Priest Makes "Most Honest Confession" of His Life, by Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston, CNN, June 27, 2006

Priest Makes "Most Honest Confession" of His Life

By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN
June 27, 2006

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/27/griffin.priestabuse/

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- A documentary released this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival gives a detailed look into the mind of pedophile priest.

Former Roman Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, convicted in 1993 on four counts of lewd and lascivious acts on minors, granted filmmaker Amy Berg unlimited access.

During the film, O'Grady details how he preyed on children, how the Diocese of Stockton, California, knew about the abuse, and how O'Grady claims church officials allowed him to abuse children for two decades by moving him from parish to parish instead of removing him from ministry.

In a new documentary, former priest Oliver O'Grady talks about how he abused children.

"I want to promise myself this is going to be the most honest confession of my life," O'Grady said in the film. "And in doing that, I need to make a long journey back, understanding what I did and to acknowledge that. And in some ways make reparations for that."

The filming of O'Grady takes place in Dublin, Ireland, where he is now a free man after serving seven years in prison. The former priest was deported to his native Ireland after his release.

Some of the most chilling scenes show O'Grady as he freely walks the streets of Dublin. At one point the former priest views an art display near little children and peers over the fence of a children's playground.

O'Grady served seven years in prison but now walks the streets of Dublin a free man.

The film's debut comes at a critical time in current criminal investigations into sexual abuse by two Southern California priests and the alleged cover-up within the highest ranks of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, has been sued in civil court, alleging he moved abusive priests from post to post, rather than removing them from ministerial duties while he was the Bishop of Stockton.

O'Grady said he started abusing children when he arrived in California in 1976 and spent time in the home of parishioners who had a 5-year old daughter named Ann.

"Ann Jyono," O'Grady recalled. "Little Ann was one of the first people I met there."

Ann Jyono and her parents are interviewed in the film. At one point Bob Jyono recalls the emotional breakdown his family went through, when they realized years later that Oliver O'Grady had molested his daughter while a guest in his home.

"He was in here saying morning prayers, during the nighttime he's molesting my daughter," a tearful Bob Jyono said in the film. "Raping her," he continues, "not molesting her -- raping her. At 5 years old. How can that happen? That's just what he did."

Records show church officials knew about O'Grady's alleged molestation as far back as 1976. Church officials did not tell police about prior abuse when O'Grady was being investigated for abuse in 1984.

In a deposition, Monsignor James Cain, one of O'Grady's superiors, tried to explain why he did not tell police about the earlier allegations.

"Certainly I knew the one in '76 took place but didn't put the two together," Cain said. "One was a girl -- inappropriate touching, the other was a boy. So I just didn't hook them up in my own mind."

Monsignor Cain was being deposed about the 1984 allegations in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Stockton.

In 1984, Cardinal Mahony was the Bishop of Stockton.

It was during this time O'Grady was moved for a second time, to a remote parish in San Andreas, California, where the abuse allegedly continued.

In February of 2004, Cardinal Mahony issued a report to his faithful on more than seven decades of clergy sexual abuse in Los Angeles. Mahony said he did not fully understand the nature of pedophilia. He did not believe offenders, once confronted, would offend again. He admits that was a mistake.

Berg called her film an honest portrayal of an abusive priest.

"This is the first time we've ever heard it straight from the mouth of a pedophile," Berg told CNN. "And I think that's what's different, and it just shows how deep the level of corruption was and how sick it was to get inside the mind of a pedophile."

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles called "Deliver Us From Evil" an "obvious anti-Church hit piece."

Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg, who viewed the film prior to its debut, sent a statement saying it is "primarily based on anti-Church assertions by plaintiff's attorneys who stand to gain financially and on the self-serving comments of former priest O'Grady, a sick, twisted monster and, like most molesters, a master manipulator."

Tamberg adds that O'Grady "manipulated his victims, he manipulated his superiors in the Church, he manipulated his counselors and now, with his sly, feline grins and winks, he has manipulated the filmmakers." O'Grady told Berg he thinks of his victims all the time, though he can't remember them all. He said in the film he hopes to meet those victims again and ask for their forgiveness.

"Maybe not hug me," he said, "but at least shake my hand."