Sir, - Hearing of the allegations against the late Archbishop McQuaid contained in John Cooney's book, I felt a deep sense of outrage at the injustice of such an attack on a man who is not here to defend himself. Then another thought struck me. How could Dr McQuaid (or indeed anyone, for that matter) possibly defend himself against these allegations if he were alive?
There is more than just a tendency in the media to assume that all allegations of this kind are true. The person against whom such allegations are made is presumed to be guilty, even if there is not the slightest evidence to back up the allegations. A certain Steven Cook accused the late Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago of sexual abuse back in 1993. The media immediately went into a frenzy and hounded the cardinal day and night. Some time later, Steven Cook withdrew the allegation and confessed that the whole thing was a complete lie.
Cardinal Bernardin forgave his accuser and said a special Mass for him. Two years later, the cardinal died from pancreatic cancer, which his doctors believed was brought on by stress. The cardinal wrote about this terrible ordeal in his book The Gift of Peace.
There is, of course, another aspect to the attack on Dr McQuaid. Some of the newspapers kept reporting that there was an allegation that he could have been a homosexual. That was rather like saying that he could have been a heterosexual! The questions, surely, should be: Was the Archbishop faithful to his Church's teaching? Did he abide by its rules? Did he stick to his vows?
The implication contained in the headlines was that there was something wrong in being a homosexual per se. But, of course, it is possible to be homosexual and yet abide by the teaching of the Church. Now, I haven't the faintest idea whether the Archbishop's orientation was heterosexual or homosexual, and I do not think it really matters in itself. Also, some of the newspapers seemed to be associating homosexuality with paedophilia, which is totally wrong.
So, the only issue at stake is: was the late Archbishop true to the Church's teaching? And we have no evidence that he was not. No evidence at all! It is quite outrageous that a person's integrity and good name should be tarnished by unfounded rumours and unsubstantiated allegations. It is profoundly unjust. - Yours, etc.,
Anthony Redmond, North Great George's Street, Dublin 1.