IRELAND
Irish Examiner
Thursday, May 03, 2012
It seemed incredible in 1994 that the cover-up involving the paedophile activities of Fr Brendan Smyth had been going on for 19 years by the time it brought down the government of Albert Reynolds.
More than 17 years have passed and the public is presented with another facet of the cover-up, in which the safety of children was recklessly endangered by Church leaders who were more concerned about protecting their own institution from scandal than protecting vulnerable members of its flock.
For more than 37 years, Church figures have been passing the buck, and now it has come the full circle and has landed back on the desk of Cardinal Seán Brady. The latest controversy has been sparked by Tuesday night’s BBC documentary, This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church.
The programme provided details of the testimony of Brendan Boland, who was abused as an 11-year-old altar boy by Fr Brendan Smyth. The abuse went on for a couple of years before he reported it to a priest, who informed his parents and the Church authorities.
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