MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
****
Director: Alex Gibney
Screenwriter: Alex Gibney
Principal cast:
Alex Gibney
Terry Kohut
Gary Smith
Pat Kuehn
Arthur Budzinski
Geoffrey Robertson
Country: USA/UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 106 mins.
Australian release date: 21 March 2013
After years of silence from the Roman Catholic Church, this explosive documentary about the sex abuse of children by members of the clergy resonates even more loudly since the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. It’s an exposé that is way overdue and is, quite frankly, ‘God-smacking’… and, I make no excuse for the irreverent use of God’s name. It reveals a secret that was exposed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when a report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in that diocese was lodged by some of the victims. This was many years after a letter had been sent to the Vatican in 1972, attempting to have a priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, defrocked for his regular abuse of children under his care at St John’s School for the Deaf. As if that crime wasn’t horrendous enough, Father Murphy deliberately singled out deaf children who he knew couldn’t express themselves to their non-signing parents and therefore were unable to make any accusations against him.
Alex Gibney’s documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House Of God, focuses on the abominable behaviour of this predator, who was accused by a number of the boys of hearing their confessions while making them masturbate in front of him. In a particularly mendacious claim to his innocence, Murphy went on record stating that he was merely making the children address their ‘sexual confusion’ by assisting them in purging them of their desires. Murphy went to his grave without being held responsible for his crimes and, to this day, the Vatican has not accepted the charges against him. He lies buried in consecrated ground in his priestly vestments.
Gibney’s documentary focuses on this wrong-doing and follows cases from the USA to Ireland and back to the Vatican, a city-state established by Italian Fascists before the Second World War. His carefully selected information delivers an extremely powerful emotional impact; you leave the cinema reeling as the stories unfold and the details emerge of an organisation that has never acknowledged the devils in its ranks and has only ever publicly announced its concern for the welfare of the priests accused, with little acknowledgment of the victims of their abuse. The code of silence is deafening in its cover-up.
Gibney uses a mixture of dramatization, archival and documentary footage to reveal these compelling stories. We learn how relentless the pillars of the church were in succeeding in their goal of maintaining silence. Members of the clergy got away with selecting, cultivating and abusing their victims; because they used the threat of excommunication if the victims spoke up against the church, so that rarely was anyone held accountable. At one point, I thought I was watching a depiction of Hell. I suggest you see this film, if only to make you wonder why Pope Benedict has resigned. Poor health, or conscience? The question remains to be answered. As Mea Maxima Culpa points out, from 2001, every reported case of sexual abuse by priests in the world had to cross the desk of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, who led the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as, The Inquisition.
Screenwriter: Alex Gibney
Principal cast:
Alex Gibney
Terry Kohut
Gary Smith
Pat Kuehn
Arthur Budzinski
Geoffrey Robertson
Country: USA/UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 106 mins.
Australian release date: 21 March 2013
After years of silence from the Roman Catholic Church, this explosive documentary about the sex abuse of children by members of the clergy resonates even more loudly since the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. It’s an exposé that is way overdue and is, quite frankly, ‘God-smacking’… and, I make no excuse for the irreverent use of God’s name. It reveals a secret that was exposed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when a report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in that diocese was lodged by some of the victims. This was many years after a letter had been sent to the Vatican in 1972, attempting to have a priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, defrocked for his regular abuse of children under his care at St John’s School for the Deaf. As if that crime wasn’t horrendous enough, Father Murphy deliberately singled out deaf children who he knew couldn’t express themselves to their non-signing parents and therefore were unable to make any accusations against him.
Alex Gibney’s documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House Of God, focuses on the abominable behaviour of this predator, who was accused by a number of the boys of hearing their confessions while making them masturbate in front of him. In a particularly mendacious claim to his innocence, Murphy went on record stating that he was merely making the children address their ‘sexual confusion’ by assisting them in purging them of their desires. Murphy went to his grave without being held responsible for his crimes and, to this day, the Vatican has not accepted the charges against him. He lies buried in consecrated ground in his priestly vestments.
Gibney’s documentary focuses on this wrong-doing and follows cases from the USA to Ireland and back to the Vatican, a city-state established by Italian Fascists before the Second World War. His carefully selected information delivers an extremely powerful emotional impact; you leave the cinema reeling as the stories unfold and the details emerge of an organisation that has never acknowledged the devils in its ranks and has only ever publicly announced its concern for the welfare of the priests accused, with little acknowledgment of the victims of their abuse. The code of silence is deafening in its cover-up.
Gibney uses a mixture of dramatization, archival and documentary footage to reveal these compelling stories. We learn how relentless the pillars of the church were in succeeding in their goal of maintaining silence. Members of the clergy got away with selecting, cultivating and abusing their victims; because they used the threat of excommunication if the victims spoke up against the church, so that rarely was anyone held accountable. At one point, I thought I was watching a depiction of Hell. I suggest you see this film, if only to make you wonder why Pope Benedict has resigned. Poor health, or conscience? The question remains to be answered. As Mea Maxima Culpa points out, from 2001, every reported case of sexual abuse by priests in the world had to cross the desk of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, who led the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as, The Inquisition.