Mea maxima culpa

I just saw this documentary today after hearing about it from my wife, who did not see the whole film. We watched it together. I have never been Catholic, while she had been for a short period while attending an all girls Catholic High School.

What struck me most about the film was the reason that was given for Father Murphy's exit from St John's, for health reasons. Just this morning, Pope Benedict announced he was stepping down for health reasons. It makes me wonder if the release of this documentary had something to do with his decision. If he lives even half as long as Father Murphy did, after he left St John's, it would, in my opinion, give lie to that.

This film needs to be seen by everyone in the world and let them make up their own minds. I do give a lot of credit to the Dubliners that have stopped attending Mass. The documentary stated that they were down to 4% of the Catholics still attending. Good for them!

One of the reasons I watched this documentary is that I have a deaf daughter who herself attended a Catholic deaf school for a few years. The other is that I am an ex-therapist who used to work with sexual abuse victims and perpetrators (the latter, I came to realize are beyond the scope of therapy--hence my biggest reason for retiring from the field). Sadly, however, I cannot show this documentary to my daughter, as the folks didn't bother captioning the film--only what's being signed by the deaf folks being interviewed! This is ridiculous--how can they make a video that many of the victims cannot even watch and understand?! Crazy--and I can't think of a worse film to do without captions. Despite this HUGE problem, I still recommend the film to everyone--and perhaps deaf people could hopefully have an interpreter translate the film, though this is very unlikely. For this reason, the film loses a point.

"Mea Maxima Culpa" is a film that begins with a deaf school. During the tenure of a piece of human garbage (otherwise known as 'Father Murphy') at the school, he repeatedly sexually abused the kids. Not only did he victimize the most vulnerable population, within this group he targeted the most vulnerable--those deaf kids whose parents did not use sign language and/or had strained relationships. The saddest part of the film is NOT that the kids were abused by Murphy but the abuse by the Church--which repeatedly did everything it could to prevent Murphy and other pedophiles from being punished in any way. And, surprisingly, in this and so many other cases, the victims were threatened with excommunication if they came public*!! It's enough to make you want to toss something at your television and I found myself yelling at the film several times! In addition to the Murphy case, the film discusses a few other international cases (such as in Ireland, Italy and Latin America). And, it spends much of the time discussing the actions by John Paul and Benedict that impeded investigations and kept pedophiles in close contact with children.

Overall, this is a very well done documentary (aside from the captioning) and very, very compelling. It's hard to imagine anyone watching this without becoming energized--and that's a good sign of a documentary.

*In one case, the Church had a deaf adult sign a statement saying HE was sinful and was repenting for damaging the Catholic Church by 'lying' about the molestations. Many deaf adults are illiterate or nearly illiterate, so the notion that he had no idea what he was singing was very likely based on my experiences in the deaf community--plus they had no interpreter there during the meeting where he was asked to sign! Doing such a thing is further reason I found myself yelling out loud during the film. For shame!!

If Dan Brown had written a novel about a cover-up in the Catholic Church on the scale depicted in this film, it would be treated as a great work of fiction. The trouble is, it's all true and that's the most shocking thing about it. It is a very well made film that has a compelling flow to the narrative and this is helped with some nicely chosen musical backdrops. The only thing that lets it down is a lack of balance, but then, as it says in the film, the Vatican refused to be interviewed for this film. Not that they could have put up any defence. I found it a gripping watch that did get a little emotional at times. Well worth a look whatever religion (or not) you are.

SteelMonster's verdict: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My score: 8.8/10

You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Never a film-maker to shy away from trying to make sense of a somewhat catastrophic event or subject matter, Academy Award winning documentary film-maker Alex Gibney tackles the subject of paedophilia in the Catholic church. From the bottom, where apparently celibate priests have free reign over their own church relatively unsupervised to take confessions inside a broom cupboard and prey on children while they sleep, to the very top, where cardinals cover-up or ignore the problem, and the Pope fails to acknowledge the many flaws in their beloved system. It's a film of two halves, each powerful and expertly crafted in their own right, but failing to come together into a cohesive narrative.

The first half is the most powerful and heart-breaking. Throughout the 1960's, priest Lawrence Murphy sexually molested in the region of 200 young boys. At the St. John School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, four men tell their own unique and frightening stories of the abuse they suffered and the lack of help available. Similar to many families in this period, their families could not sign and therefore could not understand their cries for help. Signing to the camera and narrated by actors Jamey Sheridan, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke and John Slattery, the four men's disabilities become a metaphor for the years of silence endured by other victims of no handicap, who over the course of time have heard their cries fall on closed ears, especially when it came to calling out for justice or at least an explanation from the Vatican itself.

When the film shifts into its second phase, it becomes more conspirational and less human, throwing us facts and archive imagery as Gibney looks under every rock he can find. What he uncovers is hardly surprising - a huge Vatican cover-up and the relocation of many priests finding themselves under scrutiny from the locals were covered in somewhat less detail in Amy Berg's unsettling Deliver Us From Evil (2006) - but he is searching for some kind of explanation. Hearing of abuse cases dating back hundreds of years among the priesthood, it seems the Vatican see the problem more as an inevitability. It often feels like Gibney is clutching at straws, trying to find a link to every corner of the corridors of power, and the absence of any spokesperson from the Vatican is an admittedly unsurprising disappointment. But it avoids the pitch-fork waving approach, and tells us of a very real problem for which we have few answers for.

I've gradually come to see the Catholic Church for what it truly is -- an archaic, oppressive, lying institution that's hopelessly out of touch with 21st Century realities, which destroys millions of lives around the world and has done unspeakable evil throughout human history.

The excesses stem not just a few bad apples. The root cause is institutional corruption. In Catholicism, according to Canon Law, everything flows downward from the very top. This means the Vatican ultimately bears responsibility for crimes against humanity.

Strong words? Hardly. If anything, those words aren't strong enough.

The Roman Catholic Church remains wielded to the Dark Ages. And its not just because a bunch of men chose to walk around in black robes speaking a dead language that went out of existence 500 years ago while waving containers full of ash dust, or nuns suppressing their own individuality in observance of unconditional servitude.

Look at the facts: Catholic policies towards women are degrading. Catholic commandments on birth control creates imminent poverty for millions who starve and die in developing countries. Catholic beliefs toward basic human rights are often are cowardly and self-serving. Catholic teachings on sex are Neanderthal. Catholic practices on economic and social issues are reprehensible. And Catholic teachings on so-called "morality" are duplicitous.

All this aside, the Catholic Church's policies and practices in the tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of sexual abuse scandals around the world involving priests is downright disgusting. Many heads need to roll -- starting with just about every Pope dating all the way back to the 4th Century. Indeed, the Vatican has been a collaborator in innumerable crimes and cover ups since the fall of the Byzantines.

The Catholic Church is an empire of corruption. This has nothing to do with matters of faith or a belief in God. It has everything to do with making the appropriate choices as to which institutions in our society deserve our reverence and trust.

The Catholic Church and the Vatican deserve neither.

That said, no one wants to read or hear about priests and sex scandals.

It's a hideous subject. It's certainly not entertainment. There's no satisfaction to be gained from subjecting oneself to the indescribable evils committed by members of the clergy. Contemplating these horrible acts against innocent children which have gone on for so long in so many places is painful to look at.

But look we must. And re-think everything we believe about Catholicism, we should.

HBO has just debuted a new documentary on this subject. The title is Mea Maxima Cula: Silence in the House of God. I had heard about this powerful film by award-winning director Ale Gibney, which runs about 90 minutes. Late last night, when I saw this program was coming up as the next feature show on HBO, I considered tuning in.

Then again, why would I have any desire to watch such a thing? I thought to myself -- why would I want to subject myself to something like this? Who in the world would willingly stop and watch people doing such repulsive things to children? So, I did what most probably do. I turned the channel.

But curiosity got the best of me. I found myself flipping back to Mea Maxima Culpa and watching bits and pieces of the documentary. As I watched, I began to realize this wasn't only a film about controversial subject. It was a story about politics and power. It was also a story about extraordinary courage -- those who initially stepped forward and told of what happened. I came to realize this was a masterful documentary that becomes increasingly more intense as the viewer gets absorbed into the story.

Essentially, Mea Maxima Cula focuses on several deaf adults who are now in their 60s and 70s. Back during he 1950's as children, they were sexually abused by priests in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, as we would gradually learn there were many more Milwaukees -- hundreds, if not thousands of Milwaukees around the world.

While the Vatican continues to lie, engages in cover ups, and postures itself as being above all the crimes committed at the parish level, this film indisputably links Rome with just about all the filth done by its faithful servants. Church hierarchy was far more than just an enabler. They have been confederates in these conspiracies for the past 1,700 years (watch the documentary -- the evidence is clear).

The Inquisition. The war on enlightenment. The Crusades. Pacts with fascism. Sex crimes and cover ups. Why isn't the Catholic Church being tried for crimes against humanity? I urge you to not miss this program.

A Final Thought: The word "hero" gets overused.

Worse, its often misapplied to athletes and celebrities in our culture who frankly do nothing to deserve such adulation.

Thank goodness there are real heroes in this world. Some of them appear in this film, as the brave men who were courageous enough to step forward and tell what happened.

Imagine the humiliation of revealing one of the worst things imaginable -- committing sex acts on children. Imagine what it took for these brave people who risked finger-pointing, hushed whispers, and public ridicule for the sake of justice? Why is this important? Why should you care? Maybe you won't.

But if hundreds of years of history, institutionalized corruption from top to the bottom, and a continuing conspiracy of denial from the Vatican doesn't sway you towards contempt for the Catholic Church, then nothing will.

Thank goodness there were men brave enough to step out of the shadows and one very dedicated filmmaker willing to shine a lens and a light into the darkest corners of the church's soul.

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