Cardinal Sean Brady is being sued by three victims of serial paedophile rapist, Fr Brendan Smyth, who say the Primate’s role in a secret church hearing exposed them to harm, it has been claimed.
It was reported yesterday that the lawsuits have been brought after the plaintiffs learned of Cardinal Brady’s role in a canonical inquiry 36 years ago where two of Smyth’s teenage victims were sworn to secrecy.
Brendan Boland, one of the two teenage boys required to swear the oath of secrecy in 1975 after giving evidence at a private church investigation about their sexual abuse by Smyth, yesterday called on Cardinal Brady to publicly apologise for his role in dealing with abuse allegations.
At the time Cardinal Brady was a 36-year-old canon lawyer.
The sworn oath, dated March 29, 1975, bears two signatures — Cardinal Brady’s and Mr Boland’s.
Mr Boland, who last week reached a confidential out of court settlement with Cardinal Brady, told RTE yesterday that following the 1975 oath of secrecy, church authorities “reneged on what they said” and as a result it had “a big impact on my life”.
He said that he was “devastated” when he learned that Smyth had gone on to abuse children for nearly another 20 years.
“He (Smyth) should have been taken out of circulation in 1975. The guilt that I felt for all the children after me who had been abused, I felt I didn’t do enough then,” he said.
Mr Boland added that Cardinal Brady had given him and his father assurances that Smyth would be dealt with and that it would never happen again.
“He (Cardinal Brady) didn’t keep his promise, the church didn’t keep their promises,” he said.
There were calls last year for Cardinal Brady’s resignation after it emerged that he had been involved in silencing two of Smyth’s child victims.
However, he stayed to lead church reform.
Smyth died in prison in 1997 at the age of 70 after being convicted of a total of 91 counts of child sex abuse on both sides of the border.
Although Mr Boland made a complaint against him in 1975, Smyth continued his crimes against children until 1993.
Background
Cardinal Sean Brady last week reached a confidential out of court settlement with one of two young people he allegedly swore to secrecy in 1975 after they gave evidence to the church about sexual abuse by paedophile rapist Fr Brendan Smyth.
Despite the complaints, Smyth went on to abuse more children in Ireland and America.
Three of his victims are now believed to be suing Cardinal Brady for exposing them to harm.