Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God(480P)

The documentary "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God", BY Alex Gibney is a film about the charges of paedophelia and clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church against on Catholic priest, and the inner workings and the bureaucracy inside the Church that lead others to question its actions and the relation of these charges which lead up all the way to the Vatican itself. It follows of the story of four deaf men who were sexually abused by priests and other clerical members of the Catholic Church in the 1960's who set out to expose them. Throughout the movie, more and more complications in the inner workings and system of the Catholic Church are revealed. From a Catholic's perspective, I felt that this film did really well in its efforts to expose this issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. It shocks me that even Catholic priests are capable of committing heinous acts such as these. Throughout the movie, it continues to question the morals of the Catholic Church, its failure to act upon these charges even upon His Holiness Pope John Paul II, and how a crime like this actually went unpunished. I really enjoyed enjoyed this film because of the message and stand it took against combating sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. I really appreciated that Mr. Gibney was not at all afraid to portray these controversial topics such as paedophilia. I also like the scenes wherein he tried to portray the scenes that suggested the children were being sexually abused in the middle of the night, without showing any graphic sexual content. Another thing I liked was the underlying theme of the film: Silence in the House of God, which truly reflects on some of the priests who abuse their power. It made me wonder how these priests who preached everyday to people on how to live their lives were themselves committing such grave and heinous crimes. Overall I enjoyed the number of facts this movie has stated leading up to this issue. With this movie I rate it an 8.1 out of 10.

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.

This is a well-made, well-informed documentary. "Silence in the House of God" (a very apt title) describes an actual case where deaf children were abused by the Roman Catholic priest supposed to be their friend and spiritual guide. It was a particularly vile case, since this specific predator did not just target deaf children : he targeted those deaf children who had the greatest difficulty in communicating with their family or in alerting the outside world. It resulted in a stinking, steaming mess of mistreatment and sacrilege. When the deaf pupils grew up and tried to tell other people about the abuse, they received very little in the way of sympathy or justice. The documentary then goes on to study other, similar cases. While doing so, it develops two theses : firstly, that there exist priests who are dangerous perverts and secondly, that Church hierarchy (including the Vatican itself) finds it very difficult to tackle the problem in a meaningful way. Secular authorities are but rarely alerted, while many of the cures and solutions proposed by the Church are naive or misguided. For instance, some of the predators are sent on spiritual retreats - as if rereading the works of Saint Augustine of Hippo is going to give pause to a man capable of raping a child in its own bed... Other child molesters are shuffled from parish to parish, which, of course, means that ever new scores of minors find themselves at risk. Sadly I've got to say that I agree with the documentary, with regard to both of its theses. In my opinion, the Roman Catholic Church is failing its faithful here - and what's more, it's failing the most humble and vulnerable among its faithful, in a clear contradiction to the warnings of its Founder. Watch "Silence in the House of God", it's both heartrending and necessary.

From acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney, comes a potent examination of the history of sex abuse and paedophilia within the Catholic Church. Told through the eyes of victims, Gibney follows the murky trail of sex abuse from Wisconsin all the way up to the Vatican. This is not for the faint hearted or easily disturbed. That we may understand the term 'documentary', speaks volumes of how successfully Gibney has reinvented the genre, creating something that is as much horror as it is non-fiction. We are plunged into the dark recesses of traumatic experience, and exposed to the sheer scope of institutionalised child molestation. Revelation after revelation, horror after horror, we witness very real and powerful emotion on screen, producing a 'documentary' that enthrals and terrifies. The inclusion of Terry, Arthur and Gary, 3 victims integral to the first known case of protest against clerical sex abuse in the US, is a genuine masterstroke. This level of realism is perhaps expected of the documentary format, however, Gibney's overall production results in something much more effective. From confession-booth like interviews to complex animated graphics, Mea Maxima Culpa is educational yet highly creative. Aside from the cinematographic merits and qualities of story-telling, significant effort is made to defrock hidden truths of organised child molestation and the lengths taken to cover it up. The trail from the pulpits of Milwaukee to the highest echelons of the Vatican is made to seem more concrete than ever before. Verdict: Expertly constructed and magnificently told, Mea disturbs ones very core. Gibney has exquisitely created an amalgam of documentary and horror with a profound respect to the stories of its protagonists. Prepare to be infuriated, terrified and astounded without rest. Essential viewing.

I only heard about this film recently, although at the time of his resignation I had heard that the Pope had gone in relation to revelations within a film. This was just a suggestion of course and it may not even have been this film but what made me come to this was mainly that I heard it mentioned in a list of documentaries from Gibney. His documentaries have been well worth watching and on that basis I wanted to watch this one. The film looks at the child abuse scandal within the catholic church, focusing specifically on a handful of cases involving deaf children and slowly working its way up to the highest positions within the organization of the church. As a journey it is one that is hard to watch from start to end. The details of the abuse are very difficult to listen to – not just the words but the realization of how completely alone these boys were, how utterly predatory their abuser was; we all know it occurred but to hear it from these victims made it all the realer to me and all the more sickening. As the film goes on we continue to get details, not so much over the abuse but over the action (or rather, inaction) of the church. It moves key players into the frame, discussing the structure of treatment centers, protection of priests and really doesn't leave much doubt about how much was known and by contrast how little was done. It is very hard to watch and it is mostly structured very well to not only build the story so effectively but also to shock and upset even after so much of this issue is known. It doesn't totally manage to close the loop and once it reaches the top and loops round to the original story again, it doesn't quite have the structural impact as a whole that it did in specific moments. This is a very minor failing in comparison to how effective it is for the majority of the running time, but it does leave the film feeling that the final knockout punch is missing – which of course it is. The footage is well edited together and Gibney's narrator is mostly restrained and well pitched. It is a very hard watch at times though, but the subject matter is well worth the feeling of anger, injustice and sense of total exploitation that it will leave you with.

Alex Gibney's movie is an extremely well researched documentary about pedophilia in the Catholic Church. Sexual abuse by priests went on for a long time. But, nobody had the courage to speak openly about it. The power of the Church in Catholic countries was too overwhelming. If you criticized the clergy, you could lose your job. Alex Gibney's movie illustrates the silence on and of the Church with the unacceptable behavior of a priest in a School for the Deaf in Wisconsin, a formidable sexual abuse of power. For a long time, all complaints were swept off the table. But, when the facts were openly exposed in the media, a flood of new abuse cases followed, which would cost the Catholic Church billions of dollars. Alex Gibney's movie is an indictment of even the top of the Catholic Church. All complaints about pedophilia in the Church went to the desk of the former pope Benedict XVI, when he was dean of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. He did nearly nothing with them. This scandal shocked the whole Catholic Church. It lost the trust of its parishioners, leaving its churches nearly empty. Moreover, the number of vocations fell dramatically. In one word, the Catholic Church is dying. Alex Gibney's dramatic movie is a terrible document about one of the greatest religious scandals ever, which put even the pope, the representative of God on earth, in a very bad light. A must see.

This is an excellent documentary on how the Catholic Church has let down its people. Child Sexual abuse has long been a problem in the Church. That's not to say that other religions have had their problems too. It focuses on how sexual abuse, especially in deaf community and it was so rampant. The film gives great insight on how the Catholic Church succeeded in creating a massive cover up. It evens show how Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger played a vital role in covering up the abuse happening worldwide. The film may make you bitter, even angry, but for those of us who are Catholic it's an amazing outpouring of sadness. I found myself doing more research on this subject. The victims in the film pour out their heart and souls, and even though they were deaf and they signed their lines, you are offered the opportunity to hear what they are saying with excellent guest star voices. Even the use of photography where the zoomed in on the hands signing was awesome, I felt their grief through their sign language. The cinematography is excellent and the use of old film footage makes you feel like you are there. In my opinion a must see film, especially if you are Catholic. It sends a clear message that the Church has a long road ahead in rebuilding its trust with its congregation.

MEA MAXIMA CULPA, a documentary uncovering child abuse in the Catholic Church, holds few surprises; there can't be many people left on this planet who AREN'T aware of the Catholic Church's dark, secretive and controlling nature. Yet as it stands this is a harrowing piece of film-making, one that reaches into the darkest depths of human existence in its search for the truth. It begins with accounts of child abuse back in the '60s and just gets worse from there. Just when you think that Father Murphy, the man at the centre of these allegations, is the true villain of the piece, you find out there are even worse and more unsavoury characters: the ones who do everything in their power to hush it all up. Alex Gibney uncovers a sinister conspiracy that goes right to the highest echelons of power; forget the fantasy worlds of Dan Brown, this stuff is the real deal. Hardly an enjoyable watch, but then this is one of those documentaries that everyone should see to get an idea of how things are, no matter how cynical it makes us.

The movie is done very well for a documentary. If it were me doing it, I would have been much more hateful and promote a sense of outrage towards those who could/can do something about it yet choose to remain silent. However, the producers were wise, and presented facts (spoken by the victims themselves), letting you make up your own mind about what they said. I found this to be very effective. The monumental size of the damage done by the silent church cannot be put in words. To know about tens of thousands of abuses on children, be able to take action, and yet choose to remain silent, it is beyond my comprehension not only as a human being, but as a devout Christian. I hope that people will not be mad at the one person that the movie focused on (Lawrence Murphy). Our instinct is to try and take our anger on him, and make him pay for what he did. But we cannot do that - he is dead, and even if he were alive, there is nothing we can do to completely take out our rage against the incomprehensible acts that he did. However, what we can do is watch the movie, vote on it, ask others to watch it, and find ways to support those who are far better equipped than us to take action.