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3
30th May 21:22
External User
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the Papists have more than 10,000 ' saints ' to worship... (saints worship diocese church bishop)
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They forgot to mention "Saint" John Paul 2, patron saint of pedophile
priests.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1402&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20061005%2F1931077875.htm&sc=1402
Pedophile Priest Recounts Years of Abuse By GILLIAN FLACCUS
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The defrocked priest is by turns remorseful and
flippant as he recounts in graphic detail a lifetime of ***ually
abusing children. Then, near the end of ``the most honest confession of
my life,'' he turns to the movie camera to wink and smile at his
victims.
Oliver O'Grady's confession is the backbone of a deeply disturbing
do***entary about the Roman Catholic clergy abuse crisis in one rural
Northern California diocese - a tale all the more unsettling because,
for the first time, it is told in the words of an abusive priest
himself.
O'Grady, 61, was deported to his native Ireland in 2001 after serving
seven years in state prison for molesting two brothers. He has admitted
abusing at least 25 children, and cost the Diocese of Stockton millions
of dollars to settle civil ***ual-abuse lawsuits.
In ``Deliver Us From Evil,'' first-time filmmaker Amy Berg uses
O'Grady's lengthy narrative to question how much diocese leaders knew
about those crimes and the steps they took to stop the charming young
priest who was nicknamed Father Ollie.
The unrated film, which won best do***entary at the Los Angeles Film
Festival, opens in Los Angeles and New York on Oct. 13, with a broader
release in at least 10 more markets two weeks later. It has been picked
up by Lions Gate Entertainment.
The film focuses on O'Grady's relationship with Los Angeles Cardinal
Roger Mahony, who was his bishop in Stockton in the early 1980s when
O'Grady confessed to at least one instance of molestation. Mahony is
now struggling to settle hundreds of ***ual abuse cases against the Los
Angeles Archdiocese, which may also be under investigation by a
criminal grand jury (authorities won't say if proceedings are taking
place).
Berg opens the film with O'Grady praying, surrounded by candles. He is
pensive and quiet as he reflects on his 22-year career in the Diocese
of Stockton and the trail of pain he left behind.
``I am here because I recognize in my life there has been a major
imbalance mainly caused by what I have done in a criminal way,''
O'Grady says. ``Basically what I want to say to them is, you know, it
should not have happened. It should not have happened.''
The film then moves through a series of gut-wrenching interviews with
several of O'Grady's alleged victims and their parents that hint at the
depth of betrayal they feel. O'Grady has previously said in court
depositions that he began abusing others when he was 12 and at one
point had *** with two of his victims' mothers to gain access to their
children.
These interviews are stark, edited in a no-frills style that contrasts
with the more choreographed shots of O'Grady, who is often seen from
above or far away as he sits in church or a children's classroom. There
is no narrator, but Berg relies on interviews, clips of court testimony
and do***ents to set a critical tone.
In one scene, a father stares at the camera, his face contorted in rage
and pain, and screams that he no longer believes in God as his
40-year-old daughter - O'Grady's first known victim - sobs next to him.
Berg, 36, is unapologetic in her harsh critique of the church
leadership, particularly Mahony. She acknowledges that during
interviews O'Grady often acted ``like a 7-year-old child,'' but says
that most of what he told her was supported by do***ents from his
private personnel file.
When he was bishop of Stockton two decades ago, Mahony supervised
O'Grady and transferred him to a rural parish after the priest
confessed to his therapist in 1984 that he had molested a 9-year-old
boy. Following the confession, Mahony ordered O'Grady to undergo a
psychological evaluation.
Mahony, who appears briefly in the film through videotaped deposition
testimony, declined to be interviewed for the do***entary and for this
story. He has said, however, that police could not corroborate
O'Grady's confession and declined to press charges.
O'Grady continued to abuse children at his new posting in rural San
Andreas. He was removed from the priesthood in 1993 after being
arrested on separate molestation charges.
In the movie, the defrocked priest insists that Mahony knew of his
pattern of abuse and went as far as to call him personally in 1984 to
reassure him no charges would be filed.
``He was very supportive. You know, he was very compassionate,''
O'Grady says of Mahony. ``I felt at the time he was merely calling to
check how I was doing, because he obviously knew I had been very
stressed out over the situation.''
Los Angeles Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg has seen the film and
called it an ``obvious anti-church hit piece'' about a man who
manipulates everyone around him.
``It wasn't much of a do***entary if you ask me. The bottom line of it
all is the willingness of everybody to believe the word of a convicted
child molester,'' Tamberg said. ``He fooled his bishop, he fooled his
therapist, he fooled the families and yet for some reason people seem
willing to put that all aside and say, 'I believe him now,' with his
weird little grins and winks.''
Berg, a former television journalist, says she first considered making
a do***entary about the clergy abuse crisis after reporting on the
story for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and CNN.
When Berg finally convinced O'Grady to go on camera after five months
of phone interviews, she was surprised at how bitter he seemed about
the church leadership he claims protected him for years. He now lives
in Thurles, Ireland in the shadow of the seminary where he once trained
for the priesthood.
``O'Grady's slumming it, basically. He's living on nothing and these
guys are living in all their glory and I think it upsets him,'' Berg
said. ``His story kind of burned a hole inside of him and he's been
looking for an outlet. He's got so much to say.''
On the Net:
Deliver Us From Evil: http://www.deliverusfromevilthemovie.com/site.php
Lions Gate Entertainment: http://www.lionsgate.com/index-flash.php
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