, you know,

that he was in this house so often,
you know, saying mass...

It was hard to believe it...you know?

Paul Breslin was an altar boy

when Father Eugene Greene first
took him away in his car.

Always to quiet, isolated places.

The thing is, there's
so much beauty here, but, for me,

there's so much evil
and so much hurt.

I should be out playing with other
ten-year-olds. But I wasn't.

I was being taken down to the beach
and raped.

The age of 10, 11, 12.
I had no life at all.

I had no childhood, no fun...

Nothing. It was just
pain, pain, pain.

Every single week, pain.

I would say to myself,
"Why is God doing this to me?"

I thought God was supposed to care

and the priests were supposed
to care, and not hurt a person,
you know?

And I thought, "Maybe I'm doing
something wrong here." You know?

Am I not doing a good enough
job as an altar boy

that he's punishing me for this?

When I gradually, as I was
growing up, when I was 14, 15,

even up to 16, you're learning about,

you know, everything about your body,
and everything,

then I would think, "Oh, my God!

"These things that happened to me!
This is what he fucking done to ME!"

The pain got even worse then.
It was in there.

And I couldn't...I couldn't tell
anybody. I couldn't go to anybody.

They wouldn't believe you,
anyway, to start off with.

'It's now clear that survivors have
not been spoken to
for the upcoming report,

'which is relying
on the Church's own documents.

'I worry this will disappoint
those who I have met.'

We weren't involved with this report.
We have to speak up, be heard.

I want this, I want that,
I want to see those files,
that letter of complaint.

I want to know why was he moved
from this parish.

You knew he was doing it
in that parish but you moved him
to the other parish.

Why was he then
moved to the other parish?

You want answers? Of course
we want answers. We want answers,
big answers. Definitely.

Father Eugene Greene's crimes
might have remained hidden

except for one man who'd
been brutally abused - Conal Melly,

telling his story
for the very first time in public.

You never forget it.

It's with you for
the rest of your life.

And there's nothing you
can do about it.

'He has no faith that the Church
will admit to a cover-up.

'After a chance meeting in 1997,

'he tried to get Greene
to admit to his crimes.'

It was probably...
maybe a month after it...

I went down and confronted him.

What did you say to him?
I told him...

I asked him, did he remember me,
and he said no.

And I said, "Do you remember
abusing me when I was young?"

He said he never abused anyone.
Never.

So what did you say to him?
What did you do to him?

I caught him and flung him
across...flung him across the room.

He was like...

It was different then.
I was a lot bigger than him.

What age had you been
when he had abused you? About 11.

You were a tiny child? Yeah.

It was different now?
Yeah. it was different now.

So you picked him up and you...?

I picked him up
and flung him across the room.

And what did you say to him?

I can't remember exactly
what I said to him,

but said I would fucking kill him.

And I think that frightened him.
But he still didn't admit to...? No.

He did not.
He never admitted knowing me.

Conal then told the priest
he wanted compensation - £5,000.

But what did he do?

He reported it to the guards.
He reported me to the guards.

Why...

As if he was innocent.

Or he must have thought the guards
would believe him.

Conal was arrested for
attempted blackmail

but Father Eugene Greene had
miscalculated.

The police were now prepared to
believe the former altar boy

and not the man with
the Roman collar.

Dozens of victims came forward.

Father Eugene Greene was convicted
and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

But what the Church knew
was never explained.

The big change then came from
a number of individuals,

because when the victims
began to speak,

when you saw somebody describing
what their adulthood was like

in the shadow of
what had happened to them...

There was an element of shame
in this,

that they had been living with this,

this had been going on
in front of everyone's noses.

The big question across Ireland
this morning -

will the report into Donegal's
Raphoe diocese

help restore
the Church's reputation?

What they're predicting in today's
papers... The Irish Times -

"Criticism likely for Raphoe
bishops on child sex claims", right?

If that is the sum of it, if it is
just simply a mild criticism,

that's not going to satisfy them.
Absolutely not. They are...

At one point, they would have been
anxious for heads to roll.

They know that's not going
to happen now.

But they absolutely want the Church
to own up, to 'fess up,

to confess their role in hiding
and covering up the crimes,

for more than three decades,
of Father Eugene Greene.

'Shaun Doherty at
highlandradio.com...'

10am. The local bishop, Philip
Boyce, goes live on morning radio.

'Well, it's an important day for
the Diocese of Raphoe

'because the much-anticipated
report has just...'

Retired detective Martin Ridge,

waiting to hear
if any new information is revealed.

'Nothing was done at the time. Now,
we are talking about the late '70s

'and there wasn't such awareness
of child abuse at that time,

'and there certainly wasn't
awareness...'

There WAS awareness of it. '..The
children, sometimes lifelong damage.

'Our parishes,
as far as humanly is possible,

'a safe place for our children,
because, after all, our children...'

Pathetic, listening to that.
Pathetic.

Self-serving words and no more.

'..the society
and Church of tomorrow.'

Later, there's a massive
media turnout for a press conference
with Bishop Boyce.

I have spent endless hours
and given much time

and energy to eradicating this evil,
repairing what is damaged
as best I could,

restoring justice
and putting structures in place

to prevent, as far as possible, this
criminal sin from happening again.

Finally, I would like to take this
opportunity to say that

the task of ensuring the safeguarding
of young people in the Diocese
of Raphoe is an ongoing one.

Thank you.

Bishop Boyce, can I ask you...?

Pointedly,
there is no specific criticism

of bishops or of the Church

in the way they handled
Father Eugene Greene,

one of the country's
most prolific paedophiles,

there's no specific criticism
of the way the Church
or successive bishops handled him,

including yourself -
does this report then,

in your terms, exonerate bishops and
the Church, the way they handled...?

I'm not saying that it
exonerates everybody.

It...it just shows that, at the time,

these...the information on these
terrible things that happened

weren't handed up as far as...let's
say, as the bishop's office,

and that word of that didn't come
to us,

because there was no reference
whatsoever to any allegation in the
files which I saw when I came in.

The Church never intended the report
to thoroughly investigate the past.

It was restricted to
an examination of diocesan files,

and because nothing was found in
the files, that is where it ended.

It's clear that significant
errors of judgment were made by
successive bishops

when responding to child abuse
allegations that emerged
within this diocese,

but there's no reference
to Father Eugene Greene himself.

I know if I was...

..one of those who'd been
attacked by Father Eugene Greene,

or if my brother
or my child had been attacked by
Father Eugene Greene,

and this is the sum of the knowledge

that the Church is admitting to now,
I'd be absolutely outraged.

I'd be furious.

At the Tirconaill Tribune newspaper,

the presses are underway
by late afternoon.

The editor has made up his mind.

My biggest criticism of it,
apart from that,

is that here you have an audit into
clerical sex abuse

that has no terms of reference
to talk to the abused,

and you just ask the question,

"How can a report of any kind

"be completed without
talking to the victims?"

Remember that a lot of these
survivors have spent

35, 40 years literally
imprisoned in their own minds,

imprisoned in their own communities
and, to a great extent,

have been hospitalised in psychiatric
wards, have had nervous breakdowns,

have had serious bouts of alcoholism,
have had thoughts of suicide.

The scenario is absolutely
horrendous.

And yet, you contrast that against
how the Church has handled it

and how the institutions
of the Church have
totally failed those people.

Today's audit, to me, does nothing
to address their concerns
and their health problems.

What'll your front page say tonight?

We'll be simply saying that

a diocesan audit is a whitewash.
A whitewash? A whitewash.

It's very difficult

if you put such an important
organisation on the run, as it were,

that they simply will have
no idea how to behave,

how often to look back as they run,

how frightened to look,
how apologetic to look,

how to avoid the worst catastrophe.

So it's not as though you could say

there was one way
the Church should have functioned

at the very beginning.

The issue is
that the Church had such power

and that power became abuse

and that abuse was sexual abuse,

and that happened to
so many vulnerable young people

whose lives were destroyed

and that has to be dealt with.

The failure
of the Catholic hierarchy

to deal with abusing priests

was not just confined to Donegal.

One story, still unresolved,

goes all the way to the very top
of the Irish Catholic Church

and could have
explosive consequences.

It involves Cardinal Sean Brady,
Primate of All Ireland...

The last few days have been
among the most extraordinary...

..and the country's
most notorious paedophile priest,

Father Brendan Smyth.

At its centre, a boy who in 1975

reported Smyth's abuse
to the cardinal,

hoping to end the abuse
of him and other children.

What Brendan Boland didn't know

was that the institution in which
he and his family held so much faith

would in fact conspire
to silence him.

What age were you
when this all started?

Well, when I was an altar boy,

I was 11 years old.

You were just 11? Just 11, yeah.

And how long did it carry on for?

It carried on for...over two years.

Smyth, who abused for four decades,

often took children
on marathon excursions in his car

up and down the island.

Brendan remembers
one particular trip to Dublin.

Got in the car,
and we went to Belfast

and we picked up
two children in Belfast.

And then we drove
from Belfast to Cavan.

We picked a girl up in Cavan.

Went to pick another boy up in Cavan.

And then we went back
to the bed and breakfast.

And there was two bedrooms,

there was one for the girls

and one for Father Smyth
and the two boys.

That was you and another boy?

Me and another boy, boy from Belfast.

And, um...

He called me over first

and he abused me
the way he did before.

And when he was finished with me,

I went back to the bed

and then he called the other boy over

and done the same with him, and
this time, I was in the bed watching.

Well, I was listening.
I didn't want to watch.

It was a little afterwards, in 1975,

that Brendan found the courage to
tell a local priest about the abuse.

The priest took him straight home
to tell his parents.

A week or so later,

Brendan and his dad
were driven to a local monastery.

Brendan was led into a room
with three priests,

including Father John B Brady,

now Cardinal Brady,

then a 36-year-old teacher,
canon lawyer and bishop's secretary.

Brendan was to be questioned alone.

His father was told to stay outside.

I felt alone, scared. I didn't know
what was going to happen.

I didn't know what questions
they were going to ask me.

I was only 14 at the time, Darragh.

Your father wasn't
in there with you?

My father wasn't there with me, no.

'Cardinal Brady
compiled the answers.

'Another priest asked the questions.

'Brendan was asked what Smyth did,

'but also about his own behaviour.'

What did they ask you?

"Did you ever do anything
like this before with another boy

"or a man, a grown man?"

And I said no.
And they said, "If not, why not?"

And they kept asking me,
did my body change?

Did I get an erection?

They asked me then,
did seed come from my body?

What kind of questions are they
to ask a 14-year-old boy?

Brendan might have been shaken
by the nature of the questions

but as the Church's
own transcript confirms,

he was able to tell the priests
the names and addresses

of other children Smyth was abusing

or who were at risk of abuse.

I give them the names of the other
children that were on the trips.

There was a boy from Belfast,
I gave them his name and address.

There was a girl from Belfast,
I gave them her name and address.

There was a girl from Cavan,
I gave them her name and address.

There was another boy from Cavan,
I gave them his name and address,

and there was another boy
that was his friend.

Were you able to be any more
specific about abuse

you had seen or witnessed?

Yeah, I told them that

I witnessed one boy being abused.

I told them that. Who was that?

That was the boy from Belfast.

You told them that this boy
had been abused. I did, yes.

I knew for a fact he was abused

and the other boy from Cavan,
he told me he was abused

cos he didn't like
going on the trips either.

The documents verify Brendan's
account in black and white.

One of the priests came over,
I'm not sure, with a Bible,

and he made me put my hand
on the Bible and say,

"I, Brendan Boland, do solemnly swear

"I have told the truth,
the whole truth,

"and I will speak to no-one
about this meeting,

"only to authorised priests."

And then I signed it

and the other signature on
the document was Father John B Brady,

the Sean Brady Cardinal of Ireland.

Cardinal Brady still had work to do.

He himself conducted
a second interview,

this time with the Cavan boy
Brendan had told him about.

The child corroborated
Brendan's account.

He was sworn to secrecy.

Again, Cardinal Brady
countersigned the oath.

He passed two reports to his bishop.

The police were told nothing - ever.

I've just spoken to the man

who as a 15-year-old boy, was also
interviewed by Cardinal Sean Brady,

and what he's told me is shocking.

He says that his parents
were told nothing

about his involvement
in the secret church investigation.

More than that, he says
his parents were not told

that he was being abused

by Father Brendan Smyth.

The Church, of course, said nothing

and he said nothing to anyone,

not a soul.

Because he was sworn to secrecy.

I then traced Brendan's friend
from Belfast, using the same address

that the 14-year-old gave
all those years ago.

I remember going up to Dublin
with Brendan.

I think there was about
five or six of us on that trip.

Brendan...

Brendan was a nice fella.

He was probably as petrified
as I was at the time,

and the things...

You know, I just felt...

In many ways, I felt very guilty too

because I was sharing a room
with this other boy

and Smyth and his behaviour

and what he would maybe
want us to do

and the way he wanted us to behave.

I just, it's...

It's unbearable to think about it
sometimes, you know.

When I tell him that Cardinal Brady
was told in 1975

that he was being abused,

that his name is down on paper,

he is horrified.

And then, as it transpired

that Brendan had mentioned me

and that my name and address

was actually on these documents
as well, it was just, like...

It's like a knife into your chest,

it's like a sudden sharp pain.

And the reason it hurt so much

is that Father Brendan Smyth
continued to abuse him after 1975,

then his sister
for another seven years,

and four cousins
abused right up until 1988.

Nobody came to our house,
who should have came to our house

and warned our family
or my parents

and said, "Look,
this is what's happening,

"this man is involved in this,

"we would strictly advise you
to keep him away from the house."

OK, maybe I had only
another year's abuse to go

but my sister, you know -
for years after that, she was abused

and then lo and behold,
cousins after that.

I have spoken to all those

who Brendan Boland told
the Church about in 1975.

Four of the five children
had been abused by Smyth.

Two of them continued to be abused
after that secret enquiry.

All say that
to the best of their knowledge,

their families were not warned
in any way about the paedophile.

Brendan, poor Brendan, actually
thought giving this information,

he was going to protect me, he was
going to protect other people,

and thinking this was going to be
the end of it.

And by God, it is far from the end.

Cardinal Brady's own career
took off after 1975,

first away to Rome,

and then in 1997,
made Primate of All Ireland,

the senior Catholic in the country.

By his own account, he never failed
to protect any child.

If I found myself in the 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.

'I'm writing what's called a "right
of reply" letter to Cardinal Brady,

'telling him what
we have discovered, point by point.

'I want to know why

'he didn't make sure the children
he'd been told about were protected

'and I want to know why he and the
Church seemed to minimise his role

'when it is plain that he carried
out the investigation into Smyth.

'When limited news
of the church investigation

'first broke two years ago,
the Church called him an note-taker.

'He said he was a notary
without powers, who did his job.'

I insist again, I did act

and acted effectively
within that enquiry,

to produce the grounds for removing
Father Smyth from ministry

and specifically, it was underlined

that he was not to hear confessions.

And that was very important.

The ban on Smyth wasn't enforced.

Here he is four years later
at a special mass for the sick

and when Cardinal Brady says
he was a notary,

his role was in fact
that of an investigator,

according to
his own handwritten note.

"I was dispatched
to investigate the complaint."

'I needed to find a clear path

'through the archaic and
often confusing world of canon law,

'the church law that
Cardinal Brady was versed in

'and that he applied
to this 1975 case.

'My guide is Rev Thomas Doyle, a
world-renowned expert in the field.'

He was the investigator.

He was deputed to investigate,
to lead the investigation,

to make sure that it had taken place.

Not simply a note-taker?

No, not simply... that's minimising
what he actually was.

He did take notes

but he also prepared the report

and he authenticated the report.

You know that Cardinal Brady
insists he did his job,

that he passed
the information he had

up to his bishop. Did he do his job?

Just to say that I did my duty,

I just followed orders,
I passed it up the chain,

is completely inadequate.

I mean, if he didn't do it,
he should have told the bishop,

"The other families
need to be notified,

"if you won't do it, I will do it."

The man was not a robot.

And these are human beings
he's dealing with here.

So, you know,
the information was very clear,

the testimony that Brendan
apparently gave to them

was very, very clear and detailed

as well as the names of the others.

These are the ones we know about.

There could well have been
a number of others.

That could have been prevented
but it was not prevented.

That in itself is criminal behaviour.

Because the bishops, the priest,
Brady, they knew

that this man
was an abuser of children.

It wasn't that he was, as I said,

slapping their wrists
with a ruler in class,

he was sexually assaulting them.

Nothing happened. Again, a cover-up.

Ultimately, all power in
the Catholic Church resides in Rome

with the Pope,
who appoints all the bishops,

all the cardinals.

'This is one hierarchy which
doesn't pretend to be anything else.

'Estimates vary, but so far, the
abuse scandals have cost the Church

'about £3 billion - and counting.'

'Much more vital damage
has been done to its reputation

'and to its moral authority.'

'This day, senior church figures
from around the globe are gathering

'for a conference in Rome, looking
at ways of rooting out child abuse.

'Cardinal Sean Brady heads
a small Irish delegation.

'I've been told that
even within the church,

'Cardinal Brady is seen
as a gravely weakened leader.

'I don't expect to speak to him

'until he has had time
to respond to my letter,

'but I do want to speak to this man,

'Monsignor Charles Scicluna.

'He is one of the most powerful
officials in the Catholic Church,

'the chief prosecutor.

'Having examined
4,000 cases of clerical abuse,

'he says accountability and truth
are the only way forward.'

We need to move on
from a culture of silence,

and where it is, we need
to denounce it for what it is.

It is an enemy of truth

and an enemy of justice.

'I want to know what he thinks
about Cardinal Brady.'

Cardinal Sean Brady was told in 1975

that a young boy was being abused
at that particular point.

He was given that man's name,
the boy's name,

that boy's address, where he lived,

and yet, that boy was abused
for another year.

His sister was abused
for seven years.

His four first cousins
were abused until 1988,

many years past the 1975 information

that Cardinal Sean Brady,
now Primate of All Ireland,

was given that information.

What you're telling me...

..helps us emphasise the fact

that when we talk about
an adequate response

and we're talking about
abuse happening,

it cannot be a delayed response.

The response to disclosure

should be immediate and effective,

and that is why
the law was changed in 2010,

because we are on a learning curve,

giving the bishop authority

to remove a priest,

as a precautionary measure,
immediately.

Cardinal Sean Brady said in 2009

that he would resign if he thought
that any failing on his part

meant or lead to any child being
abused. He said he would resign.

Should he not resign now?

I think that is a question
you have to put to Cardinal Brady.

You are the chief prosecutor,
as such, in terms of canon law.

Do you not have an opinion on this?

I have my opinion,
and I will keep it to myself.

This is about accountability. You've
spoken about accountability today.

Yes, and I think that
what I've said about accountability

is that the Holy See has a duty

to bring bishops to accountability.

It's something that needs to be done
and needs to be effected,

but this is where I stop with
my comments on an individual case.

Victims say the key is

to get individuals,
to get bishops, to get the church

to acknowledge its responsibility.

You've heard that time and time
again. Here's another case

where a bishop, a cardinal, is not
acknowledging his responsibility,

his personal responsibility.

I repeat that

this is something that should be put
to Cardinal Brady directly.

And I will talk to him,
because he is in town,

about what you have told me.

I will bring your concerns to him,

because I think
that is a duty I have in charity.

Thank you.

Later, a special prayer vigil

seeking forgiveness for the sins
of the Church against children.

A solemn ceremony

where Cardinal Brady makes his
only public utterance of the week.

But you are a god of pardon,

gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger

and rich in mercy.

I don't think anyone could doubt

the sincerity of the prayers
of Cardinal Sean Brady,

seeking forgiveness.
The problem he has,

and the problem the Church has,
is that many people,

especially those affected by what
he did or didn't do back in 1975,

they want more than his prayers.

They want him to acknowledge

his own personal responsibility
for what happened.

They want his resignation.

We live in the age of apology,

so that watching the church
learning, and obviously,

they got a great deal of help
from PR companies in how to do this,

how to present themselves
as totally sorry,

and sorry became
the easiest word to say.

"Apologise, apologise."

But everyone was watching
something else.

Everyone was watching that they were
not coming with full disclosure.

And the full disclosure was

that they knew that priests
were moved from place to place

with a large number of other priests

knowing exactly
what the issues were.

And parents watching this knew

that was not something parents
would have done in Ireland

to other parents

and the church did it to them.

'Cardinal Brady never replied
to the questions in my letter

'so I went and put them
to him directly.'

Cardinal Brady, Darragh MacIntyre
from the BBC. Cardinal Brady,

I'd like to ask a few questions, if
you don't mind. No, no, I'm not...

Thanks very much, but
I'm not ready... Cardinal Brady,

you said you would resign if
you thought any action of yours

had led to a child being abused.
No, I'm not...

You know that children were abused,

in part because
you failed to protect them.

No. I did what I was there to do.

I took the evidence. You had
names and addresses, Cardinal,

of children who were being abused or
at risk of being abused. Please...

And you did not protect them.

Sorry, lads. Excuse me.

Cardinal Brady! Sorry, lads.

Cardinal Brady, was the protection
of the church's reputation

more important than
the protection of the children?

You had the names and addresses
of children who were being abused

or who were at risk of being abused.

You failed to protect them,
Cardinal.

He's, again...

..deliberately, wilfully,

refusing to take responsibility

for his actions, for his inactions,

which left children
exposed to abuse.

So resplendent
with power and authority

was the Catholic Church in Ireland,

its fall from grace
was bound to be spectacular.

But no-one could ever have imagined

that the Catholic Church
would be so trenchantly criticised

by an Irish Prime Minister.

The rape and the torture of children

were downplayed or managed

to uphold instead

the primacy of the institution,

its power, its standing

and its reputation.

The Irish government has closed
its embassy to the Vatican.

Dublin and the Holy See
want to play down tensions,

yet it is clear that the Church
is now having to pay a price

for the grip
it held Ireland in for so long.

And as the Cardinal Brady case
illustrates,

it is not finished accounting
for its sins just yet.

Holy Roman Catholic Ireland,

the Ireland that you and I
grew up with, where is it now?

It doesn't exist any more

and people have discovered

that in abandoning their
relationship to the official Church

and their loyalty to it,
they've lost almost nothing.

They haven't lost their faith?

No, if you ask them questions
about, for example, the next life

or eternal life, or other matters,

if you ask them about religion,

I think, you could find that
maybe very little has changed,

but in relationship to the Church,
everything has changed.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord
with thee, blessed art thou...

Church attendance has
more than halved across Ireland

but this ancient ritual
is still very much alive.

For more than 500 years, believers
have celebrated the New Year

with a procession to Doon Well
at Termon in Donegal.

Hail Mary full of grace,
the Lord with thee,

blessed art thou amongst women...

The ceremony ends with the blessing
of the holy water of Doon Well.

The water is said to have
special healing powers.

It is in great demand.

Happy New Year, everybody.
APPLAUSE

The faith lives on in the people.

This faith is not dependent

on bishops and cardinals

or the hierarchical structures.

They're aware of it

but this is a very much,
I'd use the word "earthed" faith.

# Lady of Knock

# My queen of peace

# And the lamb will conquer

# And the woman clothed in the sun

# Will shine her light on everyone

# Yes, the lamb will conquer

# And the woman clothed in the sun

# Will shine her light
on everyone. #

In Donegal, the policeman

who investigated
the Father Eugene Greene case

remains sceptical the Church
will ever deal honestly with abuse.

People who knew about this,

I find them so revolting

because it's them, you know,
that did something

and I believe they protected an image

rather than protecting a child,

and I believe that's where
the whole fraud lies,

that the premise of trust was used

to bury the most graphic horror.

This would not be tolerated
in any civilised society

and for any institution
to use its power to bury this horror,

I believe those people should be
sent to jail, basically,

for those grave crimes.

And until that day arrives
that everybody is equal,

then I think we're only
shadow-boxing with this.

Still others, like Martin Gallagher,

live with the daily reminders
of the damage to their lives.

'This part of my life,
I'll never know anything about.

'I know that I was very happy
in my childhood before this.

'I got on great with everybody
and it was fun,

'like normal children have.

'But from the age of 12 on,

'I don't know where I could be
or what I could have been.

'I might have been
just still the ordinary Martin,

'but without this cross to carry

'every day of my life.'

For the first time since
their ordeal almost 40 years ago,

Brendan meets his old friend
from Belfast.

There may be a future for them

supporting each other through the
memories of an appalling experience

that no child should ever endure.

Oh, my God! Buddy, how are you?

How are you doing?

Oh, it's so good to see you.

And you, and you.

It's 38 years now. 38 years. I know.

I know, brother. I'd take all that.

How you keeping? Not too bad. You?

I'm all right.

You've been through the wars too.
And you.

I thought I'd saved you.

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