BishopAccountability.org
	An Abuse Survivor's Quest for Closure By Claudia Rowe Seattle Post-Intelligencer [Seattle WA] August 18, 2005 An unfortunate truth about media coverage is that often the more headlines a story generates, the more desensitized its readers become. News that Catholic priests around the country had sexually assaulted thousands of children generated an outpouring of rage when first reported, but much of that reaction has since downshifted to boredom, even irritation, at grown survivors' inability to move on. "Twist of Faith," a documentary screening at Grand Illusion Cinema this weekend, shows why so many can't. Film director Kirby Dick follows Tony Comes, a 33-year-old firefighter from Toledo, Ohio, as he grapples with the emotional fallout from decades-old violations, the circumstances of which -- from weekend trips with the priest, to his befriending of Comes' family -- will be eerily familiar to abuse survivors here. "Twist" is unusual, however, in its quiet intimacy. As he has in previous films, Dick gave his subject a camera with which to film himself in more private moments, so we see Comes in marriage-counseling sessions with his wife, bathing their toddler son and explaining his own childhood sexual abuse to the couple's 8-year-old daughter. The intent, Dick says, was to reveal survivors' emotional experience and this, the film achieves. But it also shows Comes becoming discomfortingly invested in his victimhood (a marked contrast to boyhood friend Matthew Simon, who now lives in Seattle, appears in the film and was abused by the same priest). Church officials in Toledo declined to participate in "Twist" and Dennis Gray, the accused former priest, has denied Comes' allegations. He appears in a videotaped deposition opining that sexual abuse may harm some children but not others. In 2004, Comes settled a lawsuit against Gray and the Toledo diocese for $55,000. Though nominated for an Academy Award in 2004 and recently presented on HBO, "Twist" is not a perfect film. Certain viewers will question Comes' actions and others will be disturbed by the frank discussion of child rape. But it will leave many with a more personal understanding of how quiet childhood violations can thunder into adult life.