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  Compelling 'Our Fathers' Recounts Devastating Scandal
The Tragic Tale of Pedophile Priests in the Boston Archdiocese Plays out like a Contrived Melodrama

By Ted Mahar
The Oregonian
May 15, 2005

Besides being an absorbing drama reminiscent of Costa-Gavras' classic "Z," the Showtime movie "Our Fathers" is a phenomenon in itself. The pedophile priest scandal in the American Roman Catholic Church has become so familiar -- in fact, such a cliche -- that it has become fodder for a cable docudrama.

Its director, Dan Curtis, is a veteran of television epics ("Dark Shadows," "The Winds of War," "War and Remembrance").

The national scandal, of course, is far too large to encompass in 85 minutes -- and it is hardly the sole property of the United States. "Our Fathers" is based on David France's 2004 book, "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal."

As in "Z," the true story plays out like contrived melodrama, with villains entrenched in high places and a hand-to-mouth lawyer clawing at a fortress for a morsel of justice for the victims he represents. But he happens to be in the right place at the right time for a domino to fall on another domino.

The right place is the Boston Archdiocese in the late '90s when the right forces were in place to bring mercilessly mounting pressure on Cardinal Bernard Law. He had spent decades moving pedophile priests from parishes where their crimes had become public to parishes where they could commit new crimes -- until discovered again and transferred again, ad infinitum.

A peculiar facet of the Catholic Church scandal is that ordinary pedophiles, when caught, went to prison before being released to abuse new victims. Abusing priests were inconvenienced by having to move, but rarely inconvenienced by arrest, trial and incarceration. And the moves may not have been so inconvenient. Predators are always seeking new sustenance.

For economy, "Our Fathers" follows the story through lawyer Mitchell Garabedian (Ted Danson). Hired by one victim, he found more, then scores more. As in "Z," one story led to another until the emerging picture grew to awesome enormity.

On the sidelines here is another group that the film might have followed, the Boston Globe Spotlight Team, which won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Had "Our Fathers" followed them, it would seem a replay of "All the President's Men," another tale that outreached the imaginations of the reporters who started with small leads.

Cardinal Law (Christopher Plummer) is depicted as a decent, phenomenally obtuse guy, accustomed to the veneration he enjoyed since donning the red hat in 1985, now agonizing in the harsh light he cannot elude. In all sincerity, he sees himself as a harried victim, befuddled by bizarre new pressures. He had long basked in the widespread knowledge that Pope John Paul II considered him special. Now growing throngs shouted for his resignation.

(Ultimately, the pope gave Law a plush sinecure in Rome after he resigned in shame. Like his exalted confreres, he participated in the election of Benedict XVI.)

For a fuller picture of the sex scandal, France's 656-page book is a must, but Curtis and scenarist Thomas Michael Donnelly do a decent job of summarizing and dramatizing the scandal. As if speaking for the film, Garabedian says more than once that what he's found is "only the tip of the iceberg."

The film can't explore why so many clearly gay men were accepted into the priesthood and how it has affected the church. But it does a fine job of dramatizing the devastation that pedophile priests caused and that the church has labored systematically to conceal. The film does note that many priests are gay without being pedophiles.

There is no way that Catholics and non-Catholics could see the same film, even sitting side by side. But the drama is compelling and may perhaps affect the real drama that has ground on for decades.

Personal note: I was a Roman Catholic seminarian in California, hoping to become a priest in the Redemptorist order. I was 14 when I entered in September 1954. I loved everything about it and was a serenely happy lad. I was expelled in October 1956, a week or so after my 16th birthday.

A friend confided that he loved another boy. Torn between ratting out a pal and doing what I well knew was my duty, I confided in another boy who was not at all torn. He instantly reported what he knew. He, too, was expelled. As the rector told me, it was "like a cancer" that had to be cut totally and immediately. The lad who inspired my friend's affection also was expelled. I've always wondered what the rector told him.

The point is, in 1956, any hint of homosexuality -- even merely knowing of it -- was grounds for radically changing young lives.

I still recall the seminary fondly. I never heard of such a thing as a pedophile priest until I was in my late 20s. All the priests I knew in the seminary were good guys, except for a few who were great guys.