Alex Gibney, Irish filmmaker behind “Mea Maxima Culpa” talks about why he holds the Catholic Church to account - VIDEO

Cahir O'Doherty speaks with Irish filmmaker Alex Gibney

By

CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

Irish Voice Arts Editor

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

5 Comments

Oscar winning director Alex Gibney's latest film explores the abuse crisis in Ireland and America.

Tweet

Gibney is receiving pushback from Catholic organizations that claim that, although raised Catholic, he’s anti-Catholic in his views. 

“If the people who make these claims actually watch the film they’ll see there’s a key moment in the film where Tom Doyle, who testifies in a lot of these cases on behalf of the victims says, ‘People say to me why don’t you ever act on behalf of the church?’ Well, my replay is that I always act for the church. The church is the one billion Catholics, not the small number of men who are in the hierarchy.”

In that sense Gibney sees the film as a powerful plea to fellow Catholics that says enough, the hierarchy has corrupted the church. “There’s a difference between a faith and the venal abuses of power shown by its bureaucracy,” he explains.

In Ireland, the most common response Gibney noticed from the people he interviewed was anger. 

“There were a few people like Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin who are trying to reckon with the anger over the abuse, but so many others there are burying their heads in the sand,” he said.

The most shocking part of Mea Culpa is that these crimes were carried out on children. In this case, deaf children. 

“Criminal prosecutions should only stop when we know that the cover ups have stopped,” says Gibney. 

“Prosecutions are important in terms of making them stop. You’re now seeing them in the United States where priests are being held to account not just for abusing but also for covering up abusing priests.

“That’s why survivors are so furious at the church, because it doesn’t seem to understand the need to show justice. In the middle of his canonical trial Ratzinger said about Murphy, well gosh he’s an old guy, we should just let it go? Really? That’s justice?”

Watch the trailer for 'Mea Maxima Culpa' here:

Print

E-mail

Tweet