Customer Reviews

Twist of Faith

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As an adolescent, Tony Comes of Toledo, Ohio, was molested by a Roman Catholic priest. Tony is now a fireman, with a wife and 2 children, one of whom is soon to take First Communion. Through a cruel Twist of Fate, they discover that the Dream Home into which they have recently moved is only 5 doors down from Tony's former abuser - the unrepentant former priest, shown in his video deposition
Q: Why did you decide to go into the seminary?
A: I decided that it would be a good life if I was a priest.
Good for whom?
Church Ladies will not approve of Tony's "firehall" language - but then, they probably won't be watching. The scandal of serial abusive priests should be enough to P off the Pope. But one of the saddest things is, it's not. Too many priests and parishioners are in denial. This unflinching HBO documentary is not about the shameful statistics but the horrific and traumatic toll on actual lives of an abused altar boy and the "ripple effect." /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

Tony Comes is a firefighter in Toledo, Ohio. As a teenager attending Central Catholic High School in the 1980's, he and others were repeatedly molested by priest and religion teacher Dennis Gray. Later in life when Tony, his wife, and 2 children move to a nice suburban neighborhood in Toledo, they're shocked to find that the serial child molester Dennis Gray now lives only 5 houses away from them on the same street.

In June of 2002, Tony met with Toledo diocese bishop James Hoffman to relate his story of sexual abuse. The bishop lied to Tony and stated that Dennis Gray had molested only him. Subsequent news reports attested to 6 additional men who reported they were molested by Dennis Gray at the same high school in the same time frame. Several of these victims are interviewed in this program. In September, Tony filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Church and in December he contacted the media.

The Catholic Church is shown to be very uncooperative with the media and attorneys in regards to these sensitive issues. This becomes clearer when information is discovered that a large, influential law firm working for the church has been silencing victims and quietly settling sexual abuse lawsuits for years all over Ohio. In fact, the church themselves knew all along about Dennis Gray and even other priests who were abusing children. The church, bishops, and priests all worked in collusion to cover it up until it was exposed by the media. Under canon law (the rules by which the Catholic Church lives by) priests are authorized to lie if it's in the best interests of the church to protect it from scandal.

In 2004, Tony and 21 other victims talked about a settlement with the Toledo diocese. Tony was eventually offered a paltry sum of 55,000 dollars which he reluctantly accepted. Only a few short weeks after this, it was discovered that the Toledo diocese had a stock portfolio worth over 100 million dollars.

The actual scope of this abuse perpetrated by priests is massive by any measure of the word. In a surprising act of honesty and revelation, a study commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Church showed that since 1950, there have been 11,750 reported cases of children who were sexually abused by 5,148 priests in the United States.

`Twist of Faith' is a sobering and heartbreaking documentary showing the guilt, pain, and suffering that was endured by Tony Comes and many resulting after effects that caused turmoil in his life and marriage. This is also a significant look at a legacy of deceit, corruption, and aberrant behavior in several elements of the Catholic Church.

Think you've had problems in your life? Meet Tony Comes. I thought the sex crimes committed by the priest were horrible, but the crime committed by the local diocese was even worse. There is no amount of money that can take away the pain and hurt that was inflicted on Tony, but an honest admission of guilt and willingness to repair the damage would have been a good place to start. The movie was informative and real - too real at times. I think God has reserved a special place in hell for people who use their "ministry" to perpetrate these criminal acts, and for the people who know about it and do nothing but lie and cover it up.
The movie is almost embarrasingly personal at times, showing scenes of human anguish that resonate long after the credits roll. I found myself thinking about it for weeks afterward, almost haunted by the evil that masqueraded as a servant of God. Tough to watch - impossible to forget.

-it is of utmost pride that most victims of abuse do not stand to tell horrific events of the past or even of the present...

this was a REAL and DEEP documentary that did just that.

with pride and dignity, Kirby Dick documents the story of a boy's (now adult) sexual abuse through the Catholic church. it is portrayed in a series of events as they occurred. just one jaw dropping incident after another.
thank you for sharing the tragic story. enlightening the eyes and ears of the world.
it is the church, not the faith.
that couldn't have been said any differently.

i urge anyone of any faith to watch and endure Anthony Combs struggles through coping and fighting and learning and loving.. relearning trust and some of life's most important attributes that can suddenly be robbed of anyone suffering from sexual abuse
-it's everywhere.

Having seen this now some 4 times and each time being again shocked, I suggest if you want to know the real truth of the effects of abuse and how the church treats its victims, see this movie.

This is a DVD that puts a human face on the statistics of the Catholic Church sexual abuses. Jason Berry's book "Render Unto Rome" tells the startling financial losses of the Vatican and especially the U.S. Catholic churches who pay for most of the suits(closing in on $2 bilion). This money is nothing compared to the agony and suffering of these victims. Tony Comes is a reluctant victim at first, but the abuse from 20 years earlier forces him to act. Valiantly, he fights along with others to seek justice. His wife supports him which gives him strength to carry on under duress. I especially underscore the scene where he tells his 10 year old daughter about his experiences with this "monster" priest who lives only five houses away. This is a lesson for all young parents: be honest with your children. This HBO team and family have given us all a "teachable moment". Outstanding!

I kept hoping all throughout the entire documentary that Tony and his wife would end up leaving the roman catholic church. (It was certainly the best thing I ever did, and I was never molested there or mistreated in any way, I just always hated the phony-baloney double standards and outright lies I knew existed even as a kid). But no, he lets his daughter take part in the first communion thing and spends all that time being in anguish and not turning away from the whole filthy rotten organization, which is what you MUST do if you are honest with yourself in the end. His wife was not raised a roman catholic and talked briefly about checking out a nondenominational church nearby. Tony and she would have been embraced there and would possibly have learned some actual bible, which is the only place the truth about Christianity can be found. The mention of the fact that a bishop is allowed and will lie to "protect" the catholic church cinches it for me - it's nothing but an organization of lies and always has been! And Tony said to his mom in effect that to be part of such a thing after getting the truth is to be in collaboration with it. Amen. Yet people stay in it because they think some other man (a priest, no matter how flawed he is) has some holy power over them. Martin Luther was a devout catholic monk who read the book of Romans one day and found a truth that the catholic church does not believe in, that "the just shall live by faith," and he knew he could not be part of the travesty anymore.

Tony needs to be the center of attention too much. It's always got to be about him first. He comes off as a ticking time bomb in this HBO movie. I believe the abuse happened. I am sickened by it. I don't know how anyone lives with him without being pulled into his vortex of anger and madness. The movie disturbs because of Tony's off-centeredness as well as the Church's coverup. I hope Tony finds inner peace beyond all of this. The ripple effect of abuse is what the film wants to impress most upon the viewer.