A documentary about a priest in California who was known as a pedophile. But all the Catholic Church did was dislocating him to another city when the situation developed critical. The fact that he repeatedly molested children was never acknowledged, not even discussed.

The devastating effect on the victims is one side: Their families almost falling apart, the problem to speak about the situation and the consequences that most of it stays unspoken, the painful path and endless legal fight against the Catholic Church and the clerics hold responsible. The Catholic Church is doing everything to play down the situation, hide facts and even prevents their own people from talking about it. Again: the situation of victims and their feelings with the Catholic Church moves to a point of extreme anger, frustration and desperation.

Unfortunately not the first film I saw about this subject. About two years ago their were two movies taken place in Catholic Schools in Ireland, one for boys, the other one of girls, with the subject of situations where these students were consequently abused for decades. And maybe just a year ago another documentary of a man who moved with his family and realized that a priest who abused him when he was a young boy lived next door in his new neighborhood. More unfortunate you get used to this dark side of the church, the documentary this evening was nothing really new or surprising.

But what I did realize for the first time was how powerful the Catholic Church as an organization is. It is probably one of the most powerful in the world. It’s a corporation. You think of religion, god, believe, faith, gospels, community maybe and other spiritual, ethical, social values related to Church. Rather you might think of a big corporation, like Microsoft, Nike, McDonalds…One of the most striking things the documentary relieved was how the Catholic Church is trying to protect their power and their interests – without respect for the members of the chuch. The power they keep is more important than the problem of child molestation by some of the priests. That’s the way this is approached. Moments in this documentary when two Cardinal of the Diocese Los Angeles, the former and the present, testified in the case they couldn’t recall anything related that would make them knowledgeable and liable. Nobody knows. I thought of the new Cathedral downtown Los Angeles: I was always wondering how much influence, recourses, connections and funds the Catholic Church must have to realize a monument like that. For this documentary, the Catholic Church refused any interview.

I also thought regarding the problems in the Middle East and the annoying war in terror: we easily point the finger on the bad side of Islam, its tremendous influence on the population and how this is used to extend and protect influence. I thought: look at your own back door, welcome to the world of the Catholic Church. It’s basically the same thing, just in a different cultural environment and with different means. But basically the same. What’s worse: A suicide bomber or a child molester?