Jason Berry's Film on Marcial Maciel Degollado

I'm forwarding this e-mail message at the request of Carolyn Disco, a strong supporter of victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

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Please distribute this email to survivor supporters on all your email lists regarding a film Jason Berry is making about Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the wealthy Legionaries of Christ, favorite of JP II, power broker, and a vicious perpetrator.


Jason and Gerald Renner wrote “Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II.” This book was responsible for a reactivation of the canon case filed by Maciel’s victims, which resulted in Maciel being asked by B 16 to undertake a life of prayer and repentance, or some such – a veritable slap on the wrist, but apparently meaningful in that rarefied Vatican ambience.



Jason needs funding to complete the film, which now sits at 62 minutes in a rough cut. A somewhat shorter version was shown at last year’s SNAP conference, and it is exceedingly powerful.



Film has been a vital aspect of getting out the abuse story, and this one in particular is needed to make clear the extent of Maciel’s sexual abuse and abuse of power. His success in finance and recruitment reinforce the need to make known the truth about this charlatan. Powerful supporters in the US included Rev. Richard John Neuhaus (editor of the journal First Things), Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon, and William Donohue of the Catholic League. Neuhaus apparently has acknowledged, well there must have been something…but it appeared so cautious a judgment, that I think he needs to see the victims on film. Still, there is nothing so strong as willful blindness, a refusal to see what is before you.



But since the victims never got an up or down verdict from the Vatican, they deserve this film to make their case. It is their legacy of truth, carved out of a lifetime of unbearable tragedy, courage, and patience beyond imagining. They are heroes and prophets whose decades of seeking justice must be honored by the power of this film.



BTW, Jason has been there from the beginning, when he began reporting on the Gauthe case in LA in the early 1980’s. He wrote the first book on the modern scandal, called “Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” and followed developments with stories in NCR and many media over the decades. He broke the story about Archbishop A. James Quinn of Cleveland, the canon lawyer, who suggested in 1993 that chanceries send “dangerous” files to the Vatican embassy as a way to keep them out of reach of US law. He is the most seasoned reporter on the scandals. And do buy “Vows of Silence” for a riveting, meticulously researched book. (Tom Doyle’s story is a large part of the text.)



In whatever amounts possible, please send a contribution to:



Jason Berry

7901 Belfast St.

New Orleans, LA 70125



It will be an incredible opening night when this film gets the national and international airing it warrants. PBS’ Frontline maybe? BBC? Think big.



Thanks,

Carolyn



Carolyn Disco

42 Wilson Hill Rd.

Merrimack, NH 03054

603-424-3120

cell 917-620-8172