'Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God'

Alex Gibney's 'Mex Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God', which premiered last night on HBO, shows that there is much that needs to be done in order for the Catholic Church to fully acknowledge the sexual abuse that has taken place over decades throughout the world.  This abuse has happened at the hands of religious leaders who prey upon helpless young children.  For the first part of the documentary, Gibney focuses on Father Lawrence Murphy, who was responsible for molesting hundreds of children at a Milwaukee school for the deaf.  Murhphy used his power for evil, as many children at his school came from families with non-signing parents and looked up to him with his ability to sign.  The abuse at the school shows us how the students' silence made it even harder for their experiences to come to the surface and into public knowledge.  Gibney interviews four men who were victims of Murphy and how they have struggled to be heard and for their experiences to demand action, even confronting Murphy in person in his later years.  Although actors have been utilized to let us know the words they sign, the expressions on the men's faces and the passion of their gestures tell us so much about how this has affected their lives and how it continues to haunt them.

The film's scope broadens as it goes on, detailing how Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was at one time personally in charge of seeing every documented sexual abuse case.  The film also briefly covers the measures being taken to make the Vatican responsible in a court of law.  Little has changed however, and hundreds if not thousands of known pedophiles have stayed free.  'Mea Maxima Culpa' shows a flawed system, where religious leaders have been placed in a God-like position above the law.  The Catholic Church remains in the shadow of these horrific wrongdoings and must be forced by the government to answer to its people rather than God.  The system must transform, as far too many victims' voices have been silenced, left to wonder if true change will ever happen and if long-standing traditions of keeping these horrors hidden will end.