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Brendan Gleeson confronts Irish Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal in ‘Calvary’

Plays priest who is rejected by his own community

DARA KELLY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, August 18, 2011, 8:47 AM

Updated Thursday, August 18, 2011, 8:47 AM

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Brendan Gleeson

Photo by David Levene

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will play a Catholic priest who must confront his own community and public revulsion towards the Church after its handling of sex abuse scandals there.

The film will see him back working with John Michael McDonagh, the writer and director of his current smash hit The Guard, and it's understood the script, called Calvary, has already been drafted.

According to a report in the Irish Examiner this week the new film will tell the story of a decent priest trying to go about his parish duties against the backdrop of the Catholic Church facing public revulsion because of the litany of sex abuse scandals.   Gleeson said he will play 'a good priest in an atmosphere where the priesthood is reviled.'
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Speaking about the new script with McDonagh, Gleeson said: "We cooked it up one night, just talking. It must be really difficult now to be a good priest, given how you’ve been let down by everything around you."

  "I am interested in good people as well as bad. Not purely good — that would be really dull — but I like the notion of mixing great and terrible figures with ordinary men," he said.   

Gleeson’s success with The Guard and a previous outing with McDonagh’s playwright brother Martin in "In Bruges", has made the 56-year-old Irish actor one of the busiest and most sought after talents in the world.

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DannyHaszard | Sep 01, 2011, 11:46 AM EDT

Not to diminish the high crimes of the RCC but Please examine the Jehovah's Witnesses who go door to door and come on our property. Jehovah's Witnesses pedophiles. Many court documents and news events prove that Jehovah's Witnesses require two witnesses when a child comes forward with allegations of molestation within the congregation. Such allegations have customarily been treated as sins instead of crimes and are only reported to authorities when it is required to do so by law, (which varies by state). It has also been shown that child molesters within the organization usually have not been identified to the congregation members or the public at large. These people engage in a door to door ministry, possibly exposing children to pedophiles. The Watchtower corporation has paid out millions in settlement money already. -- Danny Haszard abuse victim dannyhaszard(dot)com

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warlocks | Aug 20, 2011, 11:05 PM EDT

as a young Lad growing up i became an altar Boy and served Mass. in ST. Cathrines in Charlestown, Ma. There was never any wong doings going on in our parish . we Honored & Respected our Priests & the Treated all the kids with respect .we loved our church , Priests & the Nuns that taught us. they gave us a Good Catholic education that was second to none. God bless Each and everyone of them. I Don't know what happened to to the church after the 1970.s it seemed to fall into Decay because of a Few Rotten Apple. Priests. the Vatican Failed all Catholics by not Rooting out the Problems . its a shame that the Vatican has let church Decay as far as it Has. Ireally think the Catholic Church needs to breake away from the Corrupt Roman Vatican . it needs to be Reborn.

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barneyjo | Aug 19, 2011, 03:07 PM EDT

@Angelprecious - Gods will be done in ridding the church on earth of the evil in its midst, in Ireland, the United States of America and wherever else it is to be found. If God the father is seeking to cleanse the church then NO-ONE, not you, or me can change that or stop it from happening

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barneyjo | Aug 19, 2011, 03:04 PM EDT

@Angelprecious - Gods will be done in ridding the church on earth of the evil in its midst!!!!!

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keneconnor | Aug 19, 2011, 04:07 AM EDT

The sex abuse scandal from decades ago is about sex abuse the same way that Watergate was about a petty break in or the impeachment of Bill Clinton was about perjury in a civil case. The haters of the church--of which there have always been many--have used this problem of sex abuse decades ago to destroy the only organization that Christ founded. Catholic priests have a record of abuse below that of other males but you would never know that from reading the mainstream liberal press. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/07/mean-men.html

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eiriamach | Aug 18, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT

A "good priest" would be one who helps clean up his own profession by reporting sex offenders to law enforcement authorities and giving information about who is covering up for whom. I'd like to see a film about that kind of "good priest," but it is too difficult to believe that the many who did nothing to stop the abuse really knew nothing about it. Something more is required than just not doing the sexual abuse; something more is required because others have been doing it. "See no evil; hear no evil; speak no evil" is a slogan of moral cowardice. To the victimized children it means "See no suffering; hear of no suffering; speak of no suffering," i.e., let the the suffering continue. It will be interesting to see this film and find out what the "good priest" does at the end of the story.

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supersurvivor77 | Aug 18, 2011, 06:34 PM EDT

catholicabusesurvivorsni.com----- its a pity brendan you hadnt done some research with the hundreds of thousands of sexual abuse victims in ireland committed by the priestly church, and played the role of a paedophile priest , de la salle christian brother or even a nun or one of their child abusing protectors, your another bono, and sir bob avoiding the elephant in the room. and angel precious the holy roman catholic church in an unbiblical monetry system, jesus biological mother was a fully human daughter of adams race a jewish sinner saved by grace, and whats holy about a child raping superstitious man made law system, good priests in who's eyes not according to the book.

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AngelPrecious | Aug 18, 2011, 11:14 AM EDT

No wonder Ireland is failing so miserably. The anti-Catholic sentiment I constantly read here and other places saddens me immensely. At one time, I had the greatest admiration for Ireland as a Catholic country that upheld Catholic ideals. So sad to see that so many have allowed some unholy people turn them away from the truth found within the Catholic teachings. There are still MANY holy priests to be found within your once great nation! I hope and pray that Ireland turns back to Jesus and His mother before things get even worse!

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mcdolan | Aug 18, 2011, 10:22 AM EDT

Terrific actor1 I heard a radio interview with RTE's Miriam O'Callaghan and Gabriel Byrne recently and Gleeson is the moving force in getting the screenplay written for Flann O'Brien's 'At Swim Two Birds' with Gabriel Byrne playing the pooka. Now that's something to look forward to (spring 2012) ... will have to re-read that book soon!

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