Plot

Documentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.

Former Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady - Father Ollie in more familiar circumstances - talks about his life as priest, including what he saw as his many failings in that role. Although not stating it as one of those failings, he also speaks about the sexual abuse of minors, both girls and boys, in his role as a priest, where his victims number in the hundreds covering approximately two decades in Central California, with his youngest known victim being nine months old. He admits that he spent as much time planning his abuses, which included gaining the confidences of parents sometimes also in sexual means, than he did with actual ministering. A handful of his victims and their support networks speak of how the abuse was able to happen, how it has negatively affected their collective lives to this day (while Father Ollie walks seemingly happy a free man in his native Ireland), and how they are trying to regain their faith in a holistic manner. Experts talk about how items specific to the Catholic religious structure institutionalize such abuse where power rests in the hands of a small few, while the flock - the masses - are meant, as good Catholics, to be subservient to that power, and why the abuse of girls is treated differently by the church than that of boys. This documentary then opens up the discussion to the fact that clergy abuse within the Catholic church is not isolated only to Father Ollie, but is widespread, may be institutionalized psychologically, and efforts are still made at almost every step by those in positions of power, including the Pope, to protect the abusers at the expense of the victims. In Father Ollie's case, he was moved from parish to parish within his diocese (the Los Angeles Diocese) and often promoted, while his victims were told he would be moved not only into therapy but into positions where children could no longer be abused.—Huggo

Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously active paedophile that Church hierarchy, aware of his predilection, had harbored for over 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children. Juxtaposing an extended, deeply unsettling interview with O'Grady himself with the tragic stories of his victims, filmmaker Amy Berg bravely exposes the deep corruption of the Catholic Church and the troubled mind of the man they sheltered.—Production

Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children.

A mix of victim stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady provide a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish, gaining the trust of congregations while betraying so many.