"We all experience this tension between being called to follow Jesus – to live up to his values - and the reality of our sinful nature," explained Cardinal Brady. "There is true freedom in humbly acknowledging – like the wounded healers Peter and Patrick – the full truth of our sinfulness."
Following these descriptions, the cardinal took the opportunity to respond to the public reactions to his personal role in documenting a case of pedophilia in 1975 in which the victims were sworn to confidentiality. He expressed his desire "to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologize to you with all my heart.”
"I also apologize to all those who feel I have let them down. Looking back I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in."
Redirecting attention to the state of the Church in Ireland, he asserted that the next two years leading up to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin are "the most critical" for the Irish "since the time of St. Patrick," and noted that "God is calling us to a new beginning, to a time of Patrician energy, reform and renewal."
Cardinal Brady told the faithful that the Gospel readings of the St. Patrick's Day Liturgy propose three lessons for renewal. They are: "sincere, prayerful listening to the Word of God," the necessity of listening to the Spirit "as the source of our renewal" and the need to "humbly continue to deal with the enormity of the hurt caused by abuse of children by some clergy and religious and the hopelessly inadequate response to that abuse in the past."
The Primate of All Ireland said that "a sincere, wholehearted and truthful acknowledgment of our sinfulness" must come about and, like Sts. Patrick and Peter, the bishops of Ireland "must acknowledge our failings."