June 28, 2005

Abuse survivor leads audience through painful aftermath

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

The numbers are staggering: thousands of accusers filing claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, millions of dollars paid in settlements across the country, countless families devastated by the crisis within their church. But for his documentary "Twist of Faith" (airing at 10 tonight on HBO), Kirby Dick wanted to tell just one story: of a victim turned survivor.

Dick, a longtime documentary filmmaker ("Derrida," "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist") who brought "Twist of Faith" to the Seattle International Film Festival last month, said he had been following the stories of abuse and cover-up within the church as they unfolded in recent years. "I was horrified," he said, "but also struck by the fact that it was really hard to see the story behind these horrific facts and figures."

To find the one subject on which to base his film, Dick contacted numerous chapters of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He was put in contact with representatives in Toledo, Ohio, who led him to Tony Comes. A handsome, then-33-year-old firefighter with a wife and two young children, Comes had just made the decision to go public with his accusations against Dennis Gray, a priest and religion teacher at Comes' high school.

Posted by kshaw at June 28, 2005 06:38 AM