Lack Of Knowledge

The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly didn't know. They had no clue that the man attending the seminary in Thurles was a pedophile. So there was the one time the seminarian was photographed in drag, but it was a social gathering. And just because the man later went on to abuse children in his drag queen guise, the Archdiocese didn't know before, when he was just a seminarian.

Alameda County Superior Court agrees that the holy men of Cashel and Emly are not liable in a lawsuit that was brought by victims of Oliver O'Grady, who studied for the priesthood in that very diocese. Therefore, the coffers of Cashel and Emly may remain untouched by the American gentleman who was sexually abused by O'Grady when the pervert-priest was assigned to a diocese in Stockton, California. Archbishop Dermot Clifford no doubt breathed a sigh of relief before he headed off to pray for the victims of the graduate of St. Patrick's College. The Catholic Church in Ireland has already been hit by its own homegrown scandal, and weaseling out of paying the victims has been an exhausting struggle. Just when you think you've seen the end of it, along comes another one, and Archbishop Clifford would like a bit of a holiday from the onslaught.

O'Grady was tried and convicted in California, and served seven years of his sentence. In 2000, the USA deported him back to Ireland, where he is said to be living in a rented house on the Dublin road in Thurles. He surely enjoys the settled life, even though the Catholic Church booted him out of the priesthood and he's not Father Ollie anymore. As a resident of California, he was moved from parish to parish; with each incidence of sexual abuse he was trundled off to another parish to be some other church's problem.

There is no doubt as to O'Grady's guilt. He even had the audacity to give interviews to Amy Berg, a film-maker who has prepared a documentary, a chilling one at that, detailing O'Grady's actions. In Deliver Us From Evil, Ollie shows no shame about his past, willingly demonstrating for the camera how he would approach children and groom them for later sexual abuse. In spite of his candor, the Catholic Church fought tooth and nail against the victims who brought lawsuits, using legal manuevers to get out of paying for their crimes.

The victim who brought the lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is not ready to give up. His lawyer stated recently that a parishioner in the Archdiocese has come forward, another victim of O'Grady's perversion. Attorney John Manly has filed an appeal, and local gardai have been informed of this latest allegation.

For what I have done, and what I have failed to do. All well and good to ask God for forgiveness at every Mass, but it takes more than words to fix what was done behind priestly garb. Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, but it's time to pay the piper.