Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.
Over the past few decades, it’s come out that the Catholic Church has
been involved in sex abuse cases involving children. This isn’t to say
that all priests are child molesters or that I agree or disagree with
how the Church has handled it. Most of what I know about the subject is
from the newspaper and television, which is why I stopped watching TV
news and tend to stick to the comics in the paper.
Deliver Us From Evil is a documentary that takes a look at one particular priest, Father Oliver O’Grady. The documentary shows the allegations against him and how his actions have affected the people and their families. If I recall, some actually to left the Church because they couldn’t bring themselves to look at O’Grady any more. In once case, the family no longer goes to church at all.
One thing that the documentary shows is that denial is not the answer. Understandably, the Church did not wish to be interviewed for the documentary. However, records show that O’Grady has been moved around from one church to another. When he was moved to a new town, the residents would not be told of what he had done. This would leave Father O’Grady in a position to potentially abuse more children. Allegations would arise again and O’Grady would be moved to another town.
I feel that the Church has totally taken the wrong stance in this case. The priests in question should be held accountable for what they have done. When an abusive priest is identified, it’s rarely one or two cases of abuse or some false report. They leave a trail of reported abuse.
When victims and their families try to go to the Pope, nothing happens. The bishops that find out about this tend to cover up what happened and simply shuffle the priests around, which only makes the problem more evident. This is what bothers me; those in a position to do something know about this, but chose to ignore the problem. I can understand not wanting to make the issue public. It’s normal to not want people to know your business, but the people in question should have at least been tried in court.
It’s hard to tell how widespread the problem really is as children don’t always report abuse. Those that do aren’t always believed. Even when the children are, it may not always make it to the news. You wouldn’t think that someone in a position of trust would do something like this, but priests are human like everyone else.
I’d recommend this documentary to adults; it’s not a topic that small children should be introduced to just yet, at least not in such detail.
Deliver Us From Evil is a documentary that takes a look at one particular priest, Father Oliver O’Grady. The documentary shows the allegations against him and how his actions have affected the people and their families. If I recall, some actually to left the Church because they couldn’t bring themselves to look at O’Grady any more. In once case, the family no longer goes to church at all.
One thing that the documentary shows is that denial is not the answer. Understandably, the Church did not wish to be interviewed for the documentary. However, records show that O’Grady has been moved around from one church to another. When he was moved to a new town, the residents would not be told of what he had done. This would leave Father O’Grady in a position to potentially abuse more children. Allegations would arise again and O’Grady would be moved to another town.
I feel that the Church has totally taken the wrong stance in this case. The priests in question should be held accountable for what they have done. When an abusive priest is identified, it’s rarely one or two cases of abuse or some false report. They leave a trail of reported abuse.
When victims and their families try to go to the Pope, nothing happens. The bishops that find out about this tend to cover up what happened and simply shuffle the priests around, which only makes the problem more evident. This is what bothers me; those in a position to do something know about this, but chose to ignore the problem. I can understand not wanting to make the issue public. It’s normal to not want people to know your business, but the people in question should have at least been tried in court.
It’s hard to tell how widespread the problem really is as children don’t always report abuse. Those that do aren’t always believed. Even when the children are, it may not always make it to the news. You wouldn’t think that someone in a position of trust would do something like this, but priests are human like everyone else.
I’d recommend this documentary to adults; it’s not a topic that small children should be introduced to just yet, at least not in such detail.
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