"If the right thing had been done by Father (now Cardinal) Brady, and Bishop McKiernan, the unspeakable abuse of the other children I had sought to save would not have happened."
Cardinal Brady apologises to abuse victim Brendan Boland 7 May 2012
Cardinal Sean Brady has said he wants to personally apologise to a man who was abused as a 14-year-old boy by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.
Cardinal Brady has come under pressure after a BBC documentary.
It accused him of failing to act on abuse allegations when he was a priest.
He said he had no intention of stepping aside but hoped an assistant - with succession rights - would be quickly appointed to his archdiocese.
Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTE on Monday, Cardinal Brady said he wanted to "apologise without hesitation" to Brendan Boland "and to any victim".
"I offered that apology last Christmas, I offered to come and see him in person," he said.....
Last week, a BBC documentary uncovered new revelations about an internal Church investigation into clerical child sex abuse in 1975.
It said a teenage boy who had been sexually abused by Fr Brendan Smyth gave the names and addresses of other children who were at risk from the paedophile priest to Cardinal Brady, who at that time was a 36-year-old priest.
He passed the allegations to his superiors but did not inform the police or the children's parents.
Fr Smyth continued to sexually assault one of the boys for a year after that.
He also abused the boy's sister for seven years, and four of his cousins, up until 1988. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17984642
Brendan Boland welcomes Cardinal Seán Brady apology
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Brendan Boland who, as a 14-year-old boy, was sworn to secrecy by Cardinal Seán Brady after testifying that he had been sexually abused by the paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth, has welcomed the Cardinal's public apology to him....
Mr Boland added: “I note that Cardinal Brady has now acknowledged that the information I gave him regarding other children being abused or at risk of abuse, should have been passed on to their parents in 1975.
“When I confided in the Youth Club to Father McShane in 1975, he did the right and proper thing in immediately bringing me to my parents and telling them what had been happening to me. It was only after that, that he informed his Superiors.
“If the right thing had been done by Father (now Cardinal) Brady, and Bishop McKiernan, the unspeakable abuse of the other children I had sought to save would not have happened. Both Cardinal Brady and I will have to live with our guilt in that regard."http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0508/brendan-boland-welcomes-cardinal-brady-apology.html
Showing posts with label Cardinal Brady. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cardinal Brady. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Vatican ‘has blood on hands’ over Smyth affair, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls for establishment of independent Fr Brendan Smyth inquiry
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls for establishment of independent Fr Brendan Smyth inquiry
Sunday, 6 May 2012
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called for an independent international commission of inquiry into the crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth, the late paedophile priest.
Dr Martin said such an inquiry was owed to victims and that it would be in the public interest that the full story, and not bits and pieces, should come out....
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0506/archbishop-martin-calls-for-smyth-inquiry.html
Vatican ‘has blood on hands’ over Smyth affair
By Claire O’Sullivan
Saturday, May 05, 2012
An American lawyer who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth has said that the Vatican has "blood on its hands" for its failure to inform Irish Church authorities that it had censured Smyth for abuse in the United States years before the 1975 secret inquiry.
Helen McGonigle has learnt that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Religious issued a decree that Smyth wasn’t allowed to take Confession and was to be supervised following abuse complaints made in the late 60s.
Yet, in 1975 the Bishop of Kilmore and the Abbot of Killnacrott agreed a similar censure of Smyth — seemingly oblivious that a similar reprimand had already been handed down.
"Why didn’t the bishop or the abbot inform the Papal Nuncio of this second censure? Why weren’t they informed by the Vatican of the original censure? It is very clear that the 1968 censure was not enforced. What does all of this say about the organisation that is the Catholic Church," Ms McGonigle asked.
Ms McGonigle has pleaded with police on both sides of the border to investigate Cardinal Brady for his possible role in perverting the course of justice and endangering children.
She pointed to current cases being taken against Catholic priests in the US for failing to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities.
"They are enablers, Cardinal Brady and all these priests. That is what they were asked to do and that’s what they have done," she said.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/vatican-has-blood-on-hands-over-smyth-affair-192867.html
Sunday, 6 May 2012
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called for an independent international commission of inquiry into the crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth, the late paedophile priest.
Dr Martin said such an inquiry was owed to victims and that it would be in the public interest that the full story, and not bits and pieces, should come out....
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0506/archbishop-martin-calls-for-smyth-inquiry.html
Vatican ‘has blood on hands’ over Smyth affair
By Claire O’Sullivan
Saturday, May 05, 2012
An American lawyer who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth has said that the Vatican has "blood on its hands" for its failure to inform Irish Church authorities that it had censured Smyth for abuse in the United States years before the 1975 secret inquiry.
Helen McGonigle has learnt that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Religious issued a decree that Smyth wasn’t allowed to take Confession and was to be supervised following abuse complaints made in the late 60s.
Yet, in 1975 the Bishop of Kilmore and the Abbot of Killnacrott agreed a similar censure of Smyth — seemingly oblivious that a similar reprimand had already been handed down.
"Why didn’t the bishop or the abbot inform the Papal Nuncio of this second censure? Why weren’t they informed by the Vatican of the original censure? It is very clear that the 1968 censure was not enforced. What does all of this say about the organisation that is the Catholic Church," Ms McGonigle asked.
Ms McGonigle has pleaded with police on both sides of the border to investigate Cardinal Brady for his possible role in perverting the course of justice and endangering children.
She pointed to current cases being taken against Catholic priests in the US for failing to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities.
"They are enablers, Cardinal Brady and all these priests. That is what they were asked to do and that’s what they have done," she said.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/vatican-has-blood-on-hands-over-smyth-affair-192867.html
Friday, May 4, 2012
Cardinal Brady should face criminal probe says Smyth child victim, Human Trafficking in Canada
articles:
- Church crisis: Cardinal Brady should face criminal probe says Smyth child victim
- Abuse survivor: Without courage or integrity Cardinal Brady failed and it is unforgivable
- In full: Cardinal Brady responds to allegations over role in abuse inquiry
- Professor Perrin Appointed Special Advisor to the Prime Minister (first book, Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking)
Church crisis: Cardinal Brady should face criminal probe says Smyth child victim
By Independent.ie reporters
Friday May 04 2012
A WOMAN, who was sexually abused as a child by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, today called for a criminal investigation into the actions of Cardinal Sean Brady.
American lawyer Helen McGonigle, (50) who now campaigns for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, said the All Ireland Primate should resign for not alerting other families to Smyth’s horrific catalogue of abuse.
She was molested by Smyth in the late 1960s in Rhode Island, New York.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster today, Ms McGonigle said she was "outraged" by Cardinal Brady's response to allegations in a BBC documentary broadcast this week.
She said Cardinal Sean Brady's "duty as a human" was to protect children and his failure to act properly on Brendan Boland's complaint – when he named other five other children being abused - was "unforgivable".
The Cardinal had shown "arrogance and insensitivity", Ms McGonigle said.
She was just six-years-old and preparing for the sacrament of penance when she was abused by Smyth, who led her from her classmates into the sacristy of the church where he molested her....
Smyth was already known to have sexually molested children when he was sent to the McGonigles' parish in the summer of 1965. Using his usual modus operandi, he befriended the family and they bonded over a shared Irish ancestry.
Speaking to the Irish Independent two years ago, Ms McGonigle, who is an attorney living in Connecticut, said: "From 1967 until about 1970 he molested me. He was caught in my parish molesting children as early as 1968....
While any intervention by Cardinal Brady in 1975 would have been too late to save the children of East Greenwich, Ms McGonigle said many others could have been protected....
She said Cardinal Brady must resign and he should be charged with obstruction of justice.
"He sat on this knowledge for 35 years, from 1975 through to 2010, and Brendan Smith continued to abuse children. It is only because of the lawsuit one of his victims has brought that he has had to show his hand."
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/church-crisis-cardinal-brady-should-face-criminal-probe-says-smyth-child-victim-3099251.html
Abuse survivor: Without courage or integrity Cardinal Brady failed and it is unforgivable 5/3/12
....Now an executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, O’Gorman was not satisfied with the similar but weak defence offered by Scicluna and Brady yesterday that back in 1975 Brady was only a ‘notary’ in the interviews.
“Authority is not needed to walk into a Garda station to report the abuse and rape of children. It takes courage and a sense of moral decency,” he said, adding that it was important to remember that Brady was a highly-educated and qualified Canon lawyer at the time. He was also 35-years-old.
Commenting on the atrocious acts of Smyth that spanned a forty-year period, O’Gorman recalls the level of terror still visible in Brendan Smyth’s victims years later as something “extraordinary”.
http://www.thejournal.ie/abuse-survivor-without-courage-or-integrity-cardinal-brady-failed-and-it-is-unforgiveable-437703-May2012/
In full: Cardinal Brady responds to allegations over role in abuse inquiry 5/2/12 http://www.thejournal.ie/in-full-cardinal-brady-responds-to-allegations-over-role-in-abuse-inquiry-437208-May2012/
Professor Perrin Appointed Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
UBC Law Professor Benjamin Perrin has recently been appointed as Special Advisor, Legal Affairs & Policy in the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa....
In 2010, Professor Perrin published his first book, Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking (Penguin Canada, 2010). The book, an expose on the issue of human trafficking in Canada, was named one of the top books of the year by The Globe and Mail.
He has testified before a number of Parliamentary committees studying the issue of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. In 2010, Parliament adopted Bill C-268, a private members' bill calling for mandatory minimum sentences for child traffickers. Professor Perrin proposed and helped draft the bill, which was first introduced to the House of Commons in January 2009 by Member of Parliament Joy Smith....
Professor Perrin...is co-editor of Human Trafficking: Exploring the International Nature, Concerns and Complexities (CRC Press, 2011), and editor of Modern Warfare: Armed Groups, Private Militaries, Humanitarian Organizations and the Law (UBC Press, 2012). http://www.law.ubc.ca/news/2012/may/05_01_12_perrin.html
- Church crisis: Cardinal Brady should face criminal probe says Smyth child victim
- Abuse survivor: Without courage or integrity Cardinal Brady failed and it is unforgivable
- In full: Cardinal Brady responds to allegations over role in abuse inquiry
- Professor Perrin Appointed Special Advisor to the Prime Minister (first book, Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking)
Church crisis: Cardinal Brady should face criminal probe says Smyth child victim
By Independent.ie reporters
Friday May 04 2012
A WOMAN, who was sexually abused as a child by paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, today called for a criminal investigation into the actions of Cardinal Sean Brady.
American lawyer Helen McGonigle, (50) who now campaigns for survivors of clerical sexual abuse, said the All Ireland Primate should resign for not alerting other families to Smyth’s horrific catalogue of abuse.
She was molested by Smyth in the late 1960s in Rhode Island, New York.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster today, Ms McGonigle said she was "outraged" by Cardinal Brady's response to allegations in a BBC documentary broadcast this week.
She said Cardinal Sean Brady's "duty as a human" was to protect children and his failure to act properly on Brendan Boland's complaint – when he named other five other children being abused - was "unforgivable".
The Cardinal had shown "arrogance and insensitivity", Ms McGonigle said.
She was just six-years-old and preparing for the sacrament of penance when she was abused by Smyth, who led her from her classmates into the sacristy of the church where he molested her....
Smyth was already known to have sexually molested children when he was sent to the McGonigles' parish in the summer of 1965. Using his usual modus operandi, he befriended the family and they bonded over a shared Irish ancestry.
Speaking to the Irish Independent two years ago, Ms McGonigle, who is an attorney living in Connecticut, said: "From 1967 until about 1970 he molested me. He was caught in my parish molesting children as early as 1968....
While any intervention by Cardinal Brady in 1975 would have been too late to save the children of East Greenwich, Ms McGonigle said many others could have been protected....
She said Cardinal Brady must resign and he should be charged with obstruction of justice.
"He sat on this knowledge for 35 years, from 1975 through to 2010, and Brendan Smith continued to abuse children. It is only because of the lawsuit one of his victims has brought that he has had to show his hand."
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/church-crisis-cardinal-brady-should-face-criminal-probe-says-smyth-child-victim-3099251.html
Abuse survivor: Without courage or integrity Cardinal Brady failed and it is unforgivable 5/3/12
....Now an executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, O’Gorman was not satisfied with the similar but weak defence offered by Scicluna and Brady yesterday that back in 1975 Brady was only a ‘notary’ in the interviews.
“Authority is not needed to walk into a Garda station to report the abuse and rape of children. It takes courage and a sense of moral decency,” he said, adding that it was important to remember that Brady was a highly-educated and qualified Canon lawyer at the time. He was also 35-years-old.
Commenting on the atrocious acts of Smyth that spanned a forty-year period, O’Gorman recalls the level of terror still visible in Brendan Smyth’s victims years later as something “extraordinary”.
http://www.thejournal.ie/abuse-survivor-without-courage-or-integrity-cardinal-brady-failed-and-it-is-unforgiveable-437703-May2012/
In full: Cardinal Brady responds to allegations over role in abuse inquiry 5/2/12 http://www.thejournal.ie/in-full-cardinal-brady-responds-to-allegations-over-role-in-abuse-inquiry-437208-May2012/
Professor Perrin Appointed Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
UBC Law Professor Benjamin Perrin has recently been appointed as Special Advisor, Legal Affairs & Policy in the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa....
In 2010, Professor Perrin published his first book, Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking (Penguin Canada, 2010). The book, an expose on the issue of human trafficking in Canada, was named one of the top books of the year by The Globe and Mail.
He has testified before a number of Parliamentary committees studying the issue of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation. In 2010, Parliament adopted Bill C-268, a private members' bill calling for mandatory minimum sentences for child traffickers. Professor Perrin proposed and helped draft the bill, which was first introduced to the House of Commons in January 2009 by Member of Parliament Joy Smith....
Professor Perrin...is co-editor of Human Trafficking: Exploring the International Nature, Concerns and Complexities (CRC Press, 2011), and editor of Modern Warfare: Armed Groups, Private Militaries, Humanitarian Organizations and the Law (UBC Press, 2012). http://www.law.ubc.ca/news/2012/may/05_01_12_perrin.html
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Cardinal Brady settles latest claim by abuse victim he swore to secrecy
Cardinal settles with abuse victim - Cardinal Brady dismissed several calls for resignation last year over his handling of abuse allegations
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent November 30, 2011
A settlement has been agreed by Cardinal Seán Brady with a Co Louth man who was one of two teenagers he swore to secrecy in 1975 following his investigation into their allegations of abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth.
Brendan Boland (50) sued Dr Brady, the diocese of Kilmore and Smyth’s Norbertine Order.
The settlement was concluded in the High Court this morning.
Speaking after the settlement was announced, Mr Boland revealed that guilt plagued him when he heard Smyth, now dead, had continued to abuse children for years after he made a statement to three priests, including a then Fr Brady.
“I was devastated by this revelation,” he said in a handwritten statement given outside the court.
“The fact that Fr Smyth has been allowed to prey upon and abuse other children, subsequent to the assurances having being given, was very hard to bear," he said. "I felt I had not done enough. I felt responsible for the misery of Fr Smyth’s subsequent victims. My guilt plagued me.”
Mr Boland was sexually abused for two years by Smyth. It started in 1973 when he was just 12 years old.
He said that after he confided in a young priest, he was interrogated by three clerics conducting an Ecclesiastical Court - including Fr Brady - without his father present, and was required to swear on oath that he would not talk about the interview with anyone but an authorised priest.
“My parents, who were good God-fearing people, and I were assured that Fr Brendan Smyth would not be allowed to associate with young boys and girls and that there would be no recurrence of the abuse which I and other victims had suffered,” he said.
“As a result of these assurances, I felt safer and I hoped that the assurances would mean that others would not suffer as I had.”
It was not until 1994 that Smyth was convicted in a Belfast court of 17 counts of sexual abuse. Three years later in Dublin, he pleaded guilty to another 74 counts of child sexual abuse. Smyth died in prison in 1997.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1130/breaking39.htm
Cardinal Brady settles latest claim by abuse victim he swore to secrecy
Brendan Boland wins settlement and apology
By CATHAL DERVAN,IrishCentral Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A leading Irish cardinal has reached a financial settlement with a victim of child abuse he swore to secrecy in 1975.
Cardinal Sean Brady has settled a case brought against him by Brendan Boland, one of two victims of infamous priest Fr Brendan Smyth.
The High Court in Dublin has been told that settlement has been reached in the case brought by Boland, now 50. The Cardinal settled a case with another victim Marie McCormack last year for a sum believed to be in the region of $350,000.
Both Boland and McCormack sued the Bishop, the diocese of Kilmore and Smyth’s Norbertine Order over their abuse cases in the 1970s.
Boland is expected to make a lengthy public statement on the scandal on Wednesday.
Cardinal Brady was informed of the abuse by both the victims in 1975 but ordered them to keep it secret.
McCormack’s case against Brady, when she alleged he covered up her claims that she was abused by Smyth between 1970 and 1975, was settled without admission of liability and included apologies by the defendants.
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Cardinal-Brady-settles-latest-claim-by-abuse-victim-he-swore-to-secrecy-134741158.html
Beyond the grave, Smyth's evil acts have left his order with a huge cross to bear - With massive debt and dwindling numbers, the Norbertines have accepted their fate, writes Jerome Reilly
Sunday December 04 2011
THERE is now a headstone over the grave of Fr Brendan Smyth but though he is dead now for 14 years, the convicted child rapist still casts a long shadow over his abbey and the innocent priests from his order.
Now hideously in debt as a result of civil claims made against them, the Norbertine Order at Kilnacrott Abbey needs to sell the property -- but prospective buyers want all trace of Smyth and his horrific legacy removed before they will buy the abbey, just outside Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/beyond-the-grave-smyths-evil-acts-have-left-his-order-with-a-huge-cross-to-bear-2953546.html
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent November 30, 2011
A settlement has been agreed by Cardinal Seán Brady with a Co Louth man who was one of two teenagers he swore to secrecy in 1975 following his investigation into their allegations of abuse by Fr Brendan Smyth.
Brendan Boland (50) sued Dr Brady, the diocese of Kilmore and Smyth’s Norbertine Order.
The settlement was concluded in the High Court this morning.
Speaking after the settlement was announced, Mr Boland revealed that guilt plagued him when he heard Smyth, now dead, had continued to abuse children for years after he made a statement to three priests, including a then Fr Brady.
“I was devastated by this revelation,” he said in a handwritten statement given outside the court.
“The fact that Fr Smyth has been allowed to prey upon and abuse other children, subsequent to the assurances having being given, was very hard to bear," he said. "I felt I had not done enough. I felt responsible for the misery of Fr Smyth’s subsequent victims. My guilt plagued me.”
Mr Boland was sexually abused for two years by Smyth. It started in 1973 when he was just 12 years old.
He said that after he confided in a young priest, he was interrogated by three clerics conducting an Ecclesiastical Court - including Fr Brady - without his father present, and was required to swear on oath that he would not talk about the interview with anyone but an authorised priest.
“My parents, who were good God-fearing people, and I were assured that Fr Brendan Smyth would not be allowed to associate with young boys and girls and that there would be no recurrence of the abuse which I and other victims had suffered,” he said.
“As a result of these assurances, I felt safer and I hoped that the assurances would mean that others would not suffer as I had.”
It was not until 1994 that Smyth was convicted in a Belfast court of 17 counts of sexual abuse. Three years later in Dublin, he pleaded guilty to another 74 counts of child sexual abuse. Smyth died in prison in 1997.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1130/breaking39.htm
Cardinal Brady settles latest claim by abuse victim he swore to secrecy
Brendan Boland wins settlement and apology
By CATHAL DERVAN,IrishCentral Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A leading Irish cardinal has reached a financial settlement with a victim of child abuse he swore to secrecy in 1975.
Cardinal Sean Brady has settled a case brought against him by Brendan Boland, one of two victims of infamous priest Fr Brendan Smyth.
The High Court in Dublin has been told that settlement has been reached in the case brought by Boland, now 50. The Cardinal settled a case with another victim Marie McCormack last year for a sum believed to be in the region of $350,000.
Both Boland and McCormack sued the Bishop, the diocese of Kilmore and Smyth’s Norbertine Order over their abuse cases in the 1970s.
Boland is expected to make a lengthy public statement on the scandal on Wednesday.
Cardinal Brady was informed of the abuse by both the victims in 1975 but ordered them to keep it secret.
McCormack’s case against Brady, when she alleged he covered up her claims that she was abused by Smyth between 1970 and 1975, was settled without admission of liability and included apologies by the defendants.
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Cardinal-Brady-settles-latest-claim-by-abuse-victim-he-swore-to-secrecy-134741158.html
Beyond the grave, Smyth's evil acts have left his order with a huge cross to bear - With massive debt and dwindling numbers, the Norbertines have accepted their fate, writes Jerome Reilly
Sunday December 04 2011
THERE is now a headstone over the grave of Fr Brendan Smyth but though he is dead now for 14 years, the convicted child rapist still casts a long shadow over his abbey and the innocent priests from his order.
Now hideously in debt as a result of civil claims made against them, the Norbertine Order at Kilnacrott Abbey needs to sell the property -- but prospective buyers want all trace of Smyth and his horrific legacy removed before they will buy the abbey, just outside Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/beyond-the-grave-smyths-evil-acts-have-left-his-order-with-a-huge-cross-to-bear-2953546.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)