KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Merlene Davis
HERALD-LEADER COLUMNIST
It simply was creepy to watch a news report of Oliver O'Grady, the defrocked and deported Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of-molesting children in California, as he described how he lured trusting kids into his snare.
"We begin, just the hugging," he said. "Hugging starts off, and then I might just drop my hands. And all the time you're sort of looking for an OK or a permission, and if I wasn't getting a resistance, that was allowing me to go further and further."
O'Grady was giving a deposition in his native Ireland to attorneys who had filed a civil suit against the Stockton Diocese in California, where O'Grady had committed several molestations. The suit claimed the diocese failed to protect children from O'Grady, a known abuser.
O'Grady sat there, sometimes contrite, sometimes winking, as he recalled what he had done. According to his reported testimony, if the child gave him a big hug, he took that as permission to molest.
I've only seen bits and pieces of the-deposition and have read accounts of O'Grady's testimony. But we parents have to somehow get our hands on that 15-hour videotaped deposition and show it to our children.
We have to show them there can be evil-behind a kind and gentle face.
Posted by kshaw at May 15, 2005 07:59 AM