Brendan Smyth

Father Brendan Smyth (1927–1997) was a Northern Ireland-born paedophile, who was a Catholic priest, and a member of the Norbertine Order.

In one of the most egregious cases of active paedophilia in the Catholic priesthood, Smyth systematically raped hundreds of children in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States.

The Norbertines, also known as the Presonstratensians, which Smyth had joined in 1945, were aware of Smyth's crimes as early as the late 1940s, yet they failed to report him to the Garda Siochána (the Republic of Ireland's police force, or the Royal Ulster Constabulary (the RUC, the police force in Northern Ireland). Instead he was moved from parish to parish and between dioceses whenever allegations were made against him. In some cases, the Order did not inform the diocesan bishop in Ireland or the United States that the priest they had supplied to his diocese had a history of paedophilia and should be kept away from children.

His final exposure led to the collapse of an Irish government when the incompetent handling of an extradition request from the RUC by the Irish Attorney-General's office led to a further delay of some months in Smyth facing trial. An award-winning UTV Counterpoint programme on the affair by journalist Chris Moore (which was followed up by a book), accused the head of the Norbertines and the Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh of gross-mishandling of Smyth, the Norbertine's negligence and failure to tell others of his longstanding paedophilia enabling Smyth to sexually abuse large numbers of children freely for forty years. When Smyth died in prison some years later, the Norbertines felt it necessary to hold his funeral late at night, and cover his grave with concrete, to deter vandalism of his grave. In the aftermath, in less than a decade, Ireland's Mass attendance rate plummeted from 68% to 48%.

Additional Reading

• Chris Moore, Betrayal of Trust: The Father Brendan Smyth Affair and the Catholic Church (Marino, 1995) ISBN 186023027X