Deliver us from evil

Review of a documentary about sexual abuse from TV Guide

It's estimated that serial pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady abused well over 100 children during his career as a California priest, though the exact number of his victims may never be known. But the most infuriating revelation in Amy Berg's powerful documentary is the lengths to which current Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney and other church officials went to protect Father O'Grady and themselves, even though it meant knowingly delivering countless other children into a child molester's hands. Berg begins by tracking Father O'Grady's crimes through the memories of a group of survivors and their families, then records the actions taken by several parents and one courageous cleric to call attention to what they suspected was a widespread problem. Then-bishop of Stockton, Merlin Guilfoyle, and later his ambitious successor, Bishop Mahoney (who hoped to become archbishop of L.A. and didn't need a pedophile scandal on his watch), solved the problem by quietly moving O'Grady from one parish to another. None of O'Grady's new homes were farther than 55 miles apart, so the moves conveniently enabled "Father Ollie" to continue molesting his prior victims while exposing himself to a new flock.