We might have seen it all before, known it all before, heard it all before, read it all before, but when it was laid bare before us the behaviour of a criminal class of objectively disordered people in the Irish Catholic hierarchy had lost none of its jolting potency. It can still send tremors to the human foundations.
Brendan Smyth because of intense media coverage was a household name in the 1990s, albeit one that no one would want near their house. He was a notorious child rapist who used his position as a Catholic priest to sexually abuse numerous children. When he was uncovered the Church quickly moved him on, allowing him access to fresh children, and pushing aside with a prayer book and the sign of the cross both the information it had on him and the concerns of those convinced he would rape again.
Betrayal of Trust tells the story of a West Belfast family’s struggle for justice against a cynical Church hierarchy. Smyth, who the parents revered as a trusted friend, had repeatedly abused the three children in the family. What was paraded in front of viewers was a gang of Catholic clerics who could rest easy with the rape of children so long as the good name of the Church was not besmirched. At every step of the way the family was frustrated. Prevarication and procrastination were the standard responses, plus of course, ‘we will remember you in our prayers.’ What a loathsome nest of snakes.
There is one scene which is a classic on how powerful bodies respond to those who refuse to acquiesce in their demands for submission. Anybody who has ever made a challenge to authority or probed further than authority was comfortable with has experienced the standard put down. The journalist Chris Moore was told by a senior cleric whom he needed to interview that he had no interest in protecting children but only in making a name for himself. Chris Moore the self- promoting journo was now the problem not the Church’s rape victims.
How the criminal clerics who covered up, withheld information, browbeat families and victims into silence and tried to keep Brendan Smyth away from court, did not appear in the dock should beggar belief but it doesn’t. The Catholic Church was a powerful institution and even the RUC, an agency with no reputed love for Catholics, walked on eggshells when dealing with Church related controversies. The smarmy pond life that would tell people ‘god bless and get on with it’ must have felt they had got away with it.
The makers of this two part showing framed the culpability of Cardinal Cahal Daly. If their depiction of his role is accurate, here was a man quite at ease lecturing all and sundry on morality, yet prepared to do absolutely nothing to move against a child rapist, preferring instead to shelter behind canon law. Daly allowed the brute to remain in the Church. And with the Church more than willing to protect him from children making accusations, Smyth continued to abuse kids in their schools, their own bedrooms, anywhere he chose to. One girl who complained to a nun in a Belfast orphanage where Smyth assaulted her was battered over the head with a bunch of keys by the female thug who ordered the terrified child to keep quiet. If that tramp was ever publicly identified I do not recall it.
Courtesy of paedophile trafficking by Church authorities, Smyth was even provided with a safe haven in America where he pillaged his way through children there.
At one point a total sense of surrealism emerged when an idiot priest was deeply concerned that Chris Moore’s car should not go unblessed. It was otherworldly. How could a guy like this seriously interact with humanity or tell people how to live their lives? Yet fools of this ilk are foisted upon us as moral guardians.
The Church in Ireland emerged from this dramatisation as a repugnant band of men many of who were guided by criminal intent. The current cardinal Sean Brady failed lamentably when he imposed a vow of silence on two of Smyth’s victims in 1975. It took almost two decades for action to be initiated in the courts against Smyth. Brady must bear major responsibility for this. Yet, like Smyth, he was allowed to remain in the Irish Church and eventually become its leader. Last year Chris Moore acerbicly wrote of Brady:
He heard the heart-rending story of pain suffered by two children. They described to Cardinal Brady just what happened to them … He got them to sign away their freedom of speech. Excommunication if they didn't? And this he says with a straight face is not a cover-up. Silence the witnesses. Isn't that what Hitler did? Preserve the good name of the Catholic Church. Evil wins when good men stand by and do nothing. Perhaps something will prick Cardinal Brady's conscience, but judging by his performance up to now we should not hold our breath … How he can really expect us to accept his assertion that by making the witnesses of abuse by Smyth sign an oath of silence that he is not perverting the course of justice and creating a cover up? His position is untenable.
The defenders of the criminal class within the Church hierarchy will seek to rubbish this dramatisation on the grounds of input by the Hole in the Wall Gang. Tim McGarry of Gang fame was one of the writers. At the heel of the hunt it is so much easier to take the gang of comics seriously than it is the gang of clerics who plied their trade to cover for a rapist in their midst.
At the begining I had no intention of watching this dramatisation,but when it came on I found myself being drawn in to this horror story,its a pity the big bosses of the church waited untill Smyth was dead before putting him in a hole full of concrete,I honestly believe the churches are corrupt beyond redemption,and the catholic church ie., the majority of its priests and nuns are paedophiles or facilitators, this church is nothing but a great big ring of perverts,and imo has always been so ,god knows [joking Anthony] how many generations of children have been destroyed by these evil scumbags,its only with the advent of modern technology and peoples self confidence in their own ability to think for themselves on issues of morality that has opened slightly this world wide problem of nothing more than organised pedophilia,which I,m afraid we will have to endure untill the power of the churches is broken,after all that old saying is true power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutly.
ReplyDeleteThe absolute power is unquestionable. The unfortunate addition was celibacy. Young educated men with nowhere to unload their hormones and sexual frustration. Again, beurocracy within the church was more important than the reality of life.
ReplyDeleteShameful.
Organized religion is about power, nothing more nothing less. Men(it is almost always men) exerting power by talking mumbo jumbo, when you add in guilt, as the Roman catholic church does, you end up with a filthy toxic brew designed to entice and imprison peoples minds.
ReplyDeleteIt matters not a jot what the religion is as they are all man made and decree their power from some ancient scribble which if it had been written last week would be ridiculed as the words of a simpleton.
When Brady and co colluded with the wretch Smyth they were defending their own corrupt and rotten empires.
Irish News page 3 Friday Mar 25 2011
ReplyDeleteCHURCH IN IRELAND FACING EXTINCTION,then it goes on to tell us that its not only in Ireland but in as many as nine western democracies,Its not every day that we hear good news,
Marty
ReplyDeleteJohn McGirr will take you to task on that one for sure
Anthony ,only the messenger mo cara and its a joy to be the bearer of such a positive piece of news for once,
ReplyDeleteMarty
ReplyDeleteand there was me thinking you would see it as the humanist's burden; you only brought bad news as an act of humanist charity!! All the while you are reveling in it!
The Catholic Church is no more guilty of the sins of those who have committed such actions, than the institution of the family is of those who have likewise abused. In each case it is a miniscule percentage.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are a lot in power within it, who for decades have had a homosexual/paedo agenda, which has spurned such monsters as Smyth.
At least we have the consolation that he will be spending the rest of eternity burning in hell.
Those who have turned a blind eye or encouraged the homosexual/paedo agenda should be ousted, and if necessary charged, where a case can be made.
But matters will not be helped by encouraging people to reject the very morality which is here outraged.
As for the Church dying, I would say that it has been all but dead since it went off the rails at Vatican II. to that extent I would happily see it breath its last in Ireland, so that we can rebuild it as it was in the days of the Faith of our fathers.
hmm the church no more guilty than those families with beasts in them...or something to that effect...
ReplyDeleteonly family in recent times i'm aware of protecting and nurturing a beastie is the Adams family.
Who wants that in the family never mind protect it??
faith of our fathers...am i in wales?
ReplyDeleteirish nation backed 2 crippled donkeys in the stewarts and the anti christ in rome. get over it.
'The Catholic Church is no more guilty of the sins of those who have committed such actions, than the institution of the family is of those who have likewise abused.'
ReplyDeleteIf the family covered for the abuser, moved him to another family and did nothing when he abused there, silenced the abuse victim and told them they would be excommunicated form the family or burn in hell if they spoke about their abuse the above statement would be right. But how may families did that? Are you not putting the family of the children in The Smyth abuse case on a moral par with the Church hierarchy?
Th church not homosexuality spawned monsters like Smyth.
'At least we have the consolation that he will be spending the rest of eternity burning in hell.'
But we don't. Hell is make believe.
Those who have turned a blind eye or encouraged the homosexual/paedo agenda should be ousted, and if necessary charged, where a case can be made.
What should be done about the objectively disordered clergy who handled the Smyth case?
If the Church dies good riddance.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteIf a golfer breaks the rules of his club, do you blame the Golf Club?
(Larry, maybe the Cricket analogy would suit you better, as it is all the rage south of the UK!)
John
ReplyDelete'If a golfer breaks the rules of his club, do you blame the Golf Club?'
If it moves him onto another golf club so that he gets a fresh chance to break the rules there, if it intimidates into silence those who lost out over the breaking of the rules, of course it has to be blamed.
Would you absolve it?
Anthony,
ReplyDelete'If it moves him onto another golf club so that he gets a fresh chance to break the rules there, if it intimidates into silence those who lost out over the breaking of the rules, of course it has to be blamed.'
I would rather blame those within it who acted thus. It is quite possible that there would be many, indeed most, who would be totally blameless in that regard.
So I would blame the individual concerned and those who colluded. I certainly wouldn't demand that all golf clubs should be shut down and call the little old lady on the green names and insult her club, that has meant so much to her over her life.
This is a feature of justice everywhere outside of those who have an axe to grind and their own agenda.
(Larry, please amend above to cricket, poppies and all things royal for those south of Bundoran!)
John,
ReplyDeletewhen it is institutionalised then it is not a case of one two individuals. It is the institution that must bear responsibility.
John mo cara its a bit of an ungodly hour and I cant spend much time here,my wife was taken into hospital last night [no Anthony I havent been leaving soap on the stairs again]you talk of the faith of our fathers mo cara, have a little faith in yourself and your own ability,your an intelligent man without doubt,so surely as you have stated this whole stinking rotten edifice must be torn down, but rather than rebuilding it let it go as the newspaper stated its dying my only regret is its isint dead and history.
ReplyDeleteMarty,
ReplyDeletehope your wife is ok
Tough old bird Anthony and as we say we aint died a winter yet, we have had Empires run by Emperors,Kingdoms run by Kings ,now we have countries run by !
ReplyDeleteJohn
ReplyDeletejollyhockeysticks..even...whatever you like.
The RC church refusal to sort the mess out is their undoing. The fact those at the top are around longer than T-Rex is why they wont, they would be investigating themselves. Not going to happen. In trying to protect the institution they permitted evil. Now they are cornered. People are correctly disgusted.
In playing for time/centuries maybe, the church is actually signing its own death warrant. The refusal to cut out the evil doers drives people further away. The dilema is, how can they save the church without hanging those running it? They cant and they wont.
And a very good morning to all our UK brethren in the black north. Marty yer too heavy for the poor woman to carry these days.
ReplyDeleteYes, Marty I hope Marie is ok!
ReplyDeleteLarry-
ReplyDeleteBlack north- in the red south-
All 32 wanted rid of partition
colour's- there are some arguments over which shade different people support or hate-
I remember talking to a few friends years ago- they hated each others football teams more than they were against the brits
[ soccer teams ]
Us Irish stand together with our
different colour's at GAA games but
have to stay separate when we support foreign sports-
foreign= separation
“If the a golfer breaks the rules does that mean the Golf club is to blame “
ReplyDeleteJohn you should really check these things out before picking the wrong option
If the golf club finds that someone has cheated they are duty bound to discipline them, if not and the governing body the R&A find out , the next line of action is to suspend the club until the matter is resolved . Maybe you should pass this on to the Catholic hierarchy as a blue print for the future.
Michaelhenry
ReplyDeleteRTE/VATICAN2 7pm tonight, the bhoys in green....Ireland.
Just read that Maynooth seminary might close down. Nothing but good news there, that place is nothing but a rotten paedophile den. Imagine walking those grounds, must be a very haunting, depressing feeling.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it should be converted to a museum to honor the victims.
'Just read that Maynooth seminary might close down. Nothing but good news there, that place is nothing but a rotten paedophile den.'
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who still don't see a link between homosexuality and paedophilia, google any combination of 'gay,' 'orgy,' 'maynooth'.
It is essential that that training ground of predatory homosexuality is closed, the sooner the better.
We need good, holy priests, not the degenerates from Maynooth.
John,
ReplyDeletesociety can do without priests. God will be there or not there regardless of priests.
Anthony take a couple of letters out out priest and wada ya get, ri are the letters I,m talking about,and its a fitting title for those wasters,
ReplyDeleteHope the god your talking about Anthony is the benevolent one and not that nasty Japanese cunt who gets to giggle at a nation surfing on the roofs of their houses, before they melt from radiation,
ReplyDeleteMarty,
ReplyDeletebut as you and I both know there is neither a good nor a bad god. Imagine a god that could intervene but didn't in a situation like Japan. What sort of malicious sadistic thug that would be and we are supposed to worship it. I simply cannot buy into it. Atheism is so appealing because it does not have to torture itself over such problems. No god explains it all with a consistency and a clarity that makes sense. I would find it so demeaning to worship the Christian god.
John,
ReplyDeleteThe solution is simple to do away with paedos in the church and that is to allow priests to marry. It would bring in a whole new pool of talent and would most likely sideline all the creeps who have been hiding their sexual perversions behind the priesthood. You would probably not agree with allowing that but it is the only way to save the RC church. I think they were allowed to marry at one point but it was changed. What a disastrous decision that was.
Ryan mo cara that idea of yours ie, let priests marry , wouldnt that just be ,grow your own,for the paedo,s,
ReplyDeleteMarty,
ReplyDeleteall Priests are not paedophiles and keeping reiterating that theory does not make it any more true.
I think what we watched in relation to Smyth and all the other depraved creatures was sickening enough witout exageration.
Children are most at risk in their own homes and much more likely to be abused by a parent than a Priest. However, there is something pathetically sickening about anyone who could betray a family and destroy young lives in the vile way they did.
Mackers,
We saw a classic example on our own doorstep of a family covering up for an abuser and actively moving him on to somewhere else where he could abuse.
Like Smyth, that abuser is still fighting extradition, however unlike Smyth he is pleading innocent.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletetrue enough
Ryan,
ReplyDelete'The solution is simple to do away with paedos in the church and that is to allow priests to marry.'
Do you really think that we are all paedos unless we marry?
A few years ago it was the married 'church of england' ministers who were in the newspapers every day.
Marriage is not a cure for paedophilia.
John
ReplyDelete'Marriage is not a cure for paedophilia.'
I think this is true. The reason is that I believe that paeodophiles were attracted to the Church because there were rich and easy pickings to be got. They didn't join the church and then become paeodophiles. Openness and accountability will go a long way towards cutting down on it. But why any human being should be encouraged/pressurised into not having sex seems cruel.
Nuala you are right of course,not all priests are paedo,s and vice versa, although its hard to tell. but the problem and I think Anthony pointed this out ,the church,s are a magnet to these scumbags and the respect/authority /sway these people have held within our communities is way out of proportion to their actual contribution to society,I agree marrige within the church would not cure paedophilia,openness and accountability would help but does anyone really believe that the arrogance of those who run the church,s would allow that to happen, its a problem that when we put people upon a pedestal and not only in the church but in every other aspect of our lives Adams is an example here that generally speaking we find these people have feet of clay.and the ordinary man/woman are the ones to suffer.
ReplyDeleteAnthony,
ReplyDelete'But why any human being should be encouraged/pressurised into not having sex seems cruel.'
In the context of a loving God this makes sense. Without one, nothing makes sense.
Marty,
ReplyDeleteI hope your wife is okay.
Larry,
Many have foretold the death of the One True Church. Some of the last were Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler, never mind the Anglo heretics from Cromwell to Churchill.
There is a link between the Irish nation and the Catholic Church that we forget at out peril.
Marty,
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you said I was right!!!, bet that hurt. Or did Marie say, 'tell her she's right for fcuk sake?' How is her good self anyway?
We had a very different experience of Catholic Priests here in Clonard.
We had people Priests for the want of a better word.
In relation to Smyth and his protectors it now seems their arrogance has been their undoing.
No words could sum up the abhorence they indulged in.
However, I think the judicary and other bodies have a lot to answer for also.
I once did a social care course and was horrified to discover that there is almost an acceptable level of abuse.
Trust me Marty it is no viewed with the zero-tolerance you would and should imagine.
John,
ReplyDelete"There is a link between the Irish nation and the Catholic Church that we forget at out peril"
I would argue that link has been a disaster. The Catholic Church has been a resolute enemy of Irish Republicanism for centuries. It has never supported the right of Irish people for self determination and has actively discouraged support for any type of armed activity. I would point to the last pope's speech at Drpgheda in 1979 as being a prime example. Sometimes I wonder if one can be an Irish Republican and a devout Catholic. They seem incompatible.
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThe pope’s speech at Drogheda was an absolute disgrace and I’m sure he wouldn’t have thought along those lines if the freedom of Poland was at stake. The problem with Ireland is that’s its Catholicism has been too feminine. Old lady’s praying rosaries that their sons would ‘not get involved’ has not helped as it seems God listened and they didn’t. They should have been praying them that God would inspire their sons to take up arms.
Irish Republicanism, (in spite of its anti-Catholic roots), was baptised in 1916 and those who died after the Easter Rising showed that no longer could the two be separated. Its spirit is well formulated in the ‘Principles of Freedom’ of Terence MacSwiney and has been lived by countless numbers of Irish patriots throughout the succeeding decades.
Nuala right is something you nearly always are hon !Marie is in a great deal of pain ,apparently its a slipped disc they think,I,m away down to squueze a few balls and get answers hon,spent a while posting a question yesterday,and again today and they both dissapeared into cyber space ffs bad mouth the yanks and hey presto your puter goes funny!kids have said the post may have been to long so will attempt later if not banged up.
ReplyDeleteMarty,
ReplyDeleteeven for a tough old bird that hasn't died a winter yet that is still a painful ailment. Hope she recovers soon
John
ReplyDeletethe historical connection does not excuse what it has been up to and the continued cover up+protection of those involved. It's filthy from the top down.
She f##kin better Anthony I,m Lee Marvin and the gaff is boggin,social services sent in a wee woman to do and I did,she,s now in my newly built cellar,Fritzel style,
ReplyDeleteMarty,
ReplyDeleteif you have buried her down there you might be a suitable replacementfor the MP for West Belfast
marty,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to send my best wishes for a speedy recovery to your wife. I am so far behind in my reading and posting these past few weeks, this is the first I saw your wife was taken to the hospital. I'm looking forward to catching up on AM's articles by this weekend 4/3. All the best to your wife marty.
Thanks Helen mo cara,she is still in a great deal of pain,and was moved again this afternoon this is hospital no 3,though she does seem a wee bit easier tonight and I still have.nt been told exactly what the problem is ,but it seems to be something to do with a swollen nerve near the base of the spine,tomorrow I will tie down someone and find out exactly what her problem is thank you and John ,Anthony ,Nuala ,Larry for your best wishes which I,ve passed on,now mo cara on a more serious note that is life threating do you know how to open a fridge my beer is in there ?
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDelete‘In the context of a loving God this (celibacy) makes sense. Without one, nothing makes sense.’
Why would a loving god want people to deprive themselves of something so central to the human condition and so conducive to human happiness? And why would a loving god prefer celibate men to the prevention of earthquakes in Japan?
To me it is without the loving god that sense is easier made of the world. We don’t have the problem of trying to find love in the god that permitted the Rwandan genocide. Are we supposed to believe that every now and then he will cure someone in Lourdes but let a million die in genocide over a three month period, much of it carried out by clerics?
Nuala,
I am not surprised. In the grey world we live in there is rarely something as absolute as zero tolerance.
John,
ReplyDelete‘The pope’s speech at Drogheda was an absolute disgrace.’
But what about his mild treatment of child rape? I thought that much more disgraceful.
‘The problem with Ireland is that’s its Catholicism has been too feminine. Old lady’s praying rosaries that their sons would ‘not get involved’ has not helped as it seems God listened and they didn’t.’
Did old men not pray so that their children would live long and productive lives? Seems the natural thing for any parent to want. Strikes me as warped that people would pray for their children’s lives to be risked just to further the beliefs of the parents. I imagine that is child abuse. And why would god listen to prayers, as you allege, that you consider as bad things?
‘They should have been praying them that God would inspire their sons to take up arms.’
I would have thought that was one of the problems with religion.
‘Irish Republicanism, (in spite of its anti-Catholic roots), was baptised in 1916 and those who died after the Easter Rising showed that no longer could the two be separated. Its spirit is well formulated in the ‘Principles of Freedom’ of Terence MacSwiney and has been lived by countless numbers of Irish patriots throughout the succeeding decades.’
Lived by very few John, flirted with by many. As Dolours Price often reminds me ‘the few and the spat upon.’