Deliver Us From Evil

“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.” Mark 9:42

Academy Award-nominated documentary Deliver Us From Evil is a disturbing and tragic account of the abuse of power and people by those with authority in the church. The film tells the story of Father Oliver O’Grady, arguably the most notorious paedophile in the history of the modern Roman Catholic Church.

O’Grady used his charm and authority as a church leader to exploit Catholic families and rape dozens of children across Northern California over the course of 20 years. His victims ranged from the middle-aged mother of an adolescent victim to a nine-month-old infant.

Despite the early warning signs and complaints from parishioners in several parishes, the film suggests the governing diocesan body saw avoiding liability and deflecting criticism as more important than protecting innocent victims. They lied to parishioners and local law enforcement agencies while relocating O’Grady from parish to parish within the Diocese.

Shockingly, internal church documentation shows that O’Grady raped and sodomised victims with the full knowledge of his Catholic superiors as far back as 1976 – a full 17 years before his conviction.

After serving seven years of a 14 year sentence for four counts of ‘lewd and lascivious acts’ on two minors, O’Grady was paroled from prison in 2000. He moved to his homeland, Ireland, after being deported from the United States. Former journalist and filmmaker Amy Berg subsequently contacted O’Grady and persuaded him to participate in this documentary.

Throughout Deliver Us From Evil O’Grady speaks openly about his own transgressions against numerous children and their families. It is a chilling testimony. Yet even as O’Grady does this, he often tries to make his actions seem vaguer and somehow less wrong than they obviously are. Audiences must be warned that some of the verbal accounts that O’Grady gives of his abusive actions are very sexually explicit. His accounts are straight forward and never sensationalised. No filmmaking devices are needed to highlight the horrific nature of O’Grady’s actions.

However, Deliver Us From Evil is more than a documentary about one man’s monstrous actions against many innocent people. It is an exposé of those in authority over O’Grady at the time of his criminal behaviour. Cardinal Roger Mahony was one of three bishops of Stockton who had oversight of O’Grady during his time in parish ministry. The documentary presents Mahoney as more concerned with saving face and placing personal gain as a priority over the protection of the innocent. And it worked because after six years as bishop of Stockton Cardinal Mahony was promoted to Archbishop of Los Angeles Archdiocese.

It is revealed that under Cardinal Mahony’s direction, Los Angeles Archdiocese spent $2million a month paying attorneys to prevent the release of incriminating information. Money that could have been spent protecting the victims was instead used to protect perpetrators. This was all so Cardinal Mahony could give the appearance of running a trouble-free diocese.

The documentary also exposes the inability of O’Grady to truly repent for his sinful actions. As O’Grady reflects on his past behaviour he offers an open invitation to all his victims to come to Ireland so he can meet with them and acknowledge what occurred. It is this word ‘acknowledge’ that sat uneasily with me. What O’Grady’s victims need isn’t to sit with their abuser and ‘acknowledge’ what happened. They know that O’Grady abused them. They were there. They need healing, not merely acknowledgement.

Sadly, O’Grady’s proposed ‘acknowledgement’ meeting – which he ends up cancelling without explanation just weeks before the set date – is only the first step in true repentance. It is quite clear that O’Grady is only concerned with the ‘acknowledgement’ of wrongs because it will lead to the alleviation of his own guilt.

Certainly, the removal of our guilt is part of the work of Jesus, but he also renews us and makes us people that seek his glory and the welfare of others – both earthly and spiritually. True repentance is only evident once a person’s actions follow their proclaimed decision to trust in Jesus and turn their lives back to God.

The clearing of his own conscience and living a comfortable life appears to be O’Grady’s only concern. After all, O’Grady could testify against the authority’s that were over him during his abusive years of parish ministry. Sadly, he is unwilling to do so because he values the new lifestyle of immunity that he enjoys in Ireland, which is funded by a pension that he receives from the Roman Catholic Church.

While God offers forgiveness to all, earthly punishment is sometimes the necessary payment that a truly repentant person must make for their earthly crimes. A truly repentant O’Grady would turn himself in for all of his criminal behaviour.

The documentary also tragically shows how the wrong actions of a few can affect so many. We see that when abuse takes place, the victim is not just the person who suffers the physical act of abuse. Family members, loved ones, friends and even church family are victims of this breach of trust.

A formerly faithful Catholic family man, Bob Jyono allowed Father O’Grady to live under his roof soon after he arrived to California. Mr Jyono delivers some of the most heartbreaking footage ever caught on film as he tearfully shares the guilt he feels for housing the man that abused his daughter, Ann Marie, periodically for almost seven years.

“He was in here saying morning prayers, during the night time he’s molesting my daughter. Raping her. Not molesting her – raping her. At five years old. How can that happen? That’s just what he did.”

Mr Jyono has since has lost his faith in God because of the actions of a few evil, but influential, people in the church. The transgressions of Father O’Grady and the failure of several bishops to deal adequately with the abuse turned a man away from more than just a particular Christian denomination. They gave a man a reason to turn away from the Christ who offers true and lasting peace.

The film also introduces us to gospel focussed men like Father Tom Doyle, a Roman Catholic priest fighting for rights of abuse victims. He takes on the Catholic institution, in a very bold but career-destroying act for a Catholic priest. Yet he does so because despite seeing the flaws in the institution, he is still a part of it and wants to make it a safe place of worship for all. He states that the church is not the buildings and institutions, but rather the ‘body of believers’. He also expresses that only Jesus is our true high priest. Sadly, Doyle’s advocacy work receives no response from Catholic authorities.

This documentary is one that few people will want to see but that anybody with a leadership position in the church, particularly over children, should seriously consider seeing. Please don’t think ‘Oh, that’s just the Catholics…’. Admittedly, the documentary does explore habitual child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church which dates back to the fourth century. It also suggests that the enforced singleness of Priests is a big contribution to the cause.

However, Christians everywhere, including Sydney Anglicans should not be fooled into thinking ‘that’s not our problem’. Human sinfulness doesn’t respect denominational boundaries. Even within Sydney Diocese there have been reports of abuse. Thankfully, this has led to arrests and convictions being made.

Watching this film is a lot like watching the Behind Closed Doors video from TAMAR (Towards A More Appropriate Response) attending a Youthworks child protection seminar or reading a report from the Sydney Diocese Professional Standards Unit. Sometimes we have to be shocked into the reality that abuse does take place in our churches.

While many of us may never have experienced abuse, this should not lull us into a false sense of security where we think it never takes place. Statistics suggest one in four girls and one in seven boys are abused in Australia by persons in positions of trust. Deliver Us From Evil gives the figure that 80 per cent of abuse in US churches goes unreported. This or any other film that alerts us to the prevalence and tragic results of abuse within churches must be given serious attention.

Films like Deliver Us From Evil are a reminder that as Christians and a church we are to be “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Cor 2:15). This will include taking every precaution to protect people, especially children, in our care so they can worship God and meet with Christians safely. It will also mean being vigilante and transparent as an institution when abuse does take place.

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