Pub GuideBoston Archdiocese admits Irish sex abuse priests worked in its parishes
Says there were no allegations made against them
Published Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 4:43 PM
Updated Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 5:15 PM
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Monster: Father Brendan Smyth in a photograph from Rhode Island in 1965
The Boston Archdiocese has admitted for the first time that Irish sex abuse priests worked in its diocese.
The priests, named as Brendan Smyth, Dennis Murphy and Joseph Maguire, were transferred from Ireland to the U.S. in what critics say was little more than an attempt to insulate the priests from scrutiny and possible prosecution.
Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley said that the trio did, at one time, work in the Boston Archdiocese.
But he said he was unaware of any abuse allegations against the three men during their time in Boston or before that.
Well that's alright then.
Is it?
The absence of allegations given the subject matter is hardly reassuring. The Archdiocese, which only released the names under pressure from the activist organization BishopAccountability.org, needs to do more investigation.
Terry McKiernan, for one, from BishopAccountability.org, wants more details.
“It’s a bit of surprise and not really a surprise,” McKiernan said. “It seems to me a shame that this is still the way things are working. Surely the Boston Archdiocese by now should know it needs to come forward, it needs to come clean about situations like this.”
BishopAccountability.org had urged Cardinal Sean O'Malley to give them the names of Irish priests who had served in the area and had been accused of sex abuse in Ireland.
Their request was prompted by the publication of the Murphy report in Ireland which revealed that Dublin church leaders shielded pedophile priests between 1975 and 2004.
The group wants to know if the same thing was happening here.
They maintain a detailed database which seems to suggest that the Irish church kept exporting monsters to the U.S.
One such monster was Brendan Smyth.
Smyth masqueraded as a man of a the cloth in Ireland and the US from the 1940s right up until the early '90s.
As we now know, he was no man of the cloth.
No one knows how many children he preyed upon, but what we do know is that his order, the Norbertines, went to great lengths to cover up his crime.
They moved him from parish to parish whenever any allegations were made against him, and shipped him out to America when they needed to.
It is beyond belief that the man discovered his real faith crossing the Atlantic and became a true man of the cloth.
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Godscre | Jan 29, 2010, 09:40 AM EST
If it wasn't for the laity speaking up, the abuse would probably still be going on. The devil is subtle and disquises himself as righteous (in lamb's clothing).
How we treat animals is a red flag. We support the abuse of billions of animals (God's creatures) in factory farms and animal experimentation (for our 'health'), and Bishops bless bullfights. Priests enjoy killing and maiming animals called hunting. Hunters in the Bible were not of God's chosen (Esau, Nimrod and Ishmael).
Catholic countries have cock fighting and accept it as their 'tradition'. Fiestas still abuse animals as a Catholic tradition. When are we going to be taught actively about God's compassion for the animals He put in our care?
I'm a licensed counselor and care about children, adults, the elderly, the unborn and animals. God's ways are higher than any government's laws and we will be held accountable as Hebrews 4:13 states: "No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account."
The 'new evangelization' should include 1 Cor. 10:31 where St. Paul says that we should do everything to give glory to God.
God's Creatures Ministry
www.Godscreaturesministry.org
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KathyCallahan | Jan 29, 2010, 12:15 AM EST
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Voice-of-the-Faithful-targets-new-Irish-Catholic-bishop-over-child-sex-abuse--80465207.html
when i was a member of voice of the faithful in boston 1999-2001 the church tried hard to demonize, obstruct and shut us -Voice of the Faithful down. True.
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chinagir | Jan 28, 2010, 10:10 AM EST
Boston is in the minor leagues. Florida is in the major league for Irih clerics abusing kids.From the time FLorida was one dioces to the present it was the favorite way for bihsops to get priests.Many were rejects from Irish seminaries but when the bishop in Florida paid for their trainng, the were allowed to continue knowing thathey would be incardinated in Florida. Check out the Ed McLaugklin case. He is now back on Ireland.
Chinagir
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McNamara31 | Jan 28, 2010, 09:18 AM EST
BishopSean, Most people realize child abuse happens in all walks of life. The "MAJOR" issue that has Catholics and the world, in disgust is, the structured cover-up and lawyering- up against the victims that went on for the past 25 years.
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BishopSean | Jan 28, 2010, 07:00 AM EST
Although I am not Roman Catholic, and although I am in favor of prosecuting perpetrators and those who cover up these dreadful offences of paedophilia, we must note there are credible statistics stating that, over a 35 year period in the USA, there were 30 times as many sexual abuses of children by public school teachers as there were by priests. God's word says that if we Christians are not Salt and Light, the world has a right to judge us. However, on a percentile basis, Roman Catholic priests are only some 3 to 4% of these paedophiles. What about protecting the other 97% of innocent victims? Roman Catholic (especially priests) perpetrators are easy targets--what about the other perpetrators? Will the media ever be ready to take them on, despite teachers unions, etc?
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KathyCallahan | Jan 28, 2010, 01:09 AM EST
Catholic League Executive Summary 2002
Part 1
"No one has ever been able to demonstrate that the Catholic Church (Irish) is an anomaly: the Church has no monopoly on this problem. (a stone cold and utterly useless cliche)
This needs to be said (for whom and what purpose, really?) because some states' attorneys general and some victims' attorneys acted in 2002 as if the Church were the only institution that had this problem. (the locus of their focus -obviously) This may explain why they zeroed in on the Church (long overdue) to the exclusion of others, (not relevant) but it does nothing to justify their behavior. (huh? perversely demonizing victims and their lawyers) It must be said that either this shows a profound ignorance of the problem (awareness of crimes signals a rude and sustained awakening) or it shows an anti-Catholic bias. (anti pedophiles running amok bias.)
Thomas Reilly (Irish Catholic who sat in the same pew as thee at 8 year old Jeffrey Curley's funeral mass 1998: death by pedophiles) is the MA attorney general. Reilly is also a man known to engage in hyperbole (brutally honest) when addressing the scandal; so much so that he had to back off when confronted with a torrent of criticism. (Cardinal Bernhard Law fled Boston under the heat and the Vatican provided immediate life long cover: everlasting life is another matter)
To be exact, Reilly said he wanted his office to involve itself in the recruitment, selection, training and monitoring of priests. (imagine that: Reilly conducting very thorough criminal background checks investigations apprehensions convictions) Why he didn't say he wanted to pick the next pope is a mystery. (utterly shameless dark sarcasm. intentionally trivializes so as to deflect attention away from pedophile victims and scoffing off inter generational family members -it's no mystery at all
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KathyCallahan | Jan 27, 2010, 11:14 PM EST
To be exact, Reilly said he wanted his office to involve itself in the recruitment, selection, training and monitoring of priests. (Imagine That) Why he didn't say he wanted to pick the next pope is a mystery. (Shameless. Willfully Deflecting Attention Away from Crimes Victims)
The establishment clause of the First Amendment was written primarily to keep the government from encroaching on religion. (a field day. So as to Prey on seduce molest rape and traumatize beautiful children below the radar because we're way above the criminal laws and can privately police ourselves) It is not easy to see how someone like Reilly, who obviously knows something about constitutional law, could float the idea that his office ought to vet prospective seminarians. (Vet? Protect. Prosecute, Convict and Jail) To the extent this was a public relations stunt, the implications are even scarier: (Stunt) it suggests there is a market for such anti-Catholic fare. (twisted. more like anti criminal pedophiles who are priests)
Jeffrey Anderson is perhaps the most well-known victims attorney in the nation. He is also one of the most reckless. (Effective Fearless) His attempt to use the RICO statute against the Vatican was more than mischievous it was legal thuggery. (who's thugging who?) Others have exploited this law (exploited Children mothers and das) before but few have been more brazen (brilliant trailblazer) about it than Anderson.
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KathyCallahan | Jan 27, 2010, 10:43 PM EST
Hi Kelly, That would be RICO. Not RICCO. In the long ago past (that was then and this is now) RICO suits were filed in Catholic priest sex abuse cases: "In some jurisdictions, RICO suits have been filed against abusive Catholic dioceses, using racketeering laws to prosecute the seemingly untouchable higher-ups in the episcopacy. A Cleveland grand jury cleared two bishops of racketeering charges, finding that their mishandling of sex abuse claims didn't amount to criminal racketeering. Certain lawyers and abuse advocates have openly wondered why a similar suit was not filed against archbishop Bernard Law, who escaped prosecution by going into exile in Vatican City."
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KathyCallahan | Jan 27, 2010, 10:21 PM EST
Kelly, Without question they should be investigated. But who? For committing organized crimes against humanity: Irish Catholic children in Boston, NYC, Jersey City and in Ireland. So who is going to investigate, prosecute and create a thoroughly complete and accurate history on the record so we never go there again as we honor each and every child or teenager who suffered and died for their
crimes? I am not a lawyer but what comes to mind are the RICCO statutes -something like tat. And I do not believe Sean O'Malley for a single minute.
Do you?
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