BishopAccountability.org
	Ex-Calif. Priest Reveals Details of Abuse By Kim Curtis Associated Press, carried in Telegram & Gazette [San Francisco CA] May 11, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO— A former priest who was deported after serving time for child molestation revealed disturbing details of his attraction to children when lawyers traveled to his village in Ireland for a two-day deposition. Former priest Oliver O'Grady was questioned in March in a pending civil suit brought by an alleged sex abuse victim against the Stockton diocese, claiming it failed to protect children from a known abuser. The deposition was filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court by plaintiffs seeking to oppose a motion by the diocese to dismiss the suit. Trial is set for June. O'Grady, 59, served seven years in a California prison for molesting two brothers while he was a parish priest. He was later removed from the priesthood and deported to Ireland, where he's lived since 2001. He admits molesting as many as 30 children. O'Grady went into extensive detail about his years of abusing children at various churches in Northern California and the abuse he claims he suffered as a child. O'Grady said he was molested by two priests and his own brother when he was a child, and admitted molesting his younger sister. He said he preferred girls and boys between 8 and 10 years old, who were slim-built, friendly, affectionate and playful, not those who were "forward and aggressive." O'Grady at one point was asked to look into the camera and pretend to seduce a potential victim. "'Come here, I want to give you a hug,'" he said. "'You are a sweetheart, you know that. You are very special to me. I like you a lot.' She might respond, 'I like you, too.' That would allow me to give a better hug." One of O'Grady's alleged victims, Daniel Howard, 35, said the diocese should have done more to prevent the priest from molesting him, his two brothers and his sister over a 15-year period. It was his brothers' case that sent O'Grady to prison. "Every opportunity he had to abuse, he did," Howard said. O'Grady said in his deposition that he always admitted to his crimes in the confessional and he wished his superiors had gotten help for him earlier. "As I look back on my life, I realized that I had or have a very serious problem. The problem seemed to be there for a very long time," he said. "I often question myself ... if I even should have been ordained a priest to begin with." After a 1998 civil trial against the diocese, a jury awarded $30 million to the two brothers whose case led to O'Grady's conviction. The award was later reduced to $7.5 million in a settlement with the diocese. Two civil suits against O'Grady are pending. They're among 160 lawsuits filed in Northern California that are known collectively as Clergy III. More than 750 civil lawsuits were filed against Roman Catholic dioceses in California after the state in 2002 temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims.