Roy Garland continues his fateful journey towards Kincora:
McGrath said he encouraged a young female volunteer, tofondle the legs of a young male volunteer working in shorts on a ladder in the grounds of Faith House. “Joan” (not her real name) told me she had been confronted at the mission by two naked men. No details were given but those involvedwere all likely to be volunteers at the mission. Joan and the boy may have been abused or attempts may have been madeto abuse them. Many boys were abused at the mission, but apart from a two or three none were homosexual, but were young Christians, seeking to develop their skills and dedicate their lives to Christian service. McGrath at times tried to entice boys with females and he denied being gay, but eventually he pleaded guilty to some abuse. His sexual orientation was irrelevant as he was an insatiable abuser mainly but not exclusively of boys. Joan had been devastated by what happened to her. McGrath said he had taken her into Faith House, for recuperation after a failed love affair with a boy at an English College where a senior figure was abusing students.
This was a clergyman who McGrath knew and who had abused mainly, but not exclusively, boys and young men. I was told that the clergyman was a “Missionary Statesman,” which I believe was meant to raise his status in my eyes. Once or twice boys or young men from the college approached a friend in Belfast to complain about the abuse. The friend told them to speak to the College Principal, which they did but he had known absolutely nothing about this butconducted his own investigation and learned it was true, which left him deeply traumatised. After Joan told me about the abuse of children at her Children’s meetings, I confrontedMcGrath with this, but he totally denied everything andclaimed she was suffering mental problems and that she was imagining these things. The idea seemed outlandish, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it but kept it in mind.
I had first met McGrath at Faith House Finaghy after being invited as a 16-year-old and he impressed me with his apparent knowledge of psychology and much else, but he touched me inappropriately. I denounced him as a homosexual, but I had never knowingly met an abuser or a homosexual before this. I approached the door to leave, but he immediately asked me to follow him down a corridor where he introduced his wife and young children. At that time, I shared the prevalent view among my friends that gay men did not marry or have children but later I realised I was mistaken but kept the thoughts to myself. After this he claimed, he was trying to put right the overemphasis in the media and cinemas etc on heterosexuality. He claimed he was trying to put this right and encouraged friendships between boys saying this was to counteract the emphasis on heterosexuality. He said European men were different amdmore like to greet each other with friendly hugs etc which wasan aspect of normal friendship, and he insisted he was not advocating homosexuality.
Later he claimed that all men had homosexual as well as heterosexual needs and they needed to express this to findfreedom. I remember telling him I was not attracted to this in any way, and he told me I was “in denial.” I did wonder if I was unwittingly concealing something but, he gave up on me and claimed I was “too heterosexual.” He had some knowledge of psychology which he used to good effect. Ieventually decided to try to confirm that the abuse had continued at Faith House since the 1940s and did this by speaking with older men at the mission who confirmed they had been abused in she 1940s. I began to suspect that the abuse may have begun before the mission at Faith House was even formed in 1941. The suffering of one man who confided in me was so great he could not be described as a survivor, as his suffering was life-long.
“Sam”, (not his real name) spoke briefly with me in the late 1960s / early 1970s. He was in a terrible state having been abused in the 1940s when the mission was residential andsometimes seen as a commune. Sam was a 14-year-old when McGrath him he was homosexual and that had mental problems. He had visited our home with his wife, and he accompanied me in my car to collect our young son in Belfast, but on the way, he began to open up and tell a harrowing story of being abused at the mission in the 1940s. He had never recovered from the dire impact, yet received little, if any help from official sources, but spent time in a psychiatric hospital.
As we spoke in the car Sam’s suffering was so palpable I could almost feel his pain. However, my son arrived before we could explore the matter much further. “Sam” stoppedtalking but I hoped and expected the conversation would continue on another occasion, but the opportunity never arose. I felt I could not try to contact him or his wife, because she was also distraught and was receiving treatment. The issue of abuse for young evangelical Christians was so sensitive they often faced decades of pain. I managed to speak briefly with his wife but felt constrained in what I was able to say. She was ill and receiving treatment. Her parents had beenChristian workers, and she was reared in a strict Christian home. She was told at a Day Centre that her husband’s condition was unrelated to the abuse, but I have no doubt it was a direct consequence of the grooming and abuse. The opportunity to speak again never arose, but I never forgot andtried to contact a relative, who did not respond. I felt I could have helped if given a chance.
A brother of Sam who knew of his suffering was so angry he wished to speak with Pastor Billy Mullan and Valerie Shaw approached the Pastor who told her he would seek information from contacts in the underground, but this was unlikely as McGrath would avoid such places like the plague. Sometime later Pastor Mullan was found apparently he had shot himself dead after rumours about happenings at his remote cottage.
It seemed clear that not everyone suffered such pain, as Sam did, but many seemed unable to discuss the matter. One young woman was so deeply distressed and hurt by the way McGrath had misused her she had suffered terribly. She had dedicated her life to Christian service but was treated abominably. I also spoke with boys and young men who wereabused more recently and concluded that at least a hundred or more victims had been abused since the mission was set up and some were I believe abused even before this. Two women also claimed McGrath had “tried” to have sex with each of them. When stories about Kincora became public the wife of another victim called a meeting and invited me to this, and I attended. This was a very difficult meeting because I believe two of the men had been abused by McGrath, but their wives seemed unaware of this. One man would only say, “There are things I could not tell my wife.” He seemed a bit stilted in his ways, but this was not seen as problem.
McGrath told a friend and I that this man’s problem would manifest themselves during the hymn singing at prayer meetings and we should watch carefully. We did so but neither of us saw anything significant. I visited him as he was dying, and I think he wished to say something, but I could not broach the subject as there were others present. His parents had been warned not to let their young son become involved at Faith House, but he did so and stayed at Faith House for many years. The suffering of most victims remained hidden, perhaps because the perpetrator was of value to IntelligenceAgencies so seemed to be protected
The Broken Elbow 