Priest's victims forced into vow of silence (Ireland), sexual assault statistics

Priest's victims forced into vow of silence 3/15/10

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland resisted calls for his resignation yesterday, despite admitting that he took part in meetings where the victims of a paedophile priest were forced to take a vow of silence.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has confirmed he was present at a closed canonical tribunal in 1975 when two child victims of Father Brendan Smyth were ordered to sign agreements under oath that they would not discuss what happened to them with anybody other than an approved priest....He said that three weeks after he submitted a report to the Bishop of Kilmore, Smyth was suspended from practising as a priest in the Diocese of Kilmore and throughout the country.

However, Smyth continued to sexually abuse children and later confessed he had done so until at least 1993....One of the reports found that the Government had colluded with the Church and legal authorities to cover up almost four decades of sexual abuse and beatings by priests and nuns of thousands of children in state care. The other revealed a litany of cover-ups by senior clergy in the Dublin diocese to protect the Church's reputation....Smyth was accused of sexually assaulting a ten-year-old altar boy and a 14-year-old girl. The boy and girl were required to sign affidavits swearing they would not talk to anybody except priests who had been given special permission by the tribunal. The church authorities did not inform police of the allegations. In court, Smyth admitted dozens of counts of sexual abuse of children in nine counties over 35 years to 1993.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7061540.ece


Latest Today with Pat Kenny Podcasts - Carindal Sean Brady/Fr. Brendan Smyth Controversy.
Helen McGonigle, was abused by Fr. Smyth, Monsignor Maurice Dooley, Former Professor of Canor Law, Mary Raftery, Journalist, Seamus and Bernie - their children were abused by Fr. Smyth....

The opening lines of Mary Raftery's column in today's Irish Times where she goes on to say that the Nuremberg defence " only following orders" did not work in 1945, and should not be permitted to work now" in relation to the controversy surrounding Cardinal Brady.
The cardinal has once again this morning said that he doesn't intend to resign following weekend revelations about his involvement in a 1975 canonical inquiry into child abuser Brendan Smyth. He admits that he didn't pass the information on to the Gardai.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/




Older Than America - IFC Entertainment
About Older Than America - A woman"s haunting visions reveal a Catholic priests sinister plot to silence her mother from speaking the truth about the atrocities that occurred at a Native American boarding school. A contemporary drama of suspense, Older Than America delves into the lasting impact of the cultural genocide that occurred at Indian boarding schools across the US and Canada.
http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/older-than-america



Rape and Sexual Assault
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, there were 198,850 rapes and sexual assaults measured in 2003. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2004. Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
Among female victims of rape and sexual assault, 70 percent of the crimes were committed by intimates, other relatives, friends or acquaintances. (Ibid.)....
In 2003, 38.5 percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to the police. (Ibid.)....
More than one in four victims of a juvenile or adult sex offender was a family member. (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 2004. Victims of Violent Juvenile Crime. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)....

Only 36 percent of completed rapes were reported to the police during the years 1992 to 2000. Thirty-four percent of the attempted rapes, and 26 percent of the completed and attempted sexual assaults were reported. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2002. Rape and Sexual Assault: Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
A recently published eight-year study indicates that when perpetrators of completed rape are current or former husbands or boyfriends, the crimes go unreported to the police 77 percent of the time. When the perpetrators are friends or acquaintances, the rapes go unreported 61 percent of the time. When the perpetrators are strangers, the rapes go unreported 54 percent of the time. (Ibid.)

A recent report based on the 1995 National Survey of Adolescents (NSA) found that 13 percent of girls and 3.4 percent of boys surveyed had been sexually assaulted. (National Institute of Justice. 2003. Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
Of the sexual assault victims in the NSA, 74 percent reported that the assault was committed by someone they knew well. Almost one-third (32.5 percent) of sexual assault cases involved perpetrators who were friends, 21.1 percent were committed by a family member, and 23.2 percent were committed by strangers. (Ibid.)....
The majority of adolescent sexual assaults (86 percent) went unreported. (Ibid.)....

Between 1995 - 2000, 86 percent of all rapes/sexual assaults committed against college students were not reported to police, compared to 12 percent that were reported. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2003. Violent Victimization of College Students. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
http://www.ojp.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2005/pg5o.html