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I thought the documentary was excellent. But to reply to the person who stated that the documentary "hurt the people telling the story" I have a question for you. Have you yourself ever been a victim of abuse? If you had you would find yourself facing a cornucopia of emotions ranging from anger to shame and guilt. Victims of this type of abuse are typically reluctant to come forward. Tony Comes himself states that he didn't know what it meant. Did he mean that he was gay? You cannot sit there and judge these people for not coming forward earlier. It is not a black or white situation and I hope that no one in your family ever experiences something like this. If they did they would have to steer clear of you... God bless Tony and his family...

This is directed to Braindog... All I have to say is...have you ever been sexually abused? NOTHING is black and white. You have shown your utter ignorance in your review. I have not yet seen this film but after reading the reviews, I am very interested in seeing it. I have to say though, that I was completely blown away by Braindog's comment. If anyone has personally experienced sexual abuse, either personally or through a close friend, then they would know that it's not as simple as Braindog makes it seem. When the church is a huge part of one's life from the time they very little, even after something horrible happens by a respected member of the church, the person is not absolutely ready to reject the whole of the church by that one member's atrocity. There is separation and compartmentalization that occurs between the church as a whole and the offender who is a part of the church. The fact that one of the people highlighted in the film kept attending the church and had his daughter's First Communion in the church makes complete sense to me. Think of it this way. Are you willing to walk away from your family when one of them hurts you? Yes, the hurt is CONSIDERABLY less and completely in a different vain, but what if that parent hit you or verbally abused you throughout your life...you still feel a connection to that person or a connection to the family...most aren't willing to just walk away from the family for forever. To me, it's all about empathizing. Even though you may not have reacted a certain way, don't judge and put down others for what they did. And, you never know what you may do until you have "walked a mile in another's shoes."

This was an exceptional movie that gets into the heart of the entire abuse crisis. Abuse of any kind demoralizes the victim and makes "getting out" extremely difficult. Abuse by an authority figure, relative or priest is just that much more difficult. This movie authenticates the dehumanizing aspect of abuse and the terrible denial that only serves to demean the victim further. The main character, Tony Comes,does a good job of tracing his history and the circumstances that preceded the abuse. The unfolding helps the viewer to understand what the abuse has meant not only to him, his parents, wife and family but also his friends and drinking buddies. They aren't sure of its effects. It is easy to see just how hard it would be to come forward about the abuse. The church's various responses is criminal and at the heart of the story. The very source of comfort is in effect the source of the abuse and the continuing of the abuse.

It's shocking to learn the amount of abuse inflicted by a lot of Catholic priests in the past. There's not a day when one hears about a new case as the abused come forward to accuse what criminal men did to them years ago. Kerby Dick, a brave film maker, takes his camera to a group of people that were the victims of one priest when they were teen agers.

The documentary concentrates on Tony Comes, who finally had the courage to go on record to denounce his abuse. He had plenty of company, or so it seems. In fact, their bishop, who should have taken care in dealing with the corrupt priest, didn't do anything to prevent. In fact, this man chose the easy way out by ignoring the accusations.

Wendy Comes, Tony's wife, is deeply affected when she learns the extent of what her husband suffered in the past. In fact, Wendy was wounded when she discovered the truth. In fact, she had converted to Catholicism when she married Tony. In spite of their trauma, we watch as the Comes' young daughter making her first communion, accompanied by her parents.

Kirby Dick deserves to be congratulated for showing us how the actions of some evil individuals ruined lives by what they did to children who trusted them and saw in them role models.

I found this documentary to be well done, saddening, but also in the end inspirational. It seemed at least that this family committed to working things out even though things were difficult. I also found it to be a stinging indictment of the conduct of church officials, conduct unfortunately not limited to this particular circumstance. In my opinion, the Church as a body has not done nearly enough to express its sorrow and regret at the wholesale lack of action taken against known child abusers. I think that the RICO statutes should be used to prosecute many church leaders who took part in these cover-ups. The Church in Rome basically acts like none of this happened and still wants to hold itself out as some sort of moral authority. I don't buy it.