Guess I spoke too soon about today being a happier news day for Irish Catholics. Then again, St. Patrick was celebrated for driving the snakes out of Ireland, so perhaps it’s fitting to report on the church’s need to do likewise with the snakes in its own midst today. (Too much of a stretch?)

Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has just admitted that the church’s response to the clergy abuse of children has been “horribly inadequate,” and apologized for his role in the investigation of an abusive priest in the 1970s. 

And Pope Benedict is asking Irish Catholics to read his upcoming pastoral letter on their sexual abuse crisis “with an open heart and a spirit of faith.” He plans to sign it on Friday, St. Joseph’s Day — possibly hoping that his own patron saint will bring him some luck in this situation?

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