The Keepers

I have always been greatly upset not only by the revelations of child sexual abuse by priests, but, worse, the attempts by the Church to protect their priests over their children. I believe that awareness is crucial to ensuring that we never let this happen again, so I appreciated this well-crafted documentary that gave me more hard, concentrated information about one case, examining the experiences of the victims, the impact on their lives and families, the position of the church, law enforcement, government. I personally believe in the credibility of the victims, applaud them for sharing their stories and their pain, and applaud the women who will not let Sister Cathy's murder be buried and unwittingly uncovered the abuse that I also believe was at the root of it. I see that some reviewers are dismissing their claims and therefore dissing the documentary. Careful here - the fact is that a good documentary is not meant to convince, but to make you consider and think, and this one definitely has.

In this seven-episode true-crime documentary from Netflix (released May 19 of this year), The Keepers explores the 1969 death of 26-year old Catholic nun and Baltimore schoolteacher Sister Cathy Cesnik and touches on 20-year-old Joyce Malecki's murder four days later. Both slayings remain unsolved. The cover up that follows has echoes of Spotlight (see my review of January 16, 2016).

Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, two retired 60-something grandmothers and former students of Sister Cathy's at Archbishop Keough High School, still feel disturbed by the almost-half-a- century-old cold case. Who savagely beat and then murdered beloved teacher Sister Cathy? Starting a Facebook group in 2014 to reach out to others to share information about Sister Cathy's murder, these two badass senior citizens–as intrepid and analytical as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple–uncover a cold case like no other that the Baltimore police or Catholic Church has had to contend with. Abbie and Gemma create a safe space for people who had been afraid to speak up. And the role of social media is astounding as a tool for criminal investigation. These two amateur sleuths use the internet brilliantly! See the entire review at: unhealedwound.com

Shook me to the core. Hope they rot in hell or die the most horrendous death ever.

I'm petrified by the share amount of corruption is going on right in front of our eyes. It is absolutely staggering. How did it all come to this? Or has it been here all along? Is our society corrupt to the very core? I remember when the story about the abuse in the catholic church broke in 2002, and the movie "spotlight" which i consider to be the best film of 2015, tells this story. How they started investigating a priest for abuse and rape, and then they pretty much opened a can of worms.

The story exploded, and grew so fast the reporters were in doubt this could even be true. But as we now know, it is true. And we know it was covered up by the Catholic church. They knew. There is no doubt about this. Thousands of priests abused and raped children all over the world, in large numbers.

When someone rapes and/or abuses children, that is a tragedy in itself. And those performing such acts, or assist, have knowledge of but keep it secret or cover it up, are all equally guilty. What scares me after i saw "spotlight" is that it made me realize how big this problem is. But this is not the scariest part. The scariest part is that the police, high ranked priests, politicians, justice agencies and judges help cover it up.

For someone to see "the keepers" documentary and say: This cannot happen. Well you live in a fantasy world, and you better start reading and educate yourself. We live in a rotten society where the church, which is based on being the good, a place for people to find hope, for many is a place of horror and despair. And that you as a victim, will be silenced, threatened, tortured and/or killed if you speak up against them.

How is this even possible? Where is the justice? These people that have been abused are dying while still being traumatized. And i can only imagine the enormous sense of feeling lost they must have, when they constantly see the justice system fail them over and over and over again. It is absolutely totally unforgivable.

What we are witnessing is a system that protects itself and it's "members". This system is not only the church, this system as we now know, spans all the way to top politicians, which are receiving huge donations from the church, so they can stay in power, and be compliant. This is corruption we cannot allow in leading societies as we live in, this is dictatorships level of justice.

Recently in the news there has been articles covering a series of sexual abuses in Argentina by catholic priests, and that the pope himself has been trying to cover it up. And the third highest ranked Cardinal in the Catholic church was yesterday arrested for abuse by the police in Australia. This is never going to end.

Religions can inflict fear on children, grown ups as well, making them scared of an angry god if they do not do exactly what the priests tell them to do, and since god sees everything, they can not tell anyone about what has happened, or else there will be serious consequences. Holy damn, how much power the church has, and with great powers comes great responsibilities, but also corruption. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We are suppose to have systems in place to prevent these things from happening, and at least bring justice to victims of such crimes, but since the system is rigged and corrupt to the core, nothing will ever be done. Except if people wake up and demand change in large numbers, we can't sit here and just accept these things.

So thank you for making this documentary. May this be a way to raise even more awareness to how imperfect the world is right outside our doorstep. And may it result in real change in a deeply corrupt system that actually thinks rape and abuse of children and murder are perfectly OK. When someone suicides as a result of being abused like this, that is murder. When someone suicides because the system is not there to protect them as a result of their abuse or bring justice for such crimes, it is also murder.

We all have blood on our hands if we don't change the system.

Really well done documentary. I've watched four episodes so far and can't stop thinking about it. Truly horrific what these women were put through, by supposed people they could trust, and as teenagers! So sad. Truly hope Justice at least prevailed for perps in the afterlife!