clergy abuse recovered memory Ireland/US, ritual abuse

Child abuse monster Father Brendan Smyth ruined my life By APRIL DREW, Irish Voice Reporter

2/10/10 Helen McGonigle, 48, was just six years old when Father Brendan Smyth, a notorious sex offender from Co. Cavan, first abused her.
McGonigle, now a successful attorney in Connecticut, says Smyth destroyed her family. She blames Smyth for the death of her sister and brother and the demise of her beautiful mother.

After years of suppressing the memories of the horrendous abuse, McGonigle is now dealing with her past and hoping other victims will do the same....Helen wasn't the only sister to encounter Smyth's evil ways. The Cavan priest also sexually abused her older sister Kathleen. In the past few years, both Kathleen, 48, and her brother Gerard, 53, died of drug overdoses. McGonigle claims it was the abuse Kathleen suffered at the hands of Smyth that made her dependent on antidepressants....

It was finally her sister's tragic death in 2005 that lead McGonigle to face her worst nightmares, nightmares from the past she thought she would never need to resurrect.
"It was because I observed my sister rapidly deteriorating and fearful for her life that I began my investigation into the past about our childhood in Rhode Island," said McGonigle during a lengthy interview with the Irish Voice.

While her sister was ailing, McGonigle's father said accusingly, "It was that priest from Rhode Island that gave your sister alcohol that started her problems." Not only did this statement shock and frighten McGonigle, it got her thinking back into her past. Was Smyth really responsible for his sister's problems? "People who do not walk in these shoes cannot comprehend how it (abuse) impacts adults and can be life threatening as in the case of my family," said McGonigle. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Helen-McGonigle-My-years-of-abuse-at-the-hands-of-monster-Father-Brendan-Smyth-83985092.html

In 1968, McGonigle said Smyth was caught molesting children in her parish and sent to Purdysburn Mental Hospital in Northern Ireland for treatment. After his time was served in Ireland, Smyth was allowed to return to Rhode Island, said McGonigle....During the abuse, McGonigle knew nothing but fear. Smyth told her she would "end up like the body in the woods" if she ever told a soul about what he was doing to her. "I took that as a real death threat and was terrified and confused and very young," she says. McGonigle also witnessed Smyth molesting her sister. They had a bedroom with a door directly to the outside that he could enter. Smyth's evil antics didn't stop at the McGonigle sisters either. Their mother also spent time in a mental institution.
According to McGonigle's childhood neighbor who she located after 36 years, in 1968 her mother caught "Smyth sodomizing a little boy behind the stone wall and she shouted, ‘What are you doing to that little boy.' http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Helen-McGonigle-My-years-of-abuse-at-the-hands-of-monster-Father-Brendan-Smyth-83985092.html?page=2

The abuse stopped when the family moved from Rhode Island in 1973 but the scars were left for life. McGONIGLE got on with her life. She put her abuse behind her and did her best to lead a normal life. It wasn't until her sister's death five years ago that she began to delve into their pasts. She began to question why her sister suffered from depression in the first place. After a little investigating she too discovered and remembered that Kathleen was a victim of Smyth's lurid acts. After burying her sister McGonigle took time to deal with her own issues http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Helen-McGonigle-My-years-of-abuse-at-the-hands-of-monster-Father-Brendan-Smyth-83985092.html?page=3

Not wanting to let Smyth ruin any more of her life, McGonigle reported the sexual abuse inflicted on her to the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island in 2006. They told her she wasn't the first to report Smyth. "I was informed that I was the sixth to come forward, yet newspaper accounts that I located indicated there were no problems whatsoever in our parish," she said.

McGonigle attended a meeting where she said the Vicar General, Paul Theroux, of the Providence Diocesan, offered her $25,000 compensation, or she could "privately arbitrate with a cap of $50,000 (meaning there would be no public record and everything would once again be kept secret)."

McGonigle became infuriated with the financial offer. McGonigle said the diocesan victim outreach coordinator, Michael Hansen, told her to "just send us all your bills."

"I refused their hush money," said McGonigle. The Diocese of Providence has paid for therapy and medical expenses McGonigle has incurred as a result of the abuse by Smyth.

McGonigle, who still has a case pending against the Diocese of Providence, realizes that it's too late for Smyth to be brought to justice, but she longs for the Catholic Church to recognize the abuse he inflicted on the children of her parish while he served his time there. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Helen-McGonigle-My-years-of-abuse-at-the-hands-of-monster-Father-Brendan-Smyth-83985092.html?page=4

Smyth was convicted on 91 counts of child molestation – 17 in Northern Ireland and 74 in the summer. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Helen-McGonigle-My-years-of-abuse-at-the-hands-of-monster-Father-Brendan-Smyth-83985092.html?page=5


describes crimes
Teachers get advice on how to spot signs of ritual abuse....
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent The Guardian 2/2/07 ....'

Drawing on research showing 38 known cases of child abuse linked to alleged spirit possession in England since January 2000, the government guidance aims to raise awareness of the practice and help those coming into contact with youngsters to recognise indicators of abuse. The signs they are told to look out for, listed in draft advice published today, include marks such as bruises or burns on a child's body, a child becoming "noticeably confused, withdrawn, disorientated or isolated", and "deterioration in personal care" including weight loss, unkempt or dirty clothes, or even faeces smeared on the body.

Children may also report directly that they have been accused of being evil, or that they are having the "devil beaten out of them", according to the advice, which says teachers and others should follow child protection guidelines and pass their concerns to social services or the police.

The most common forms of abuse youngsters may suffer include physical assaults such as beating, burning, cutting, stabbing, semi-strangulation and having chilli peppers rubbed on to their eyes or genitals. Emotional forms of abuse, says the guidance, range from isolation from other family members to threats to abandon the child, who may also be subjected to sexual abuse and neglect extending to denial of food and warmth.
The 38 documented cases involved 47 abused children.

The vast majority of known instances of ritual abuse concerned first or second generation migrants from African countries including Congo, Nigeria, Angola and Ghana as well as south Asia and the Caribbean, but also white English families, according to the document....

The children's minister, Beverley Hughes, said: "While a very small proportion of all abuse cases are linked to spirit possession the impact on the children can be substantial and serious. Faith-based abuse can be hard for professionals to recognise and deal with and we want them to have all the guidance they need to help them tackle this."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/feb/02/childrensservices.schools