![]() | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(September 2022) |
Revelation | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Created by | Nial Fulton Sarah Ferguson |
Written by | Tony Jones |
Directed by | Nial Fulton Sarah Ferguson |
Presented by | Sarah Ferguson |
Composer | Helena Czajka |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 3 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Nial Fulton Ivan O'Mahoney |
Producer | Nial Fulton |
Production locations | Australia, Ireland, United States, New Zealand, Italy |
Cinematography |
|
Editors |
|
Production company | In Films |
Original release | |
Network | Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
Release | 17 March – 2 April 2020 |
Revelation is a 2020 Australian documentary series directed by Nial Fulton and Sarah Ferguson. The series follows the criminal trials of three Catholic priests accused of child sexual abuse. [1]
The series was produced by In Films for ABC Television and premiered on 17 March 2020, where it received critical acclaim and won the Walkley Documentary Award and Best Documentary Series Award at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. [2] [3]
The series screened on Netflix in March 2023 and spent two weeks in the Top Ten Most Watched TV Shows across Australia and New Zealand. [4]
The series examines the forces behind the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Australia and follows the criminal trials of Father Vincent Ryan and Brother Bernard McGrath. The third episode looks at the systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Ballarat and features allegations of child sexual abuse against Cardinal George Pell. [5]
The series was shot on location in the Vatican, Ireland, New Zealand]and multiple locations around Australia, including the Catholic dioceses of Ballarat and Maitland-Newcastle. [6]
Following lengthy negotiations, the producers were granted permission to bring cameras into the New South Wales District Court to film the 2019 criminal trials of Father Vincent Ryan and Brother Bernard McGrath. Ryan's trial was filmed over six weeks and McGrath's over seven months. It was the first time anywhere in the world that filming of a clerical child abuse trial had been permitted.[ citation needed ]
NSW Corrective Services granted permission to Fulton and Ferguson to interview McGrath, a member of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God religious order. McGrath has been convicted on multiple sex offences against young boys under his care in Kendall Grange, New South Wales. His interview took place inside the maximum-security prison where he is currently serving a 39-year sentence.
The series premiered on ABC Television on 17 March 2020. Episode 1 achieved a combined (broadcast and online) audience of 885K and an iView audience of 979,000.
Episode 2 was postponed due to live coverage of the prime minister's televised address to the nation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and went to air on 31 March. It achieved a combined audience of 904,000. [7]
Episode 3 screened on 2 April and achieved a combined audience of 714,000. [8]
The series streamed on Netflix from 22 March 2023 and spent two weeks in the Top Ten most watched TV shows across Australia and New Zealand.
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Length (minutes) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Children Have Been Used by the Devil" | Nial Fulton Sarah Ferguson | Sarah Ferguson Tony Jones | 17 March 2020 | 87 |
2 | "A Dangerous Place To Be A Child" | Nial Fulton Sarah Ferguson | Tony Jones | 29 March 2020 | 90 |
3 | "Goliath" | Nial Fulton Sarah Ferguson | Tony Jones | 2 April 2020 | 102 |
The series met with positive reviews. Holly Byrnes of The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) wrote "Walkley award-winning journalist Sarah Ferguson has delivered some of the best TV journalism this country has ever witnessed, but Revelation might just be the pinnacle." [9]
Bridget McManus from The Age (Melbourne) gave it four stars, calling it a "searing documentary series". [10] [11]
Brigid Delaney, a senior writer for Guardian Australia , wrote: "You'll need a strong stomach to digest Revelation's insights into child sexual abuse in the Catholic church." [12]
In The Australian , Graeme Blundell wrote that "although it is often difficult to watch, Ferguson and her exemplary production team, including executive producer Nial Fulton, principal cinematographer Aaron Smith and researchers Sophie Randerson, Kate Wild, and Alison McClymont, have been able to shed light not only on their heinous atrocities but how the Catholic Church repeatedly chose secrecy over transparency and accountability. It is a confronting, awful study of a church that not only fell to decay but seems beyond renewal, achingly absent of integrity and grace."[ citation needed ]
Blundell also praised Sarah Ferguson for her restraint, saying that "the interviews she conducts, initially with Ryan and later with Bernard McGrath, a former St John of God brother, teacher and headmaster in residential schools in Australia and New Zealand, serving 39 years for crimes against children, are harrowing and disturbing as she provokes and exposes a web of conspiracy and perversion. She tries to display no explicit emotion as she questions Ryan but can only just conceal her ethical disgust behind that journalistic veneer of taut self-control." [13]
The series won the Walkley Documentary Award on 20 November 2020. The judges' citation read: "This haunting documentary broke new ground on an issue already well covered by the media and investigated by police and the Royal Commission alike. The extraordinary access to some of the Catholic Church's most notorious perpetrators of sexual abuse against children, as well as the insight it gave viewers into court proceedings, showed just how powerful journalistic documentary-making can be." [14]
On 7 April 2020, Cardinal George Pell was released from prison and had his convictions for child sexual abuse overturned. In response, the producers took the decision to include footage of Pell's release. No material from the original broadcast was removed or altered. [15]
In a statement, Cardinal Pell rejected the allegations made by Bernie and Peter Clarke in Revelation but, following his acquittal, did not sue the producers or ABC Television. Pell's release paved the way for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to release their previously redacted findings into what Pell knew about child sexual abuse in Victoria. [16] [17]
Andrew Bolt, a News Corp columnist and outspoken supporter of Pell, attacked the ABC and the filmmakers, saying that the series was part of a "witch-hunt" against Pell. Following his acquittal, other vocal supporters of Pell including Miranda Devine and Gerard Henderson, condemned those who had reported on the story. [18] Other News Corp]journalists also called the ABC's reporting on the Pell case one-sided and biased. [19]
Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University and long-time friend of Pell, accused the ABC and police of "polluting" the legal atmosphere around the cardinal's Victorian trial. [20]
The ABC rejected Craven's allegations they had intentionally brought forward Episode 3 of Revelation in an attempt to influence the High Court. [21] In response to News Corp, the ABC stated it had "always acted in the public interest" and rejected allegations of "a 'witch hunt' against Cardinal Pell" or "that it engaged in 'vigilante' journalism or that its coverage was one-sided or unfair". [22] One journalist Margaret Simons said the ABC's reporting on Pell did not "step over the line". [23]
Awards and nominations | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
Screen Producers Australia Awards | March 2021 | Best Documentary Series | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Nominated | [24] |
Australian Directors Guild Awards | December 2021 | Best Direction in a Documentary Series | Nial Fulton, Sarah Ferguson | Nominated | [25] |
Walkley Awards | 2020 | Walkley Documentary Award | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Won | [26] |
2020 | Television Camerawork (Episode 3) | Aaron Smith | Nominated | [27] | |
Asian Academy Creative Awards | December 2020 | Best Documentary Series | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Won | [28] |
November 2020 | Best Documentary Series (National Winner) | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Won | [29] | |
Australian Cinematographers Society Awards | November 2020 | Gold Award (Episode 3) | Aaron Smith | Won | |
Australian Screen Editors | November 2020 | Best Editing in a Documentary (Episode 3) | Philippa Rowlands | Won | |
Florence Film Awards | November 2020 | Best Editing | Philippa Rowlands | Won | |
November 2020 | Best Original Score | Helena Czajka | Won | ||
Spotlight Documentary Film Awards | January 2021 | Gold Award | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Won | |
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards | November 2020 | Best Editing in a Documentary (Episode 3) | Philippa Rowlands | Nominated | |
November 2020 | Best Cinematography in a Documentary (Episode 1) | Aaron Smith, Andy Taylor, Martin McGrath | Nominated | ||
Banff World Media Festival | June 2021 | Social Issues and Current Affairs | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Nominated | |
Australian International Documentary Conference Awards | March 2021 | Best Documentary Series | Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton, Tony Jones | Nominated |
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle responded to the imminent release of the series by issuing an open letter to their parishioners attempting to justify their failure to have convicted paedophile priest Father Vincent Ryan laicised. This was followed by a more detailed press release, including a timeline of Ryan's offending and Bishop Leo Clarke's failure to respond to Ryan's abuse,
The letter also stated that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith would recommend to Pope Francis that Ryan be laicised. [30]
Ryan died on 30 May 2022. Despite widespread knowledge of Ryan's prolific offending, the Catholic Church did not laicise him. [31]
During his interview for Revelation, Sarah Ferguson asked Bishop Wright why the church continued to celebrate the life of Bishop Leo Clarke, a man the church acknowledged had protected Vincent Ryan and concealed his sexual abuse of children. Following the broadcast, a plaque celebrating the life of Clarke was removed from Maitland cathedral.
Wright's report also dealt with the treatment of the Nash family and the remarks made by Father William Burston. [30] The report concluded that Andrew Nash "tragically committed suicide" after he was "abused by the criminal William Cable 'Br Romuald'". [30] An internal Catholic investigation was launched by Bishop William Wright regarding Burston's interview, where he told Sarah Ferguson that he thought the suicide of 13-year-old Andrew Nash in 1974 was a "prank gone wrong". [32]
Wright confirmed the internal investigation had concluded "some time ago" and that Burston had voluntarily agreed to no longer celebrate Mass or other church rituals. Audrey Nash had not been notified about the outcome of the investigation. [33] [34]
The Royal Commission Case Study 43 was released in October 2020 and found Burston knew there had been a complaint of "sexually inappropriate behaviour" against Ryan in 1976. [35]
The family of Andrew Nash told The Newcastle Herald that they wanted Burston laicised for his callous remarks. [36]
The Bishop of Ballarat, Paul Bird, issued a press release on 17 March 2020 warning parishioners they might find some of the material in Revelation confronting and painful. [37] Following the release of the series, Bird removed Father Bryant from his parish and forced him into early retirement.
On 7 April 2020, the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of St John of God posted a statement about the series on their website. [38] The order did not deny the allegations that they had prior knowledge of Bernard McGrath's sexual offending against children under his care and moved him from Australia to New Zealand and later to the Jemez Springs treatment facility run by the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico, United States. [39]
New Zealand's Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care examined the crimes of the St John of God order in Christchurch and used some material from Revelation during their public hearings. Judge Coral Shaw, chair of the commission, publicly thanked Nial Fulton and Sarah Ferguson for their work.
On 2 April 2020, the Archdiocese of Sydney responded to the allegations raised against Cardinal George Pell in episode 3 of the series by issuing a short press release. [40]
George Pell was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 and 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author, columnist and public speaker. From 1996, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was elevated in 1874 as an archdiocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Melbourne and is the metropolitan for the suffragan dioceses of Sale, Sandhurst, Ballarat, and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Ss Peter and Paul. The Archdiocese of Hobart is attached to the archdiocese for administrative purposes. St Patrick's Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, currently Peter Comensoli, who succeeded Denis Hart on 1 August 2018.
The Diocese of Ballarat, based in Ballarat, Australia, is a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and was established in 1874. Its geography covers the west, Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The cathedral is in St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.
Leo Morris Clarke was an Australian bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland in New South Wales from 1976 to 1995.
The Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, officially the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God, are a Catholic religious order founded in 1572. In Italian they are also known commonly as the Fatebenefratelli, meaning "Do-Good Brothers", and elsewhere as the "Brothers of Mercy", the "Merciful Brothers" and the "John of God Brothers". The order carries out a wide range of health and social service activities in 389 centres and services in 46 countries.
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is a suffragan Latin Church diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1847 initially as the Diocese of Maitland and changed to the current name in 1995. The diocese covers the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales in Australia. The bishop of the diocese is Michael Kennedy.
Nial William Fulton is an Australian film and television director, producer and writer. Focused on social justice issues, his works include investigative documentaries Revelation, Hitting Home, Borderland, The Queen & Zak Grieve and Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra.
Philip Edward Wilson was an Australian Roman Catholic prelate who was the eighth Archbishop of Adelaide from 2001 to 2018. He was President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2006 to 2010. From 1996 to 2001 Wilson was bishop of the Diocese of Wollongong, where he gained a reputation as a "healing bishop" for handling child-abuse scandals.
The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Victoria is part of the Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia and the much wider Catholic sexual abuse scandal in general, which involves charges, convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders. The Catholic Church in Victoria has been implicated in a reported 40 suicides among about 620 sexual abuse victims acknowledged to the public after internal investigations by the Catholic Church in Victoria.
Catholic sexual abuse cases in Australia, like Catholic Church sexual abuse cases elsewhere, have involved convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests, members of religious orders and other personnel which have come to light in recent decades, along with the growing awareness of sexual abuse within other religious and secular institutions.
Gerald Francis Ridsdale is an Australian laicised Catholic priest and sex offender. He was convicted between 1993 and 2017 of a large number of child sexual abuse and indecent assault charges against 65 children aged as young as four years. The offences occurred from the 1960s to the 1980s while Ridsdale worked as a school chaplain at St Alipius Primary School, a boys' boarding school in the Victorian regional city of Ballarat.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and report upon responses by institutions to instances and allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia. The establishment of the commission followed revelations of child abusers being moved from place to place instead of their abuse and crimes being reported. There were also revelations that adults failed to try to stop further acts of child abuse. The commission examined the history of abuse in educational institutions, religious groups, sporting organisations, state institutions and youth organisations. The final report of the commission was made public on 15 December 2017.
Sarah Ferguson is an Australian journalist, reporter and television presenter. She is the host of ABC TV's flagship news and current affairs program 7.30. She was previously a journalist for Dateline, Insight, Sunday and Four Corners.
Ronald Austin Mulkearns was the bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat in Ballarat, Australia, a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Melbourne. He resigned as bishop on 30 May 1997. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that Mulkearns was "derelict in his duty".
Paul Bird C.Ss.R. is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ballarat.
Joanne Maree Therese McCarthy is an Australian investigative journalist. Working for The Newcastle Herald, McCarthy wrote more than 1,000 articles on Catholic Church child sex abuse cases in the Hunter region. McCarthy's journalism was a decisive factor in Julia Gillard's decision to announce the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Bernard Kevin McGrath is a New Zealand convicted child sex abuser and former member of the Catholic religious order the Brothers Hospitallers of St John of God. He is considered to be the most notorious offender in the most notorious religious order in Australia. His victims include orphans, children with intellectual and physical disabilities and homeless children in Australia and New Zealand.
Vincent Gerard Ryan was an Australian Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing 37 children. He was first charged in October 1995 and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Ryan was the first Catholic priest in the Newcastle, New South Wales, region to be charged with child sexual abuse, and one of the first in the world to be convicted of such abuse.
Patrick Daniel Cotter was an Irish-born Catholic priest who was incardinated in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in Australia from 1938 to 2007.
Michael Robert Kennedy is an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in February 2023. He was bishop of Armidale from 2012 to 2023.