Video Description:
The true story of the most notorious pedophile priest in the modern history of the Catholic church.

A devastating investigation into the pedophilia scandals tearing apart the Catholic Church, Deliver Us From Evil begins by looking into one priest, Father Oliver O'Grady, who agreed to be interviewed by journalist/filmmaker Amy Berg. O'Grady's genial calm is at first ingratiating, until he begins to describe his crimes with an unsettling sociopathic detachment. But O'Grady's blithe interview is only half of the story, as the documentary also unveils how church superiors covered up O'Grady's crimes and shuffled him from diocese to diocese in northern California, finally placing him in an unsupervised position of authority in a small town, where he sexually assaulted dozens of children; the video deposition of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney is a grotesque portrait in brittle denial. What makes Deliver Us From Evil crucial viewing, however, are the remarkable interviews with a few of the victims (now adults) and their parents, whose stories are wrenching and riveting. With the support of a priest seeking to reform the church, two of the victims actually go to the Pope, seeking some form of help in addressing O'Grady's crimes. This stunningly potent documentary combines raw feeling with lucid and persuasive discussions of the reasons for--and disturbing breadth of--this crisis within the Church. --Bret Fetzer

At the end of the documentary, they give you some additional facts which I found shocking:

"There are approx. 100,000 victims of this abuse in the USA ,and according to studies, 80% of the victimis of this kind of abuse, never come forward."

"At the request of the Vatican, President Bush granted Pope Benedict full immunity from prosecution in the USA."

"There are approx. 100,000 victims of this abuse in the USA ,and according to studies, 80% of the victimis of this kind of abuse, never come forward."

The John Jay Report,[3] commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, found accusations against 4,392 priests in the USA, equalling about 4% of all U.S. priests between 1950 and 2002. Figures supplied by the Catholic League promote the view that abuse statistics in the Catholic Church are similar to abuse in other institutions such as the preliminary estimate of education abuse statistics compiled by the U. S. Department of Education.

Benedict pledged that paedophiles would not be priests in the Catholic Church.

During a recent visit to the United States Pope Benedict admitted that he is "deeply ashamed" of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has devastated the American church. The American Catholic Church has paid out $2 billion in abuse costs since 1950.

Sex Crimes and the Vatican

On October 1, 2006 Panorama did an episode on Crimen Sollicitationis, a secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.

Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex." It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church.

WHO WE ARE

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "ACCOUNTABILITY"?

It is a matter of public record that U.S. bishops have knowingly transferred thousands of abusive priests into unsuspecting parishes and dioceses, placing fear of "scandal" ahead of the welfare of children. The bishops themselves have apologized for what they call their "mistake," but they say nothing about the crucial actions that constitute accountability.

Read on

Anthony Foster, the father of two Australian girls who were allegedly raped by a Catholic priest, said he was disappointed that the apology repeated the church's expressions of regret but offered no practical assistance for victims.

"What we haven't had is an unequivocal, unlimited practical response that provides for all the victims for their lifetime," he said. "The practical response needs to include both financial help ... and psychological help."

Support groups for victims of church abuse in Australia, whose numbers are not known but who activists say are in the thousands, say the church covered up of the scale of the problem and fought compensation claims lodged in civil courts.

"Sorry is not enough. Victims want action, not just words," the Broken Rites group said in a post on its Web site.

"It is just a drop in a bucket — a bucket full of tears that all of us who work with victims have been sitting with for 25 to 30 years in Australia," said Helen Last from the victims' group In Good Faith and Associates.

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August 12, 2008

Chicago archdiocese agrees to $12.7 million settlement
By Daniel Burke

The Archdiocese of Chicago has reached a $12.7 million settlement with 16 survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, Cardinal Francis George announced Tuesday (Aug. 12).

Former Milwaukee archbishop admits shuffling priests
By Marie Rohde / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland admitted in a video deposition released Wednesday that he transferred priests with a history of sexual misconduct back into churches without alerting parishioners.

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