August 3, 2007

Deliver us from evil

Tonight, the teens and I watched Deliver Us from Evil.
Film synopsis:
Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously active pedophile that Church hierarchy, aware of his predilection, had harbored for over 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children. Juxtaposing an extended, deeply unsettling interview with O'Grady himself with the tragic stories of his victims, filmmaker Amy Berg bravely exposes the deep corruption of the Catholic Church and the troubled mind of the man they sheltered.
________________

I told the teens going in, if they got bored or uncomfortable, we could shut it off, or they could go play games in the other room.
At first, they were bored at the idea of a documentary, but as soon as Father O' Grady started discussing his crimes against children in such a matter of fact way, they became intrigued by the film.

It was heartbreaking to watch for sure.
We sat riveted to each family tell the story of how they came to know Fr. Oliver, and how they trusted this priest with their lives, their families, and welcomed him into their homes to stay with them.
They all believed he was a good, honest priest, who could be trusted.
As their stories unfolded, it became clear he had abused their trust, the trust of his parish's, and mostly, all of their children.
The most heartbreaking moment is when the mother and father of one of the victims, retold the story of the day they found out their then 5 year old daughter at the time of the molestation, now in her 30's, and how that moment impacted their lives.
The father was so torn up, full of anger, rage and guilt.
He blamed himself for allowing Fr. O' Grady into their home, let him spend the night, and while they slept, he molested their 5 year old daughter.

His molestation wasn't aimed at just boys, but boys and girls alike.
They estimate Fr. Oliver's victims range in the 100's from the 30 years he remained, and was shuffled around, as a Catholic priest.

The documentary doesn't just take aim at O' Grady, but at the entire Catholic church from the diocese in LA where O' Grady was serving under, all the way to the Vatican in Rome.
The families, film maker, and one priest, Fr. Thomas Doyle, all believe that the Catholic church knew O' Grady was a pedophile, molesting children at every parish they moved him to, and covering up his crimes.
The Catholic church has paid out over $1billion dollars in lawyer and settlement fees, in regards to children being molested by their clergy.

There are never been seen before depositions from LA Cardinal Roger Mahoney, and Monsignor Cain, where they discussed the file the Catholic church had kept on O' Grady, and other Catholic priests.
They knew he had been taking advantage of mothers and fathers in order to get to their children, and raping and sodomizing those children since 1973, with the full knowledge of his Catholic superiors.
If a report from a family came in, they hushed them, and then moved O' Grady to a new parish less than 100 miles away from his last victims.

On the official site, you can view the trailer, and a national map of all the states abuse by clergy has been reported in.

The most amazing thing about this documentary, is that Father O' Grady agreed to it. He agreed to be filmed, and confess all of his sins.
It is a look inside the mind of a pedophile priest, his arousal triggers, his tellings of what he did to his victims, and how the Catholic church helped him avoid prosecution for 30 years.

This is an amazing documentary, but agreeably not for everyone. It contains graphic recollections from the victims, and graphic recollection from O' Grady himself.
I would highly recommend people watch it though.
It is not light fare, it's hard to stomach the details, but it makes you incredibly angry at the church for covering it up for so long.
And as the end credits rolled, it gives another reason for anti-Bush supporters to hate him.

President GW Bush, gave Pope Benedict XVI a free pass. He can never be convicted in the United States for the role he played in covering up not only Fr. O' Grady's crimes against children, but all the other Catholic priests the Vatican helped cover up, as well as while he worked as a close associate to the late Pope John Paul II.