A MAN WHO was abused by paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth and allegedly sworn to secrecy following an internal church inquiry has reached a settlement with the Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh of his High Court proceedings.
Mr Justice John Quirke was told yesterday the action by Brendan Boland (50) had been settled and could be struck out. No terms of settlement were given.
Mr Boland had sued the Norbertine Order, of which Smyth was a member, and Cardinal Seán Brady as Archbishop of Armagh, the archdiocese where the abuse occurred. The case against the Norbertine Order was disposed of in 2005.
In a statement issued outside the court by his solicitor Paul Horan, Mr Boland said he had been “devastated” by revelations of abuse of others carried out by Smyth, which occurred after he had received assurances the abuse he had suffered would not be repeated.
He said he had been abused by Smyth between 1973 and 1975 and was 12 years of age when the abuse began. He said he later confided in a priest who was attached to his local youth club and the matter was brought to the attention of church authorities.
He said an ecclesiastical hearing was convened at which Cardinal Brady – then Fr Brady – was present. Mr Boland’s father was not allowed into the room while he was interviewed, he said.
Mr Boland claimed, when the interviews were completed, he was asked to swear an oath he would not talk to anyone about the interviews except authorised priests.
“My parents, who were God-fearing people, and I were assured that Fr Brendan Smyth would not be allowed to associate with young boys or girls and that there would be no recurrence of the abuse which I and other victims had suffered,” Mr Boland said.
Mr Boland said some 20 years after his claims were investigated, he became aware of reports claiming Smyth had abused other children subsequent to the ecclesiastical inquiry. He said the fact that further abuse of children had taken place after assurances had been given to him was “very hard to bear”. “I felt that I had not done enough. I felt responsible for the misery of Fr Smyth’s subsequent victims,” he said. “My guilt plagued me.”
When he attended Smyth’s trial, he met victims 10 to 15 years younger than him who would not have been abused if the assurances given had been honoured.
Mr Boland also said the court proceedings had been a “considerable ordeal” and had been “strenuously defended” by the cardinal.
He claimed Cardinal Brady had also indicated he would meet with him privately. He expressed his disappointment that the cardinal had refused, even through his lawyers in court, “to publicly acknowledge and accept the failings of the church in its handling of the circumstances which gave rise to the case and to apologise for them and give an assurance that they will not be repeated”. He hoped the church would learn to show true compassion for all abuse victims.
Catholic Communications Office: Cardinal did not make a settlement with a second teenager
The Catholic Communications Office has criticised what it describes as “serious inaccuracies” in a news report in yesterday’s Irish Times on the archdiocese of Armagh’s settlement with Brendan Boland.
In a statement issued yesterday, the office said the settlement with Mr Boland, who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth, had been agreed between Mr Boland and the archdiocese of Armagh “on the basis that abuse suffered by the plaintiff occurred in the archdiocese”.
“It is not true that Cardinal Brady reached a settlement with another teenager involved. The other teenager referred to in this newspaper report was not Ms Marie McCormack. The other teenager has never brought any action against Cardinal Brady or the Archdiocese of Armagh.”
The statement said that to suggest that Cardinal Brady reached an out-of-court settlement “with the other teenager who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth in 1975” is false.
“Ms McCormack settled her case with the Norbertine Order. All compensation was paid by the Norbertines. No contribution was made by the Archdiocese of Armagh or by Cardinal Brady to the damages paid to Ms McCormack.”
Separately, the statement points out that “When Cardinal Brady was recently asked to offer an apology and to acknowledge and accept the failings of the Church in its handling of the case, he immediately offered to meet Mr Boland, in person, to offer that apology. Whilst this offer was not accepted it still stands. Cardinal Brady feels that this is the most appropriate way to offer an apology in the circumstances.”