DUBLIN, Ireland, May 8 (UPI) -- Cardinal Sean Brady, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, apologized Monday for failing to warn families about a pedophile priest in the 1970s.
Brady said he wants to make a personal apology to Brendan Boland, The Guardian reported. Boland said he gave Brady, then a teacher at St. Patrick's College in Cavan, a list of children abused by another priest.
Brady, 72, speaking during a retreat at Lough Nerg, said he will not resign as head of the Irish church. He said he has received "many many calls from people who want me to stay on."
Andrew Madden, author of "Altar Boy," a book about his experiences as an abuse victim, told the Guardian the cardinal's apology looks like part of his effort to remain in his position.
"Ultimately it's up to Brendan Boland to decide what he thinks of the apology, but it looks like a very self-serving one now that he is in so much trouble," Madden said. "It makes it impossible to have any confidence in the church's attitude to child protection if it does not see that Cardinal Brady's actions and consequences are a resigning issue."
Boland's allegations were made public in a BBC documentary last week. He said Brady was the note-taker when he met as a teenager with a group of priests to discuss the abuse allegations.
