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.html

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

Settlement reached in priest abuse case – Chicago Jesuit priest John Powell

Settlement reached in priest abuse case
Monday, November 21, 2005
By Theresa Gutierrez

November 17, 2005 (WLS) — A settlement has been reached in connection with a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse. At least six adults claimed father John Powell abused them in the late 60′s and 70′s. No criminal charges were filed against Powell but the priest has admitted to the abuse.

Two of the former Chicago Jesuit priest John Powell’s victims spoke out Thursday. Patrice Regnier says Father Powell — a former Loyola University professor — started abusing her when she was 12 years old. She just received a settlement.

“The idea people found from me speaking the truth that they could come out themselves and speak the truth is a good thing,” said Patrice Regnier, victim of sexual abuse.

Diane Ruhl says she was abused at 17 years old by Father Powell on the Loyola campus when she was a student. She confronted him 30 years later by writing him. He responded and admitted to the abuse in his letters.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=3643364

San Diego clergy abuse allegations, How Good People Turn Evil, Facebook

has :

Documents from the San Diego Settlement
Unsealed Calif. church docs show abuse allegations
Facebook’s Child Pornography Problem
Understanding How Good People Turn Evil – Zimbardo

Documents from the San Diego Settlement
On October 22, 2010, Judge William C. Pate ordered the release of documents relating to the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Diocese of San Diego. This document release was a nonmonetary provision of the San Diego settlement, as ordered on August 29, 2008 by Judge Emilie Elias, of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

On this page, we present all the documents released by Judge Pate’s order, and during this week, we will post the crucial documents individually for easier download. Some of these documents are also available from the website of the Zalkin Law Firm, which was our source for many of the files. The text of Judge Pate’s order and the files for ten of the priests were provided by attorney Anthony DeMarco.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/docs/san_diego/

Unsealed Calif. church docs show abuse allegations
Sunday, October 24, 2010 AP Online By GILLIAN FLACCUS
SAN DIEGO – Attorneys for nearly 150 people who claim sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests made nearly 10,000 pages of previously sealed internal church documents public Sunday, revealing at least one previously unknown decades-old case in which a priest under police investigation was allowed to leave the U.S. after the Diocese of San Diego intervened. After a three-year legal battle over the Diocese of San Diego’s internal records, a retired San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that they could be made public. The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit.

The 144 plaintiffs settled with the diocese in 2007 for nearly $200 million, but the agreement stipulated that an independent judge would review the priests’ sealed personnel records and determine what could be made public.
The files show what the diocese knew about abusive priests, starting decades before any allegations became public, and that some church leaders shuffled priests from parish to parish or overseas despite credible complaints against them.

“We encourage all Catholics, all members of the community, to look for these documents,” attorney Anthony DeMarco said at a news conference. “These documents demonstrate years and years and decades of concerted action that has allowed this community’s children to be victimized, and it is not until the community looks at these documents that this cycle is ever going to be ended.”

http://newsystocks.com/news/3763283

Welcome to LuciferEffect.org, official web site of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House, 2007). In this book, I summarize more than 30 years of research on factors that can create a “perfect storm” which leads good people to engage in evil actions. This transformation of human character is what I call the “Lucifer Effect,” named after God’s favorite angel, Lucifer, who fell from grace and ultimately became Satan.

Rather than providing a religious analysis, however, I offer a psychological account of how ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit unspeakable acts. As part of this account, The Lucifer Effect tells, for the first time, the full story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, a now-classic study I conducted in 1971. In that study, normal college students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate for two weeks in a simulated prison, yet the guards quickly became so brutal that the experiment had to be shut down after only six days. – Philip Zimbardo
Professor Emeritus    Stanford University
http://www.lucifereffect.com/

Facebook’s Child Pornography Problem By James R. Marsh  October 24, 2010 An ongoing FoxNews.com investigation has revealed that Facebook is failing to prevent child predators from posting suggestive and potentially illegal photographs of children on its website. The world’s largest social network employs content filters that automatically scan for basic keywords commonly associated with child exploitive material. Those filters, if they are properly employed, should flag much of the offensive material found on the site, cybersecurity experts say. But in a lengthy telephone interview on Oct. 6, FoxNews.com took two Facebook executives on a click-by-click tour of their own website, bringing them face-to-face with some of its vile contents and forcing them to admit that their efforts to block child predators were not working.

During a 90-minute phone interview with Facebook spokesman Simon Axten and the company’s chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, the two executives were guided by FoxNews.com through the site’s seamy subculture – an encounter that left Sullivan sounding dumbfounded, unaware of and unable to explain the extremely graphic content on the site.
http://www.childlaw.us/2010/10/facebooks-child-pornography-pr.html

Vow to brother fulfilled Abuse settlement

describes crimes

Vow to brother fulfilled – Abuse settlement completes a promise made after finding sibling’s suicide note  By Michael Tutton – the Canadian Press – Seven Years after his brother’s suicide, Ronald Martin described a lawsuit that resulted in a $15-million settlement for victims of alleged abuse by Roman Catholic priests as “the fulfilment” of a promise he made to his sibling. Martin sat quietly Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court as Justice David MacAdam heard lawyers explain why a settlement should be certified for the alleged decades-old abuse. The CBC reported late in the day that MacAdam approved a $15-million settlement that includes $12 million in damages, about $400,000 for counselling fees and the remainder for legal and administrative costs. Up to 70 people may receive a share of the money from the diocese of Antigonish for abuse that allegedly occurred since Jan. 1, 1950. Claimants would go before retired justice Walter Goodfellow for adjudication of their claims….The suicide note named Hugh Vincent MacDonald, a priest, as the abuser, a revelation that Ronald said “nearly destroyed” him as it brought painful memories flooding back. MacDonald was charged with multiple sex-related offences in 2003 but died a year later before the court process concluded.…The class-action lawsuit also involves allegations of abuse by four other priests, three of whom have been convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault against children in the care of the diocese. Allegations made in the class action have not been proven in court. McKiggan said so far his firm has been retained by 39 claimants and has been contacted by about 50 other people looking for information about the lawsuit….Bishop Raymond Lahey of the Antigonish diocese told a news conference last month that the agreement is the first step in recognizing the alleged abuse of children. At the time, he apologized to “every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those who were instead entitled to the trust and protection of priests.”
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1141895.html