TV Note: "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God" on HBO
David Shasha
“Mea Maxima Culpa”: A New Documentary on the Church Pedophilia Scandals
For those concerned with the sexual abuse scandals that have engulfed the Catholic Church for some time now, HBO is currently screening a gripping documentary by Alex Gibney that brings the horrific facts of this tragic, and ongoing, problem to light.
Gibney’s mesmerizing “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” focuses on a single priest, Lawrence Murphy, who headed a Catholic school for the deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the 1960s. His abuse of over 200 male students at the school has become one of the flashpoints for international outrage and opened the door to civil litigation that has permitted the uncovering of previously-sealed Church documents. These documents display a system of forced concealment and militant silence that included all members of the Vatican hierarchy, up to and including the Pope and his inner circle.
The film tells a deeply painful and at times harrowingly agonizing tale of religious corruption so deep and systemic that it has taken years of diligence on the part of the victims and their lawyers to begin to uncover. The claims of the Church, which for so many years publicly denied that a problem even existed, are shown in the film to be sheer hypocrisy. The massive documentary record has clearly proven that the Church was intimately aware of these pedophilia cases and chose to do almost nothing about them. At most priests were shuffled around but none were defrocked. Instead the Church elected to take on the victims by rejecting their claims and impugning their credibility. It is a classic case of “blaming the victim” which just added to the torment these men have suffered for many decades.
The roots of this scandal goes back – as one of the experts interviewed in the film boldly states – to 4th century Spain. It was in the deep recesses of history that an official Church text was produced that discussed the matter of sexual molestation of young children by ordained priests.
The pattern of what is called in Italian “Omerta” – a code of formal silence – has stymied investigation of these heinous and inhuman crimes and protected the priests who have committed them. “Omerta” is a word heavily fraught with meaning in Italian culture; it has its origins in the annals of organized crime, the Mafia. In scenes of protest shown in the film that took place in Rome, we see t-shirts and placards prominently emblazoned with the word.
The film shows the heroism of the deaf victims of the evil Father Murphy – all grown men today – who were exploited relentlessly and who are trying to come to terms with the nightmare they have undergone. There is even footage of one of the victims actually confronting an elderly Father Murphy at his home.
With the participation of journalists like Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times (who is credited as Associate Producer) and Jason Berry, author of two critical books on the Catholic Church, “Mea Maxima Culpa” is a devastating indictment of a religious hierarchy that took more care to protect the deviants in its midst than it did to secure and protect children and their families from these serial predators.
Amazingly, the film argues that there is evidence that serial molestation is still going on in Latin America, the Philippines, and India where the Church remains very much a growing concern. This impossible situation continues under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Ratzinger who was previously the head of the so-called “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”:
This is the name of the institution once called the Holy Office, or the Inquisition.
The current Pope is shown – when he was still a Cardinal – to have overseen the collection of tens of thousands of case files containing the information on all pedophile cases in the Church. At present there is litigation against the Pope and the Vatican to force them to open the archives and make a full accounting of the matter – which it continues to refuse to do.
Watching “Mea Maxima Culpa” is an unforgettable experience that is nerve-racking and often excruciating for the viewer. But it is a necessary film for those who wish to better understand the evil that lurks inside our religions when they refuse to abide by the dictates of civility and legality. We are forced to confront the existence of different moral standards for religious figures who often see themselves as “above the Law.”
The primary transgression of the Church has been the refusal to adjudicate these cases in a proper manner. For many years, since the time of Pope John Paul II, the Church has moved to an extremely conservative posture and has used its considerable power to force its members into supporting draconian policies on issues like Birth Control and Abortion. Yet at the very same time it has allowed tens of thousands of priests to destroy the security of young Catholics who have been molested by priests with the Church’s knowledge.
It is a story that is very painful to watch, but necessary for us if we are concerned with the dignity of the victims and their demand for justice from their Church.
“Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” will be screening all month on HBO. For more information and a listing of showtimes go to the HBO website:
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/mea-maxima-culpa/index.html
David Shasha