Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Deliver Us From Evil

is the name of a documentary outlining the pedophilic career of Father Oliver O'Grady and the machinations of the Catholic Church, right up to and including the current pope, to cover up O'Grady's rape and sodomization of numerous children in his several parishes in the 1970s and beyond. Instead of defrocking him, turning him in and cooperating with local law enforcement authorities, the local bishops and archbishop bumped him from parish to parish and eventually removed him to Ireland, where he walks free, while his victims in the U.S. suffer the consequences of his brutalization of them. O'Grady admits what he has done, almost in a dissociative way, and acknowledges that he himself was abused as a child by priests and by an older brother.

I recommend this movie for anyone who is concerned about the sexual abuse of children. It will tear your heart out to hear the voices of the victims.

5 comments:

Joel said...

I don't like to speak disrespectfully of a bishop, but Cardinal Mahoney is an eel. I'm not surprised this happened on his watch.

It's worth noting that almost all the cases that are coming to light happened before 1991, as that's when the US bishops hammered out a procedure for keeping pervo-priests away from kids.

Robin Edgar said...

I expect that U*Us have done pretty much the same thing. . .

Joel said...

Probably, although in a less organized religion, it would be harder to keep it quiet. UUs are a lot more prone to talk about sex in public, and homosexuality in particular doesn't carry any taboo among y'all.

I think it simply reinforces Chesterton's quip that original sin is the only Christian doctrine that can be demonstrated empirically. Man is what he is, and one religion isn't less susceptible to temptation to do wrong than another. Only the circumstances differ. If it's not original sin, it's still a weakness in humanity that's not unique to any group.

Lilylou said...

Is that a disrespectful comment about an eel?

Joel said...

Sorry. I should have said he's an "Anguilliformic-American."