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  Victims to View Church-Abuse Film

By Brad A. Greenberg
San Bernardino Sun [California]
May 9, 2005

A few dozen victims and people claiming to be victims of clergy sexual abuse from throughout Southern California plan to travel to Los Angeles tonight to watch a film dramatizing the scandal that whipsawed the Catholic Church in America.

"Our Fathers,' which stars Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy, is to be shown to an invitation-only audience at the Directors Guild of America Theatre. Showtime is scheduled to air the full-length film for subscribers at 8 p.m. May 21.

"Even going to something like this for some of us can take a lot of courage,' said Mary Grant, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The film focuses on how the scandal shook Boston. It shows how straight-A students and altar boys became drug addicts, suffered emotional disorders, lost their faith and even committed suicide.

It details how an unappreciated attorney and a team of reporters at The Boston Globe exposed Cardinal Bernard Law's practice of simply reassigning accused priests to different parishes and the public reaction that led to the cardinal's downfall.

Though there is no reference to churches in California, the story line resembles the battle fought by victims of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of San Bernardino, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

"I'm trying to learn about this,' said a 58-year-old former San Bernardino woman who in 2003 sued the dioceses of San Diego and San Bernardino for not protecting her and other children from abuse by priests. "I'm trying to find out why all these people covered this up.'

She was 13 when she claims the Rev. Franz Robier first molested her. The year was 1959.

At the time, St. Anthony Catholic Church was under the governance of the Diocese of San Diego. The Diocese of San Bernardino formed in 1978, five years before Robier retired. Since the abuse scandal broke, about 20 people have accused Robier, who died in 1994, of abuse.

"After the abuse, I tried to stick with the church and I just saw all the hypocrisy,' said the woman, who asked to not be identified. "The pastor said never to speak about it; my parents said never to speak about it. ... Nobody ever thought about me.'

"Our Fathers' is full of similar stories: people whose souls were wrought with shame and whose lives were ruined by people their parents trusted.

The film is based on Newsweek reporter David France's heavily researched book "Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal.'

Executive producer David Kennedy, a Catholic, said in a statement he decided to make the film so "the destruction of lives ... would never be forgotten.'

Spokesmen for the Boston Archdiocese did not return phone calls for comment.

In a heart-wrenching scene, Tom Blanchette (played by Hugh Thompson) visits in 1989 the Rev. Joseph Birmingham, who was accused of abusing dozens of children, including Blanchette and his our brothers.

As the priest lays on his deathbed, Blanchette said: "Father, I want you to forgive me. I want you to forgive me for the hatred I've felt for you all this time.'

Tears running from Blanchette's eyes, he then asks the dying priest if they can pray together. He grabs his hand.

"Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, heal Father Birmingham,' he prays. "Father, forgive him his sins, so that he too might have eternal life.'

This scene was a combination of two meetings between victim and abuser, as reported in France's book.

"I found that to be one of the most moving scenes,' said Suzanne Morse, spokeswoman for the Boston-based lay group Voice of the Faithful. About 150 abuse victims and members of Voice of the Faithful saw the film in Boston last week.

"For most survivors and lay Catholics, there is a great desire for reconciliation and healing with the church,' said Morse, who is not a victim. "Moments like that give us some sense of hope."