BishopAccountability.org
	Bravery Exposes Abuse Fingal Independent December 2, 2009 http://www.fingal-independent.ie/news/bravery-exposes-abuse-1960020.html THE abuses suffered at the hands of Fr James McNamee was to affect his young victims physically and psychologically for decades but the bravery of a few like Bernard from Swords has exposed the Skerries priest's litany of abuse for all time. Bernard from Swords was one of Fr Mc Namee's victims and at the age of 43 he says he is just 'turning the corner' in recovering from the abuses dealt to him as a child of six at the hands of the paedophile priest from Skerries. The abuses Bernard suffered between the ages of six and 10 remained a dark secret for years and led to trouble with alcohol in his teenager years. One drunken night, when he admits being 'off my face' he came home and spilled the whole dreadful story to his mother who was 'dumbfounded' by the news. Some time passed before the family addressed the issue properly but Bernard praised his parents reaction to the terrible news and for never doubting his word. Bernard told the Fingal Independent: 'My parents have always believed me and still do. My father was very hurt by it as any father would be.' It was many years later, prompted by a discussion of Fr Mc Namee's abuses on the radio, that Bernard summoned the courage to report what had happened to him to the Gardai. He was interviewed by two detectives from Store Street in 2003 who recorded his allegations but of course, were unable to prosecute, because the priest had died the previous year. But Bernard's evidence was not given in vain and forms a large part of the section of the report devoted to Fr Mc Namee's abuses. From 2003 to last year, Bernard was in therapy as he faced fully for the first time, the awful things that had happened him as a child. ' When I stopped counselling last year I felt I was turning a corner and I do feel that now I can begin to put this behind me. The report has helped - it helps to know you are not alone. 'To see it all there in black and white, I feel it vindicates me and proves we were not making it all up.'
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