Profile Archbishop Seán BradyThe Catholic Church in Ireland is coming out of the tumult of the past decade, with the archbishop taking on those who would take pleasure in its demise, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Late flowerings appear to be a feature of this year. It is the end of August and summer may have arrived at last. Over the past week, too, we have had something of a spring-like showing of fresh spirit where the Catholic Church leadership in Ireland is concerned. The permafrost which has been its predominant feature over recent years would seem to be thawing and an accompanying chilled silence is being disturbed.
This is due to two events of the past eight days, both involving the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Seán Brady. At an Irish Fest in Milwaukee in the US last Friday and again at Knock on Wednesday, he threw down the gauntlet to proponents of the liberal agenda in Ireland and the accompanying media "commentariat" (his word).
Pointing his finger at Ireland's rising suicide rates, the increasing instances of substance abuse, the dramatic rise in violent crime, the loss of all time for self and family in the rush to accumulate and consume, the growing lack of social cohesion and the growth of a "new superstitions industry" with its astrology, palm reading and tarot cards, he all but said "J'accuse . . .".
Gesturing towards this new "Ireland of stocks and shares", he said at Knock: "the truth is that many of those who claim to have set Ireland free from the shackles of religious faith in recent years are now silent in the face of the real captivities of the 'new' Ireland." And, though he has made similar observations about this new Ireland in the past, including in an interview with this newspaper last December, this is the first time he has done so with such force and tackled head-on those forces deemed by many within the church to be intent on doing it down. Those who would present the church in Ireland as "an anachronism", as he put it.
SO, WHITHER THIS new-found confidence? There can be no doubt that the surprise election of Rónán Mullen - a man whose views are openly and unequivocally Catholic - to the Seanad has been an encouragement to many within the church to lift their heads above the parapet once more. But, deeper than that, there has been a growing feeling for some time that the church has weathered the worst of the crisis of the past decade and a half, and that a slow ascent has begun.
There is a perception that, to use Fr Enda McDonagh's poetic description, a "winter-time of church" is beginning to come to an end.
It would appear now that publication of the Ferns Report, which investigated child abuse by clergy in the Ferns diocese, in October 2005 was the very nadir of the church's fortunes in Ireland, probably since penal times.
But the people would appear to have moved on since. The report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (in religious-run reformatories, industrial schools and orphanages) is yet to come, but most of its content is already in the public domain, principally through the commission's public hearings.
And the State investigation into how clerical child sex abuse was dealt with in the Dublin archdiocese is ongoing. But much of that material is also already in the public domain, thanks to disclosures by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. Both inquiries are expected to have reported by the end of next year.
No, the perception now is that the Irish people are beyond shock and awe where such matters are concerned and, indeed, that they have gone past those feelings in their view of the church.
So Archbishop Seán Brady has come out fighting, and with an attitude you would expect of a former (Cavan) county footballer, though not quite in the Graham Geraghty league. Still he has pulled no punches this time, particularly in his comments on those who have written the church off.
You could almost feel his relish in doing so too. In Milwaukee last week he addressed "elements in the media" who gave the impression the church was dying in Ireland. In response to them he paraphrased Mark Twain, saying: "Rumours of our death are greatly exaggerated."
In Knock last Wednesday he said: "Those who confidently tell us that the Catholic Church in Ireland is an anachronism, a superstition of bygone days which has been rejected by intelligent Irish people, have greatly overstated their case. God is still active in people's hearts." In Milwaukee he said: "I believe that there are increasing signs that the secular project in Ireland has failed. It has failed to bring the happiness it promised or the answers to the really important questions of people's lives."
He traced how we got here, how "the attitude to politicians, gardaí, financial institutions, the church and other traditional sources of social and moral authority in Ireland" had changed dramatically over recent years.
This was the result "in part, of the multitude of investigations, many of them still ongoing, in to how these institutions had managed their affairs," he said, but "nothing has yet emerged to replace the cohesion and stability that these institutions once brought." They had been "partly replaced by the 'authority' and influence of the 'mass media' - the commentariat. Though there may be signs that they too are losing their easy grip - people are becoming more cynical about the motives of the media. Afer all, the bottom line for the media is circulation and audience figures rather than the good of society. This may take time, though," he said.
To which one can only respond: ouch. But the archbishop's focus was deeper. It was on the social and personal consequences of the Irish people becoming "distracted" from faith, and their futile pursuit of "new superstitions". All of this is somewhat surprising from such a mild, easy- going man, yet there is no doubt it will be very much welcomed by many within the Church, particularly those who may have been frustrated by what they saw as his sometimes less than pro-active response to crises in the past.
BY NATURE, Seán Brady is a genuinely humble, friendly, good-humoured man, with a passion for Gaelic football. His popularity generally and among his colleagues in the Irish Bishops Conference is rooted in those qualities as well as in his basic decency, even if no one believes he will set the world on fire in the dynamic leadership stakes.
He was born in 1939 at Drumcalpin, near Laragh in Co Cavan. He attended the local primary school and then St Patrick's College in Cavan before studying at Maynooth and the Irish College in Rome.
He was ordained in February 1964 and, following post-graduate studies in canon law at the Lateran University in Rome, returned to teach at St Patrick's College, Cavan in 1967. In 1980 he was appointed vice-rector of the Irish College in Rome and became its rector in 1987. He was there until 1993 when he was appointed parish priest of Castletara, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan.
In February 1995 he was ordained Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh and, on the retirement of Cardinal Cahal Daly, became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland on October 1st, 1996. He was installed on November 3rd that year.
THE PERIOD SINCE has been extraordinarily difficult for the church in Ireland and, some would argue, might have been worse but for the genial personality of its primate. Even at fraught press conferences, he has attracted none of the flak directed so liberally at some of his colleagues.
Reflecting on his period as primate in his interview with this newspaper last December, he spoke of his belief in "the grace of office" and, while acknowledging that nothing could have prepared him for what has happened in the life of the church in Ireland this past 10 years, he had, then as now, "put trust in the Lord".
What had been happening the church was about "purification", he said. He recalled the words of Cardinal Daneels of Brussels: "Now that we are weak and humble of heart we have greater freedom to do the real work, unshackled." So he would appear now to be setting about that "real work". In Milwaukee he concluded his address with the words of former president Theodore Roosevelt: "In this actual world a churchless community, a community where people have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious, is a community on rapid downgrade . . . The person who does not in some way connect with some active, working church, misses many opportunities for helping his neighbours, and therefore, incidentally, for helping himself."
The archbishop said the fundamental challenge for modern Ireland was "to retain the balance between the best of the old and the best of the new". This required "moving to a new maturity in public and media debate, where the importance of faith in the lives of so many Irish people, including many of the new Irish, is given due recognition and respect by the new forces of Irish culture."
Let the debate begin.
The Archbishop Brady File
Why is he in the news?He gave a forceful and critical "state of the nation" address on Ireland at an Irish Fest in Milwaukee last Friday and addressed similar themes in a sermon at Knock on Wednesday.
Most appealing characteristic?Friendly, self-effacing, decent man.
Least appealing characteristic?A certain lack of self-assurance
Most likely to say?"In God I trust."
Least likely to say?"Dear Lord, please let Cork or Dublin win the All-Ireland this year. Anyone but Kerry again."