‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,’ Feb. 4, HBO

UNITED STATES
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

The clergy sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church in recent years is not an easy subject to approach dispassionately.

For faithful Catholics, especially those with firsthand knowledge of the wonderful work carried out by the vast majority of upstanding priests, the topic is a source of deep shame and distress. For those alienated from the church, it can provide another reason to keep their distance. And for those intent on curbing the church’s moral influence in society, it provides a readymade, pre-emptive weapon with which to short-circuit all debate.

So it’s disappointing, though hardly surprising, to find that the documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” which focuses on students molested at a school for the deaf, is a grab-bag in which facts get mixed up with poorly founded accusations and inflated rhetoric. Filmmaker Alex Gibney’s uneven study, which had a limited theatrical release last fall, premieres on the HBO pay-cable service Monday, Feb. 4, 9-11 p.m. EST.

Gibney’s narrative begins with the straightforward — and harrowing — testimony of four men who endured abuse at the hands of Father Lawrence C. Murphy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, during the late Father Murphy’s long tenure (1950-74) on the staff of St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wis.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.