'It should be exposed': Survivor calls on church to release treatment records of abusive priests | CBC News

Father George Ansel Smith sent for therapy in 1992, returned to work for nearly 20 years

A man who was abused by a notorious Catholic priest in Newfoundland is joining other voices calling on the church to release its records on abusive priests sent away for treatment.

The man can only be identified as John Doe. He was abused by Father George Ansel Smith as a young boy on the west coast of Newfoundland in the 1970s.

Court records show Smith was sent to the Southdown Institute — an Ontario therapy centre offering a range of services for priests dealing with issues ranging from depression and alcoholism to pedophilia — in 1992.

He returned to the priesthood for nearly 20 years, until John Doe and a dozen other men came forward with allegations starting in 2011.

"I think it should be exposed for everybody to see the truth,” John Doe told CBC News. “There are file cabinets and rooms full of this stuff in every parish and every diocese. It needs to just be exposed for what it is, and let people start living their lives and move on."

'To avoid scandal': Unearthed letters show how N.L. bishop handled allegations in Baie Verte

Church should open its records on abusive priests sent away for therapy, advocate says

John Doe spoke to CBC News following an article published last month, which detailed letters uncovered in a new court filing in Grand Falls-Windsor. The letters show the former bishop of Grand Falls exchanging letters with the executive director of Southdown in 1970, speaking about a priest who was removed from a rural parish over concerns about his "relationships" with boys.

The letters were not unearthed during the Winter Commission in 1990, which examined a surge of clergy abuse cases. They were not part of the priest's criminal trial, either.

In the wake of the story, prominent clergy abuse advocate and survivor Gemma Hickey called on the church to turn over its records for independent examination, so the public could know once and for all which priests were sent away for treatment, what Southdown recommended, and whether or not the church adhered to those recommendations.

“I’m not surprised," he said. "I mean there’s probably more of this stuff kicking around. How many people’s lives have to be ruined before somebody says we were wrong and we’re going to atone for that now?”