Alex Gibney Examines Church Abuse in "Mea Maxima Culpa"

By Alex Biese
Asbury Park Press
January 31, 2013

http://www.app.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.app.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F201301300410%2FNJENT%2F301300006%26nclick_check%3D1

It all started with one case.

With his latest film, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney gives voice to the students of St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisc. who were sexually abused by the charismatic head of the school, Father Lawrence Murphy. The film premieres at 9 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4 on HBO.

In telling the story of four of Murphy’s victims — Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Arthur Budzinksi and Bob Bolger — Giney unravels a centuries-old conspiracy to cover up church abuses leading all the way to Rome.

Gibney, who lives in Summit, said the inspiration for his film came from a 2010 front page article in the New York Times by Laurie Goodstein.