We recently watched the documentary "Deliver Us from Evil," written and directed by Amy Berg. The film explores the complicity of the Los Angeles diocese -- and in fact the Catholic hierarchy at the highest level -- in the sexual abuse of children in the 1970's and 1980's.
Oliver O'Grady, the initial focus of the film, is an Irish-born priest who moved to California. He's quite candid about his actions and the urges leading to those actions. He admits, almost with glee, that women and men do not arouse him, but young children in bathing suits do, and naked children even more so. He describes putting his hand down a young girl's panties and fondling a young boy's penis.
As disturbing as these confessions are, the real horror of the account arises when we learn that O'Grady's bishops knew of his predilection for youngsters and failed to remove him from duties where he'd have access to children. Instead, intent on protecting their own positions, they simply shuffled O'Grady from one parish to another.
Excusing their actions, Cardinal Roger Mahony insisted they didn't know about O'Grady's actions. Then, when it becomes obvious they did know, he says they thought he was responding to therapy and was no longer dangerous.
Showing just how high the conspiracy to cover the actions of O'Grady and others like him went, the documentary briefly explains that former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed a commission to investigate and stop acts of pedophilia by members of the clergy. When evidence of abuse was found, it should have immediately been turned over to the authorities. Instead, the Church sought ways to conceal and obfuscate.
A civil lawsuit in Texas alleges that Ratzinger ordered Bishops to keep evidence of sexual abuse under wraps, calling it "pontifical secret," and stated that such cases should be dealt with only within ecclesiastic courts.
Ratzinger was therefore either totally incompetent or thoroughly complicit. However, since he has been named Pope Benedict XVI, he is now considered a head-of-state and immune from prosecution.
The film briefly touches on this when it notes that President George Bush has granted immunity to Ratzinger, even though the allegations against him arose before he became pope.
One can understand the Catholic Church's reluctance to admit involvement in such matters. Not only is it enormously embarrassing, it's enormously expensive. In the United States, the Church has so far paid more than $2 billion in settlements and legal judgments in sexual abuse cases. Cardinal Mahony said that in order to pay these settlements the Church may need to liquidate some investments, sell some of its property, and borrow money.
In 2002, the U.S. Catholic Church approved the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." This charter includes Church policies aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of children. As allegations of past and present abuse continue to surface, it's obvious this charter has utterly failed in its stated purpose.
Sadly, O'Grady's story is by no means unique.