November 21, 2012: Premiere Of MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions | https://bettiandassociates.com
On November 16, 2012, I was honored to attend the Premiere of MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD in Manhattan – the compelling and utterly heart-wrenching movie about four courageous deaf men – Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Arthur Budzinksi, and Bob Bolger – who set out to expose the priest who had abused them and sought to protect other children by making their voices heard.
These brave survivors of childhood sexual abuse did not take no for an answer and persevered over three decades to expose their abuser. Their courage was not only to seek justice for themselves, but also to save future children from the horrors they had suffered as young boys.
Some have called these men courageous; some have called them resilient; I call them heroes. Heroes, because in the wake of resistance from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and the antipathy from the Milwaukee Police Department; they never quit until their abuser was removed from ministry.
Their persistence exposes the abuse of power in the Catholic Church and the cover-up that winds its way from the row houses of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the churches of Ireland, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.
Heroes each and every one of them. For on that day that Father Lawrence Murphy, who abused more than 200 deaf children in a school under his control, was removed from ministry, they saved future children from his abuse. Heroes for each of us to aspire to be.
Photo from left to right, Mary Caplan, New York City Outreach Director, SNAP, and Michele Betti of the Law Offices Of Betti & Associates–advocates for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.
