The Keepers

[cubanitafresca]

Is anyone watching this new series on Netflix? I've watched five episodes tonight and I'm just gutted. It's absolutely heartbreaking and sickening. And this from someone who watches a million true crime shows.

[kostgard]

I started watching while I was doing other stuff, but realized that I need to go back and rewatch when I can actually pay attention, because...hoo boy. What happened at that school was absolutely monstrous. I can barely wrap my head around it, it is so unimaginably horrible. If there is a hell, Satan reserved a special place for Father Maskell and everyone who participated with him.

[kanding]

I blew through the first three episodes last night. After the first, I texted my friend telling her that she had to watch it. After the second, I texted a warning.

Definitely not for the faint of heart.

[luminosa]

I'm about to start this now. Or maybe not and will start in the light hours.

[kostgard]

I'm rewatching now that I can pay attention, and in the second episode I already had to pause it so I could rage.

When Jean is telling her story about how her uncle molested her and she finally worked up the courage to mention it in confession, the priest asks her name and asks to see her face, and then tells her, "I don't know if God can forgive that. I'll have to pray on it more and get back to you." That alone is a monstrous thing to tell a child. But when you consider that the priest basically ran out of the confessional to go tell his buddies "We got one!" and Jean's nightmare was just beginning? That's when I almost threw something at my TV.

[Carolina]

I've watched the first five episodes. I nearly assaulted my television watching the lawyers defending Maskell, SSND and the diocese giving their little interviews to the local news.

[Millis]

I've only watched the first two episodes and it is so gut wrenching. I just cannot understand how these men came to be so evil. Were they always evil and entered the priesthood knowing it would give them access to victims? Did they resent being priests (seemed like Meskell was basically groomed to be a priest from a young age) and saw an opportunity they couldn't resist? Did they buy into the patriarchy of the priesthood and genuinely believe girls/women were the guilty ones? And there were so many perpetrators! Was there a secret club? How long had this abuse been going on? Maybe the rest of the series addresses some of these questions, but I almost don't know if I can bear watching, especially after seeing the evil done in Manchester in the name of religion.

[Carolina]

May 23, 2017 17:31:58 GMT -4 Millis said:

I've only watched the first two episodes and it is so gut wrenching. I just cannot understand how these men came to be so evil. Were they always evil and entered the priesthood knowing it would give them access to victims? Did they resent being priests (seemed like Meskell was basically groomed to be a priest from a young age) and saw an opportunity they couldn't resist? Did they buy into the patriarchy of the priesthood and genuinely believe girls/women were the guilty ones? And there were so many perpetrators! Was there a secret club? How long had this abuse been going on? Maybe the rest of the series addresses some of these questions, but I almost don't know if I can bear watching, especially after seeing the evil done in Manchester in the name of religion.

Honestly, I think any time you have a job that requires a vow of celibacy you're going to attract a much higher number of sexual predators and general weirdos with the addition of folks with god complexes. Plus, odds are these guys are good at sniffing each other out, just like they know how to pick and groom the most vulnerable children to prey on.

[scarlet]

I watched the first episode last night and was like "ok, little slow, but I'm sure it'll pick up." I just got finished watching the second ep and I'm speechless. I actually had to rewind once when Jean was telling what happened to her when she got summoned to the priest's office the first time because I thought I heard her wrong. I hadn't. Jesus, these poor girls.

[americanchai]

I think I'm on episode 4 and I'm already devastated. I'm sorry that Father Maskell is dead because he deserves to be tortured, publicly shamed and humiliated. I was trying to remember a very infamous case in Australia (which involved law enforcement participating in and covering up child sex abuse) and found way too many cases of Catholic sexual abuse cases - Australia in Wiki. Ugh, it is disgusting that what is described in this series is probably the tip of the iceberg of child sex abuse by authority figures all over the world. It almost makes you think that everything about the Catholic Church is designed to create a culture where the vulnerable are made that way on purpose to be victimized by those higher up on the food chain, church-wise.

ETA: Dear God, the nun's habit on the mannequin in the attic?!! Shivers.