IRELAND
Irish Independent
John Spain
Published 21/07/2014
A MAN who survived horrific sex abuse at the hands of paedophile Brendan Smyth has told how priests sought to saddle him with “blame and shame” in a meeting attended by Sean Brady, now the most powerful cleric in Ireland.
Brendan Boland (53) was an 11-year-old altar boy when the notorious priest began to abuse him in the 1970s.
In March 1975, he told three priests, including the cardinal – who was then Fr John Brady – of the abuse in the hope that it would prevent further cases. But Smyth went on to abuse dozens more victims.
Now details have emerged of the highly intrusive and inappropriate line of questioning that the 14-year-old was subjected to during a meeting where he was alone in the room with the priests.
Questions included whether he had done these things before with another boy or man, whether the abuse by Smyth had led him to masturbate alone and why he had taken so long to go to Confession.
Terrified
Transcripts of the secret church inquiry are revealed in Mr Boland’s new book ‘Sworn to Silence’, published today by O’Brien Press.
“I knew that the quizzing about Confession was all about me and my fault.
“Then I was just terrified and scared. Today I am angry, furious. Even as I am recounting this, I want to smash my fist against the bloody wall beside me,” he says.
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