Spring Break
Filmmaker screens documentary on church sex scandal
Bridgette Blight
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Campus
The documentary is based on the book "Vows of Silence," written by Jason Berry and Hartford Courant religion reporter Gerald Renner. Both Berry and Renner started writing about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the 1980s. In 1992, Berry published "Lead Us Not Into Temptation," a book about a priest in Louisiana accused of sexual abuse.
The documentary chronicles the life of Maciel along with the stories of those who claim he abused them. It ends with the 2006 communiqué from the Vatican that formally ended the investigation into claims of sexual abuse by Maciel. The communiqué also asked Maciel to end his public ministry.
A discussion after the screening allowed Berry to explain the process of creating the documentary as well as an expansion on the sentiments expressed in the documentary. He discussed reconciling his work with his Catholic background. He went to a Catholic high school where Jesuit priests taught classes. Growing up during the civil rights movement, Berry was optimistic about massive changes happening in society.
"By the time I got to college I had this idea … that faith and reason need not collide," he said.
When he learned about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, he experienced anger in response to what he said he saw as an abuse of power.
"I didn't have trouble understanding that priests could be like normal men," he said. "What bothered me was the language of bishops. Who told you that you had to move a guy and why?" Berry was referring to the practice of bishops moving priests accused of sexual abuse from one parish to another.
Berry also shared some insight about the process of transferring a book to a visual medium. It would be impossible to include all of the information from the book in the documentary, he said. Furthermore, the audience that might watch a documentary is not necessarily the same audience that would read a book. The documentary needed to be visually appealing while still sharing the dark story of Maciel's legacy.
"I knew the film had to revolve around the stories and testimonies of these men," Berry said. "I wanted a visual narrative that conveyed the aesthetic beauty of Rome and the darkness of Maciel."
He also suggested that the direction that the news media is headed in does not allow for long-term, in-depth reporting.
"We live in a world of images," he said. "Newspapers are getting thinner and thinner, TV news is turning into a joke … we are looking at the raw commercialization of the media."
Berry said he is not sure if he will write another book about the scandal in the church, but he still expresses outrage at the handling of the crisis.
"Why haven't the 15 bishops who abused children been defrocked?" he said.
The documentary chronicles the life of Maciel along with the stories of those who claim he abused them. It ends with the 2006 communiqué from the Vatican that formally ended the investigation into claims of sexual abuse by Maciel. The communiqué also asked Maciel to end his public ministry.
A discussion after the screening allowed Berry to explain the process of creating the documentary as well as an expansion on the sentiments expressed in the documentary. He discussed reconciling his work with his Catholic background. He went to a Catholic high school where Jesuit priests taught classes. Growing up during the civil rights movement, Berry was optimistic about massive changes happening in society.
"By the time I got to college I had this idea … that faith and reason need not collide," he said.
When he learned about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, he experienced anger in response to what he said he saw as an abuse of power.
"I didn't have trouble understanding that priests could be like normal men," he said. "What bothered me was the language of bishops. Who told you that you had to move a guy and why?" Berry was referring to the practice of bishops moving priests accused of sexual abuse from one parish to another.
Berry also shared some insight about the process of transferring a book to a visual medium. It would be impossible to include all of the information from the book in the documentary, he said. Furthermore, the audience that might watch a documentary is not necessarily the same audience that would read a book. The documentary needed to be visually appealing while still sharing the dark story of Maciel's legacy.
"I knew the film had to revolve around the stories and testimonies of these men," Berry said. "I wanted a visual narrative that conveyed the aesthetic beauty of Rome and the darkness of Maciel."
He also suggested that the direction that the news media is headed in does not allow for long-term, in-depth reporting.
"We live in a world of images," he said. "Newspapers are getting thinner and thinner, TV news is turning into a joke … we are looking at the raw commercialization of the media."
Berry said he is not sure if he will write another book about the scandal in the church, but he still expresses outrage at the handling of the crisis.
"Why haven't the 15 bishops who abused children been defrocked?" he said.
