Tough week at NDCP Fr. Smyth and Mrs. Linda Hennessey

[eireog]

Fr. John Smyth , former head of Maryville, has passed away. Fr. Smyth was former president of NDCP and instrumental in helping to keep the school open after CSC pulled out. May his soul and the soul of all the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

 

[DigitalCy]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/m...smyth-dies-removed-ministry-sex-abuse-minors/

https://wgntv.com/2019/04/17/father...-maryville-academy-accused-of-abuse-has-died/

I'm not going to say he was directly involved with all his transgressions, but he departed from all his endeavors on bad terms and to have your name attached to sexual abuse in a place such as Maryville that has a lot of terrible crap being exposed to the treatment of kids, especially kids that were extremely vulnerable as orphans and victims of unfathomable abuse, this man simply should not be celebrated in any capacity.

I'll never forget being at an ND St. Pat's game about a decade ago and I was sitting with the ND parents in the top corner of the bleachers above the visitors locker room. After a hard fought victory by the Dons, as the kids were making their way to the locker room, Fr, Smyth was patting his protruding shirt pocket that had an envelope as the kids were coming in and he was saying "You boys will be having fun tonight!" I can't say for fact that he was paying the kids, but I also wasn't born yesterday.

Sure, he may have raised a lot of money for Catholic foundations, but when children suffered under his leadership and corruption surrounded his tenures, I can't help but say good riddance. These are the type of people that have given the Catholic Faith such a bad image.

 

[superac777]

I wonder if they, he wtf will flush this thread too

 

[eireog]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/m...smyth-dies-removed-ministry-sex-abuse-minors/

https://wgntv.com/2019/04/17/father...-maryville-academy-accused-of-abuse-has-died/

I'm not going to say he was directly involved with all his transgressions, but he departed from all his endeavors on bad terms and to have your name attached to sexual abuse in a place such as Maryville that has a lot of terrible crap being exposed to the treatment of kids, especially kids that were extremely vulnerable as orphans and victims of unfathomable abuse, this man simply should not be celebrated in any capacity.

I'll never forget being at an ND St. Pat's game about a decade ago and I was sitting with the ND parents in the top corner of the bleachers above the visitors locker room. After a hard fought victory by the Dons, as the kids were making their way to the locker room, Fr, Smyth was patting his protruding shirt pocket that had an envelope as the kids were coming in and he was saying "You boys will be having fun tonight!" I can't say for fact that he was paying the kids, but I also wasn't born yesterday.

Sure, he may have raised a lot of money for Catholic foundations, but when children suffered under his leadership and corruption surrounded his tenures, I can't help but say good riddance. These are the type of people that have given the Catholic Faith such a bad image.

The allegations you’ve linked are under investigation. I’ll not rush to judgement. Your personal allegations and opinions are certainly within your right to voice.

Fr.Smyth saved NDCP from closing about 12 years ago. I will forever be in his gratitude for doing so. He saved and helped literally thousands of orphans at Maryville. He’s been a wonderful man to know and I will be forever glad to having been fortunate enough to know him.

 

[EdgyTim]

I wonder if they, he wtf will flush this thread too

He probably will because while I feel this is a subject worth discussing...some slap will take it too far and then off it goes.

 

[goomsback]

Also a prayer for Mike Hennessy as his Wife Linda just passed yesterday .

 

[privatone]

Also a prayer for Mike Hennessy as his Wife Linda just passed yesterday .

Probably deserves a new thread, instead of being buried in this one.

 

[eireog]

Services for Fr. Smyth : https://m.legacy.com/obituaries/chi...-smyth&pid=192627211&referrer=0&preview=false

 

[eireog]

Probably deserves a new thread, instead of being buried in this one.

I have just edited the title of the thread instead of starting a new one.
I learned of Linda Hennessey’s passing while out of town this weekend. Mrs. Hennessey passed away yesterday after battling cancer. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest In Peace.
I will post arraignments as I find them out.

 

[eireog]

http://m.cumberlandchapels.com/obituaries/wall?obituaryId=4327806

 

[MWittman]

The allegations you’ve linked are under investigation. I’ll not rush to judgement. Your personal allegations and opinions are certainly within your right to voice.

Fr.Smyth saved NDCP from closing about 12 years ago. I will forever be in his gratitude for doing so. He saved and helped literally thousands of orphans at Maryville. He’s been a wonderful man to know and I will be forever glad to having been fortunate enough to know him.

eireog:

If I may, I would like to add the intense scrutiny Maryville and Smyth sustained followed Smyth approving the entry of a large number of orphans and at-risk kids from the custody of the state. After Chicago's worst newspaper, the Sun Times, ran an expose alleging wrongdoing among staff and some of the troubled youth, Illinois' then-governor, the venal Rod Blagojevich, did an about-face, and publicly eviscerated the very organization which took some of the troubled youth alleged to have committed the unspeakable crimes off the state' hands. Blagojevich did so with breathtaking hypocrisy.

To date, Smyth has only been accused. I hasten to add one of his two accusers has offered scant evidence and is currently serving time in jail. The accuser's attorney has stated his client's criminal behavior and incarceration are directly related to the alleged abuse. The accusation against Smyth leveled by the incarcerated man evokes the memory of the accuser of Cardinal Bernardin, Stephen Cook. A man suffering from full-blown AIDS, Cook alleged Bernardin of abusing him years earlier and his recollection of abuse arrived at a time in which Cook was receiving intensive treatment for the disease. Few are aware Cook's "memory" of abuse at the hands of Bernardin emerged while under hypnosis. Lawyers will do just about anything.

Who knows? With Cook County's current state's attorney disregarding the total collapse of law and order on our streets, Smyth's accuser will be back on the streets soon enough.

 

[LTHSALUM76]

eireog:

If I may, I would like to add the intense scrutiny Maryville and Smyth sustained followed Smyth approving the entry of a large number of orphans and at-risk kids from the custody of the state. After Chicago's worst newspaper, the Sun Times, ran an expose alleging wrongdoing among staff and some of the troubled youth, Illinois' then-governor, the venal Rod Blagojevich, did an about-face, and publicly eviscerated the very organization which took some of the troubled youth alleged to have committed the unspeakable crimes off the state' hands. Blagojevich did so with breathtaking hypocrisy.

To date, Smyth has only been accused. I hasten to add one of his two accusers has offered scant evidence and is currently serving time in jail. The accuser's attorney has stated his client's criminal behavior and incarceration are directly related to the alleged abuse. The accusation against Smyth leveled by the incarcerated man evokes the memory of the accuser of Cardinal Bernardin, Stephen Cook. A man suffering from full-blown AIDS, Cook alleged Bernardin of abusing him years earlier and his recollection of abuse arrived at a time in which Cook was receiving intensive treatment for the disease. Few are aware Cook's "memory" of abuse at the hands of Bernardin emerged while under hypnosis. Lawyers will do just about anything.

Who knows? With Cook County's current state's attorney disregarding the total collapse of law and order on our streets, Smyth's accuser will be back on the streets soon enough.

Wow. This is one interesting and well thought out post.

I am sure you realize, with some things and when it comes to certain people in our society, the nature of the accusation(s) always trumps the evidence. With others, no matter what the accusation is, it is more "let's wait and see what the facts and evidence brings." The Sun-Times is real good in executing the first scenario I described. So are the majority of their readers. It's all political to them.

I know very little about this particular subject and person. But, I am always a person who waits to see what facts and evidence brings, regardless of the situation, person involved and accusations.

By the way, there is a writer at the Sun Times who constantly jumps to conclusions as long as the person being accused is someone he disagrees with politically. His initials are NS. he had to write a mea clupa the other day concerning the fire at Notre Dame. He does this stuff a lot.

 

[ignazio]

A few years back, I served on a non-profit board with one of the investigators from DCFS who worked on the Maryville matter. At best, they got them on what we might call lack of institutional control. Maryville had been tasked with providing a home with structure and normalcy to children who lacked precisely that.
If there is anyone who should shoulder the blame for this tragedy - let's start with the mothers and fathers who lack maturity and expect the rest of society to raise their children.

 

[CCLorBUST]

With all due respect if this is where this thread is going, please change the thread name back and take Mrs. Hennessey’s name off. A sad time for a great family which has absolutely no business being grouped together with this topic.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

To assist keeping these 2 stories separate, there's a small little tribute to Linda Hennessey on the JCA Twitter site.

https://twitter.com/JCAonline