‘did You Ever Do Anything like This Before?’: Victim of Child Abusing Priest Tells of Secret Church Investigation by Cardinal Which Swore Him to Silence

Daily Mail
May 2, 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138373/Cardinal-Se-n-Brady-Child-abuse-victim-tells-church-investigation-swore-silence.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The leader of Ireland’s 4 million Catholics, Cardinal Sean Brady, is under renewed pressure after he was accused of failing to act on child abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s.

Brady has already admitted he took notes of two children’s testimony of abuse in 1975 and gave the report to his bishop, not the police.

One of those children, now an adult, told the BBC he also alerted Brady to other children being abused by the same priest, Father Brendan Smyth, but Brady did not warn their parents of the danger.

Victim: Brendan Boland, who was abused during the 1970s by Father Brendan Smyth, alleges that he told a panel including now-Cardinal Brady that other children were also attacked

The BBC investigation centres on a secret church inquiry in 1975 when a 14-year-old boy, Brendan Boland, was questioned by the church after he claimed he had been abused by Fr Smyth.

The priest was later uncovered as the most notorious child abuser in the Irish Catholic Church, carrying out more than 90 sexual assaults against 40 youngsters in a 20-year period. He later died in jail.

The 1975 church investigation comprised three priests, including Fr John Brady, a canon lawyer, bishop’s secretary and school teacher - and now Primate of all Ireland.

Cardinal Brady wrote down the answers, while another priest asked the questions, according to the BBC.

Ashamed: Cardinal Brady has yet to respond to the new allegations, to be broadcast in the investigation by BBC?s This World, but has previously said he was 'ashamed' for not reporting Smyth

Brendan, now 51, told the programme he was led alone into a room to be questioned while his father had to wait outside.

He said he was asked: ‘”Did you ever do anything like this before with another boy or man, grown man?” And I said “no”.

‘And they said “if not, why not?” And they kept asking me “did my body change, did I get an erection”. They asked me then “did seed come from my body”.

‘Now what kind of questions are they to ask a fourteen-year-old boy?’

Brendan told the programme how he first fell prey to Fr Smyth as an eleven-year-old altar boy and that the abuse carried on for over two years.

Eventually he found the courage to tell a local priest about the abuse, and it was reported to the Church and also to his family.

It was shortly afterwards, in March 1975, that the Church set up the secret canon law inquiry.

Brendan told the priests about Smyth’s abuse, and about five other children the paedophile took on excursions with him.

Brendon said: ‘I’d given them the names of the other children that were with me on the trips. There was a boy from Belfast, I gave them his name and address.

'There was a girl from Belfast. I gave them her name and address. There was a girl from Cavan. I gave them her name and address. And there was another boy from Cavan.

'I gave them his name and address. And there was another boy that was his friend.’

Brendan told the inquiry that he knew that at least two of the boys were being abused by Fr Smyth.

Abuser: Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth leaving Limavady Courthouse after his crimes were exposed

‘I told them that I witnessed one boy being abused. I told them that…that was the boy from Belfast.

‘…I knew for a fact he was abused and the other boy from Cavan, he told me he was abused ‘cos he didn’t like going on the trips either.’

At the end of the questioning Brendan was handed a bible and made to swear and sign an oath of secrecy.

‘One of the priests came over with a bible and made me put my hand on the bible and say that “I Brendan Boland, do solemnly swear that I have told the truth the whole truth and I will speak to no one about this meeting only to authorised priests”.

‘And then I signed it and the other signature on the document was Father John B Brady, now Sean Brady Cardinal of Ireland,’ he tells the programme.

Where he lies: The 70-year-old sex offender was buried in a pre-dawn ceremony at Kilnacrott Abbey

Days later Cardinal Brady himself interviewed one of the boys Brendan had told him about, according to the BBC. The boy from Cavan corroborated Brendan’s account and confirmed he had been abused.

He told the programme that his parents were told nothing, about his abuse or about his role in the inquiry.

After this second interview Cardinal Brady compiled two reports and sent them to his Bishop.

Fr Smyth was later forbidden to hear confession and barred from certain public duties. The police were told nothing and Smyth continued to abuse.

Cardinal Brady has yet to respond to the new allegations, to be broadcast tonight in the investigation by BBC’s This World.

When the case first came to light in 2010, Brady begged forgiveness but said he was too low-ranking in the church to report the abuse to police.

He also admitted he was ‘ashamed’ for not reporting Smyth.