TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
Article published Sunday, August 14, 2005
Russ Lemmon
Five super-size Lemmon Drops:
It's an Oscar-nominated documentary set in Toledo, yet no local theater will show it.
If I hadn't seen the story unfold with my own eyes (via reports in the local media), I wouldn't believe it.
People in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Tucson, and Portland, Ore., have had the opportunity to see it. And before the end of the month, so will those in Seattle, St. Louis, and Indianapolis.
Amazingly, Twist of Faith can't get a public screening in northwest Ohio.
Could we be any more small-minded?
Twist of Faith chronicles the life of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes around the time he went public with allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest, Dennis Gray. It has drawn rave reviews from film critics across the country.
If the Maumee Indoor Theater refuses to show it, then it behooves the Toledo Catholic diocese to do so.
The diocese should follow the lead of the Rev. Chris Carpenter, who showed Twist of Faith inside Christ the King Catholic Church in Mesa, Ariz. It was one of seven works he recruited for the first Catholic Film Festival, held May 20-21 in the Phoenix suburb.