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Child abuse monster Father Brendan Smyth ruined my life

APRIL DREW,

Irish Voice Reporter

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 6:48 AM

Updated Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 7:31 AM

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Father Brendan Smyth

“I was inspired by a very kind man name Paul Kellen in the Boston area who with my permission has been carrying my poster around to rallies all over the place. Paul even took my picture to see the Pope during his last visit to New York and Washington, D.C., and Paul is often outside the Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston with my picture.”

Not wanting to let Smyth ruin any more of her life, McGonigle reported the sexual abuse inflicted on her to the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island in 2006. They told her she wasn’t the first to report Smyth.

“I was informed that I was the sixth to come forward, yet newspaper accounts that I located indicated there were no problems whatsoever in our parish,” she said.

McGonigle attended a meeting where she said the Vicar General, Paul Theroux, of the Providence Diocesan, offered her $25,000 compensation, or she could “privately arbitrate with a cap of $50,000 (meaning there would be no public record and everything would once again be kept secret).”

McGonigle became infuriated with the financial offer.

McGonigle said the diocesan victim outreach coordinator, Michael Hansen, told her to “just send us all your bills."

“I refused their hush money,” said McGonigle.

The Diocese of Providence has paid for therapy and medical expenses McGonigle has incurred as a result of the abuse by Smyth.
McGonigle, who still has a case pending against the Diocese of Providence, realizes that it’s too late for Smyth to be brought to justice, but she longs for the Catholic Church to recognize the abuse he inflicted on the children of her parish while he served his time there.

“I would like bystanders and victims alike to come forward with information -- not just about Brendan Smyth -- in any case where they suspect child sexual abuse or child abuse is occurring,” she said.

“I also would like to see living pedophiles and those who have been complicit in their crimes prosecuted, and that includes clerics. It's mind boggling that just because a pedophile wears a roman collar he escapes criminal prosecution.

“The double standard has to stop and people must report to civil authorities, the police and child protection, not the church. The Catholic Church will only cover it up.”
McGonigle encounters clergy abuse even through her work. She is currently litigating a case of sexual abuse in the clergy for a deceased client, allowing her insight into the working of the church.

“I am having a first hand glimpse of the strategies and tactics used by the Catholic Church,” said McGonigle.

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supersurvivor77 | Jan 28, 2012, 03:26 PM EST

CATHOLICABUSESURVIVORSNI.COM--- he ruined 3000 lives of children , but who cares cardinal brady loved him and protected him,so does the establishment in its continued cover up of the roman catholic church child sex abuse scandal paid for by the state, hypocrites liars and dog licking vomit. we salute your bravery helen theyre all afraid over her of you.

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barneyjo | Aug 03, 2011, 07:09 PM EDT

@Carroll09 - "There was also a report in Ireland,though it was good news so it didn't make the headlines,that most of the dioceses are now in fact MORE than compliant with child protection procedures" - If only it were so, but regrettably it is not. As I understand it, the Irish Church's own Child Protection body has only carried out audits of four diocese. Up to the present moment, NONE of the reports of these Audits have been made public, as the Church Agency requires the permission of the Bishop of each Diocese before it can do so. It is generally accepted that there are significant concerns around several diocese which include Limerick and Raphoe in Donegal. Thankfully the new legislation to be introduced by the Government will allow and empower the statutory agencies to carry out audits in Diocese which cannot clearly demonstrate full and verifiable compliance with the church guidelines and statutory legislation.

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Temerity | Apr 25, 2010, 11:47 PM EDT

SingleDonald It is not that we fear eternal damnation if we fall from grace in these matters,but that we should continue to strive for improvement to be pleasing to God for better self control I think is the idea. The sacraments are designed to strengthen our resolve.Confession is not for condemnation but encouragement to improve in gaining control over not repression of our sexual urges and other sinful tendencies. It is not a good thing e.g.to say sex outside of marriage is ok.It isn't it raises all sort of issues and problems. Unwanted children for one and no child should be made to feel unwanted . Women like the woman who already had six children with out a husband and then ended up with eight more through artificial insemination without the means to support them.. We are not allowed to say this is a sin? Viz a mistake? e.g. It is also better to get something more wholesome to do than indulge in sexual fantasies.There is something repulsive about these things that most people feel quite naturally ,anyway. You say the Church demonises sex yet you are riling against just that a "demonic expression of sex "in child molestation considering the insidious on going harm to the person concerned, this could be called a demonic expression of sex could it not? It is also a result of sexual fantasy too long indulged in. The Church perhaps took a sterner stance against it in past centuries when in pagan times it was said they saw "sex' in every thing they laid eyes on. It now seems the wheel has gone full circle and Sex once again has raised it's problematic head.It's everywhere.Especially on the Internet. Also just because it is reported extensivley by the media does not mean that the majority of Catholic Priests in the Church are involved.Good Priests are being tarred with the same brush and this is very unjust.

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SingleDonald | Feb 16, 2010, 07:47 PM EST

Temerity, I appreciate your concessions, but don't feel that we humans have "little will power and even less moral judgment". The Catholic Church has long demonized sex. Father James Kavanaugh, in his 1967 bombshell, "A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church" said, among other things, that the Church makes the "ideal" become the law. The ideal of virginity prior to marriage, celibacy in the priesthood, or even refraining from sexual fantasies, represent one view, espoused by the Church. Rational human beings, however, shouldn't fear "eternal damnation" for going against these principles. Also, if they believe they have done nothing wrong, why the need to go to confession, especially if they KNOW they will do these things again?!! The pedophile scandal, among priests should convince all that, if these clerical monsters performed these despicable acts, then we all should have no fear in having sex outside of marriage, and ESPECIALLY not for engaging in sexual fantasies!

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Temerity | Feb 15, 2010, 05:40 PM EST

I have always believed that celibacy was a sanctified ideal state for a religious life ...and quite possible among the saintly but it seems rife with pitfalls for others with stung sex drives. In which case they should be allowed the natural outlet for it. Hopefully faithful marriage but maybe that will be the next discipline to go.Who knows where will it all end. Maybe let it all hang out?? Poor human beings they must not be frustrated at any cost.They all have little will power and even less moral judgement. Right?

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SingleDonald | Feb 15, 2010, 10:08 AM EST

Sungold, You are right, in your assessment that pedophiles desire kids, not girlfriends or wives. What I meant was that, by allowing priests to date, then marry, a different type of man would be welcome into the priesthood. Presumably, this type of man would not have pedophile tendencies. BTW, here in America, a major scandal erupted in December, 1989. Father Bruce Ritter, founder of Covenant House, was accused of sexual involvement with young men he took off the streets. He resigned from Covenant House, 2/90, and died, 10/99. A book which came out in the 1990's, by an Irish American author, Charles M. Sennott, explained that Father Ritter committed statutory rape, but was not a pedophile. A pedophile, by definition, goes after girls or boys who are pre-puberty. Father Ritter went after teenage boys, and also adult males. His accuser, Kevin Kite, was 26, and passed himself off as 21, the maximum age Covenant House would accept young people from the streets. Kevin went to the authorities because of the following. He was a gay hustler, who wished to get out of that life. He went to Father Ritter for help, but instead, Father Ritter became one of his "johns"! The author gave a word for Father Ritter's interests: Ephebophile. It is an adult who goes after teenage boys or girls under the age of consent, but who are definitely past puberty.

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Sungold | Feb 15, 2010, 05:38 AM EST

To SingleDonald: Allowing priests to marry will not stop pedophiles from stalking children. It's children they desire, not a wife.

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caritas | Feb 14, 2010, 07:42 AM EST

A heart attack was too good for this pervert. Having suffered sexual abuse in Irish institutions I can understand where Helen is coming from. It takes courage to do what she has done! The religious black listed me here in Kilkenny when I went public about my sexual abuse in Ireland's institution.

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Watereskhill | Feb 13, 2010, 09:51 PM EST

An Ogre whose dreadful dispostion (in this photo)let alone legacy has him well suited to his current companions midst the sulphur, coals, and pitch-forks.

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SingleDonald | Feb 12, 2010, 08:17 PM EST

I think my problem is posting messages which are too long! So again, I'll be more concise. The Church, like other power structures, likes to keep its flock under their control. I have written numerous times of its position on human sexuality. To say that something is a "mortal sin" is to scare people into submission. Notice how the confessional lines are shorter than they were, a while ago? That is because people don't believe that fantasizing over Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt, looking at Playboy/Playgirl, or even pre-marital sex amount to "damnable offenses", anymore! I appreciate pksmit123 accepting my position of an abused person hitting a cleric, if all else fails. I was taught, in Catholic Grade School, that this would not incur ex-communication, as joining the Communist Party would. I never heard of a "reserved sin" before. Another thing common to power structures is to protect their own. I could actually see this, up to a point. When child abuse is involved though, that notion/practice should go out the window! Again I say: LET PRIESTS HAVE GIRLFRIENDS, THEN WIVES! You would then see a different type of man joining the vocation!

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pksmit123 | Feb 12, 2010, 02:43 PM EST

The Catholic Church used to (maybe still does) have a sin called a reserved sin. Striking a priest is a reserved sin. That means only the Vatican can give dispensation. That's right, not all sin's are forgiven in the confessional. But ironically a priest could rape a child (a non-reserved sin) and go to confession and have his brother priest or bishop absolve him and off he goes to rape and rape again. Now both men are culpable. The bishops and Magisterium (Vatican) are culpable too. Do we see a problem here? Because if I find out some priest is raping my kid, I'm going to beat the devil right out of him. My own exorcism so to speak, He won't do it again. I'll take my chances and take it up with the Lord when I get there. For now will have to let the legal system beat the devil out of the church. They deserve it.

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Intercessor | Feb 12, 2010, 02:40 PM EST

In the USA, the above picture of Father Smyth probably would have won a Pulitzer Prize, the most coveted prize in photo-journalism! The picture seems to shriek, "Epitome of Evil!" Who in their right man would trust a man such as this to be alone with a child? Where is the Gift of Discernment? Surely, it must not have been active in all of the parishes where this Judas-Priest was allowed to consecrate the Eucharist or in the Headquarters of the Archdioceses, where letters of Father Smyth's molestations and rapes were sent.

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marfran | Feb 11, 2010, 10:36 PM EST

I think that Father Smyth and all other priests that have made mockery of their vows of celibacy will suffer in the place that those men go to after death, which will likely be in the lower regions of hell!

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hartfordwoman | Feb 11, 2010, 06:06 PM EST

This is horrifying. The monster's picture does him justice.

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SingleDonald | Feb 11, 2010, 04:24 PM EST

I'm sorry that the editors of Irish Voices apparently felt that my comments on this subject were too inflammatory. Let me be more concise. A)All Catholics should take with a grain of salt the dogmatic teachings some of us learned as kids, in grammar & high school, concerning human sexuality. Sexual thoughts will not send us to hell! If any kid is subject to abuse(which I was not), he/she should feel justified in physical retaliation, to the best of his/her ability, against the priest, brother, or sister perpetrating this abuse. A warning could first be given that the clergyman/woman is committing the sin. If that doesn't work, then a boy punching a priest or brother, or a girl smacking a sister may be just what the abuser needs to curtail his/her evil ways!

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