UNITED STATES
New York Newsday
BY JOHN ANDERSON
John Anderson is a regular contributor to Newsday.
February 23, 2005
When the unwelcome tears finally flow, they don't spring from Tony Comes' memories of molestation, or what the fireman says his experience has done to his family. Or the way he says the Catholic Church has tried to sidestep the issue. Or any of the myriad pressures that have surrounded him like flames at a five-alarm fire.
The tears are prompted instead by a question about children - not his own young son and daughter, but those fathered by the man who made his own childhood something he'd like to forget.
"That's the hardest part for me," said Comes, whose story is the heart of "Twist of Faith," Kirby Dick's film about sexual abuse by clergymen, and a nominee for best documentary at Sunday's Academy Awards. "Early on, I said to these guys[the filmmakers], [for], all the good I hope to do with this, it's his kids who will pay for the sins of their father.' And they've done nothing wrong. And I feel so bad for them, because they're not victims directly - I hope - but they're going to have to look at their father, and hear things about their father, and choose what to believe. ... I hope they don't hate me."