cbsnews.com
December 14, 2010 4:52 PM
Oliver O’Grady (“Deliver Us From Evil”)
LONDON (CBS/AP) A priest who was defrocked for molesting children throughout the 70s and 80s and whose story was made into an award-winning documentary on sex abuse in the Catholic church was arrested Friday by Irish authorities on child pornography charges.
Oliver O’Grady was detained in the Dublin area Friday morning, but Irish police did not give very many details about the exact nature of his alleged crime.
According to the Dublin Times, however, Catholic canon lawyer Patrick Wall said the convicted pedophile had mistakenly left his laptop on a plane and authorities found thousands of child pornography photos on his laptop and hard drive.
O’Grady was released on $750 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
The 65-year-old became infamous after he was the subject of the award-winning 2006 documentary “Deliver Us From Evil.” In it O’Grady spoke candidly about abusing more than 20 children as he was shuffled from one parish to another in California through the 1970s and 80s.
O’Grady was arrested in 1993 and pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual abuse with children under 14 and served seven years in a California state prison. In 2000, O’Grady was deported back to his native Ireland , reports the Lodi News-Sentinel.
O’Grady then moved to Holland and began volunteering at a parish in the city of Rotterdam until parishioners recognized him from the documentary and reported him to police.
By that time, O’Grady had already fled the country.
Further outrage erupted when the northern California’s Stockton Diocese, which has been hit with a slew of lawsuits over O’Grady’s actions, announced that he would receive monthly payments totaling nearly $100,000 over 10 years as part of a deal to get him to leave the priesthood.
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‘Deliver Us from Evil’ priest arrested in Ireland
Convicted in 1994 of molesting two brothers, he served almost seven years in a U.S. prison before being deported to his native Ireland.
Earlier this year the Dutch Catholic Church came under fire after it emerged that O’Grady had been working as church volunteer in the city of Rotterdam. O’Grady had been living in the country under another name, but parishioners recognized him when “Deliver Us from Evil” was aired on Dutch television in April. By that time, the disgraced cleric had already left the country.
In June survivors of O’Grady’s abuse expressed outrage when the northern California’s Stockton Diocese announced that he would receive monthly payments totaling nearly $100,000 over 10 years as part of a deal to get him to leave the priesthood.
The Stockton Diocese, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, has been hit with a slew of lawsuits over O’Grady’s actions.
Just watched Deliver us from evil. I am 74 years old. Was abused by my father from age 5 to 14. He not only will not admit it but his actions show he doesn’t think he did not do anything wrong. The fact that O’Grady was smiling toward the end of the film and wanted his victims to come to him for an apolgy shows how scewed his thought processes are. I didn’t trust the smile. I then discovered this page and now I know why. Some have no conscience. Others see nothing wrong with this. Some say no rehabilitation is possible. I wonder if any think that some may be sicker than others and actually have a choice? Is there a website i might be able to view where older victims talk about this.
To Rose DeVellano: I am so sorry this happened to you. I spent some time last night looking at sites or services for adult survivors of incest who want to connect with other survivors. I have no understanding of what would meet your needs and have no suggestions at this time. But your posting touched me. I admire your wish to gain understanding and further heal. I hope another reader will have suggestions in response to your inquiry. If so, would love to hear.
I’m sorry Rose, like 1yellowknife I don’t know where to direct you. Try doing a google search on “incest” and “forums” or “blogs” to see if you can find something.
Lina, are you there? You usually do a lot of searching on the net. Have you come across anything which could help Rose?
Sylvia,
Just caught this before going to bed.
No Sylvia, I haven’t came across a site that talk about sex abuse crimes done against a person like 74Yrs.old Rose DeVellano. One needs to be careful where she can get that help talking to others. Just talking about it here is a major step. Also knowing it is not her fault.
I pray there is a person or group that can help.
I am so sorry Rose DeVellano that this happened to you.
Lina
Sylvia, there is one more post which has to be removed. It is about some kind of pills or sthing. It is in french ,I think. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!
Rose’s questions were about abusers and about contact with older adult victims. Doing a search will not necessarily help because there are so many websites to go through and it can be extremely depressing.
The first issue: Even when abusers feel guilty, this does not seem to stop them. While we know something about child abusers, we do not know nearly enough about what sets them on this particular path of destruction. We do know that it is almost impossible for them to be “rehabilitated”. O’Grady is probably typical of many abusers – it is clear in the documentary that he has spent his life abusing children as he was abused, even though he doesn’t see it himself. He left a swath of destruction and will continue to do so, if he can. He does not really want to apologize to his victims, I would argue, rather he wants them to tell him what he did to them so that he can relive the abuse. It was rather surprising that he was so open about it for the documentary – and we can be thankful for that because, as the news story above indicates, he was stopped from working in at least one parish.
The second issue: Might I suggest that Rose go to my blog “So They Think We’re Crazy”. I am a survivor as well, but of priest sexual abuse when I was 8 (in the 50s). I talk about my journey. There are also links to some of my writings, as well as the beginnings of a subject Index. There is also a link on the blog to “Mennonite Coverup” – a website from a woman who was abused by her father and the difficulty that she had in being believed in the church and her family.
If the editors of this blog could send my e-mail address and blog address to Rose, I would certainly be willing to engage in a dialogue with her via e-mail. She could also ask questions via the comment section on the different blog posts and I will respond.
Thanks for the website. I’m glad that somebody is putting together a list of priests in Canada. Keep up the good work. We all try and do what we can!