Archbishop McQuaid

The former Archbishop of Dublin, Dr McQuaid, "followed the lights of his time", Dr Brady said. Recent RTE programmes simply emphasised the measure of progress made since then; "things are very different now", he said.

Dr Brady was a student at the Irish College in Rome when he met the archbishop, who was in Rome for Vatican II. When he learned Dr Brady was from Cavan, he wanted to know the parish and townland.

Dr McQuaid knew Drumcalpin, in the parish of Laragh, well. He had travelled there by horse and trap with his father, the local doctor. "I rashly ventured the opinion that probably he had forgotten them [Cavan townlands] all by this stage," Dr Brady recalled. "I have forgotten nothing," was the reply.

The GAA

Dr Brady, a former Cavan county footballer and member of the GAA's central council, retains an active and keen interest in GAA affairs. He believes Rule 21 should go. He welcomed the "timely initiative and splendid example of courageous leadership by the [GAA] President, Joe McDonagh, in calling a special congress to discuss the abolition of Rule 21".

He was aware there were some people who had reservations and who felt the time was not yet right for such a move. He understood such feelings, "but I think that by going the extra mile in this instance, great good could come from such a decision".

The interest shown in the proposal from "some unexpected quarters" had revealed the idea might have greater potential to improve matters than was ever imagined. He hoped "people may find it in their hearts to approve it".

Dr Casey

Dr Brady hoped the former Bishop of Galway, Dr Eamonn Casey, would return to Ireland. He has known him personally for many years, and had been rector at the Irish College when Dr Casey stayed there in 1992, the time he came to Rome to tender his resignation.

If he could return to Ireland, Dr Brady hoped he would be allowed the privacy to live his life in peace. He understood the matter was being discussed by the Congregation of Bishops in Rome and Dr Casey, who was 71 last week.

Women's role

Women had been hurt by their long exclusion and by not having had their talent recognised and appreciated in the church, he said. He desired above all not to appear patronising, but he wanted to put on record his "great appreciation" of the role of women in the church, as mothers, teachers, parishioners. They were the backbone of vocations to the religious life, many of which came through the mother and was "what makes her great".

He referred to the work of ACCORD, the marriage advisory service, and how the greater number of its 2,000 voluntary counsellers were women. He saw a greater role for women particularly in the parish, in doctrinal life and in evangelisation. The church did not ordain women priests but this was not a question of their being considered unequal, he said. It was just that the teaching authority of the church does not see it as the will of Christ.

Ne Temere

He regretted "very much" any hurt the Ne Temere mixed marriages decree caused to non-Catholics. Under it, the non-Catholic partner also had to promise to rear the children of the marriage as Catholics. But things, he said, had "changed dramatically". He believed past difficulties had been overcome. Where difficulties might arise he urged couples to contact the inter-church committee on mixed marriages.

Abortion

Dr Brady wanted to see a referendum on abortion in the South, to "eliminate the existing uncertainty in Irish law on the subject". He believed people in the North would be "steadfast in expressing overwhelming opposition to any liberalisation of their abortion legislation".

Social change

Explaining the church's opposition in the South to liberalising legislation in recent decades, he said this was based on what it saw as necessary for the common good and was not an attempt to see its moral law enshrined in the laws of the State.

The social dimension of the changes was often ignored, he said, and in particular their likely effects on the basic unit of society, the family. The church would continue to give guidance on these matters. But he acknowledged, that where divorce was concerned things had not turned out as expected, but "it was very early days yet".

Western world

He quoted the Pope on the absence of God in the secular order of much of our society as "the open wound of the European mind". The West needed new evangelisation, Dr Brady said, "it is mission territory".

The reasons for this he traced to strong currents of counter-evangelisation this century, instancing "Marxism, materialism, consumerism, atheism, attempts to remove faith in some states". But "the Spirit moves where it will," he noted.

The big challenge for the church in the West was "to recall the alienated" and that needed "teachers who are witnesses", people who lived simply, were courteous and respectful.

Pope John Paul

Pope John Paul II is a man who "defies stereotyping". Dr Brady referred to the Pope's radicalism in his plans for Jubilee 2000 "which are anything but conservative", and his description by the Daily Telegraph as "a great radical".

He also quoted the London Times description of this pontificate as one which "has done more than any since the Middle Ages to spread Catholicism across the globe". He would, it said, leave "an indelible mark on history".

Advancement

It would be "a great honour" to be appointed a cardinal, but he had not given the matter much thought. There are "more urgent matters", he said. With two-thirds of the world's Catholics in the developing world, they had a much greater claim to having members in the College of Cardinals.

He also said the cardinals' primary role was to advise the Pope, not just elect one, "and Cardinal Daly can do that". (As he is over 80 Cardinal Daly can no longer take part in a Papal election).

Appointment

He was surprised by his appointment as Ireland's Catholic Primate. "As rector of the Irish College [in Rome, which he was for 13 years] all sorts of things are mentioned, but I never expected Armagh," he said.

He recalled he got the news in Ballyhaise (Co Cavan, where he was parish priest briefly) and someone mentioned to him on a visit to the school next morning that he did not look too well.

"I didn't sleep very much the night before," he said. At the Irish College he had met "a lot of the Irish church", but he did not know what abilities they saw in him.

The future

He has two main hopes at this stage for his period as primate. He would like to be present when the peace process is finalised, and see a more normal, caring, just, and secure society in Northern Ireland. It which would benefit the whole island.

And he would like to see the Jubilee 2000 celebrations as a commemoration of the greatest proof of God's love for us - the birth of his son, Jesus Christ. He hoped the various renewal programmes planned would lead to a deepening of faith among all and help those alienated find their way back.

He would also like the Jubilee year to see significant progress on the road to visible unity among the Christian churches and a greater understanding with the other faiths of the world.