University of Rhode Island Film Festival to feature Vows of Silence

KINGSTON, R.I. -- April 17, 2008 -- The University of Rhode Island’s 10th annual student film festival, Visualizations, will be held April 21-24, and will feature special guest, investigative journalist Jason Berry. Berry will screen his new film, Vows of Silence, and be available for a Q&A session following the presentation.

Vows of Silence explores the Vatican cover-up of Father Marcial Maciel, one of the most powerful priests in Rome. For years Maciel drew public praise from Pope John Paul II, despite a trail of accusations that he abused seminarians. In 1941 Maciel founded the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order that now has a $60 million budget, roughly one-fourth that of the Vatican. In 1998 eight former Legionaries filed a canon law case in the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, seeking Maciel’s expulsion from the priesthood and the church. Ratzinger tabled the case. But in late 2004, realizing that he might become pope, Ratzinger ordered an investigation. The film chronicles the long road taken by the victims seeking justice, men from Mexico and Spain, and goes well beyond testimonies given to Ratzinger's canon lawyer to assemble a haunting narrative of Maciel's rise to power from his youth in Mexico.

Jason Berry is an author and independent film producer who has been widely interviewed in the national media, with many appearances on Nightline, Oprah, ABC, NBC and CNN. USA Today called Berry “the rare investigative reporter whose scholarship, compassion and ability to write with the poetic power of Robert Penn Warren are in perfect balance.”

See announcement here

Thanks GSM fro the link!