Bless Us Father

Fifteen year old schoolgirl, Mary Margaret Riley, takes a job in the Catholic Church rectory answering telephones in 1963. Father Antonio Velasquez arrives at the parish having just been transferred from Boston. Mary Margaret is flattered at the attention he pays her, and is honored when he appoints her his special assistant. But when Father’s compliments turn into inappropriate touching, Mary Margaret is first shocked, then flattered, then inconsolable, but always silent. She tries to approach her mother but, as usual, is admonished. Her dad, though loving, is absent, which leaves Mary Margaret terribly alone to deal with this manipulative, lecherous priest.

Fast forward to 2007. Mary Margaret, now Maggie, goes to Los Angeles for settlement conferences with the Los Angeles Archdiocese. While there, she meets another victim of priestly sexual abuse, Javier Lopez, and the two become friends as they share stories of their lives scarred by the abuse, and their hope that the future will be made easier for them when they receive their monetary award. More important for Maggie, is being able to once again meet Father Antonio face to face and tell him of how he ruined her life.

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