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Beny presents on Vatican-focused investigative woik
BY MAILE MUNRO
Staff Writer
"I'm a 76-year-old Catholic, and I couldn't believe
it," said Mary Orr.
Orr attended Jason Berry's presentation^ "Pope
Francis and the Church: Confronting Sexual and
Financial Scandal" on April 3 in the Community
Center.
Berry, an award winning investigative journalist,
tackled the controversial subject matter he covers
for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: the
Vatican.
"I was heartbroken," said Orr, who came to
the presentation after watching Berry's Frontline
documentary, "Secrets of the Vatican." "It breaks my
heart because I felt everything had been pulled out
from underneath me by the men that put it there."
After a visit to a religious studies class, tea in the
Hut and dinner with students. Berry presented to
the public on his recent film and on material from
his books, including "Lead Us Not Into Temptation:
Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children.
A Catholic himself. Berry wove his personal
stories, investigative journalism experiences and
critically acclaimed books throughout his talk.
The audience left with a well-rounded grasp of the
sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and
optimism for the change Pope Francis brings with
him.
"I left thinking about how good of a storyteller
he is," said senior Sara Besmertnik in an email
interview. "He seems hopeful — like most others
who pay attention to the Church — of the new
pope."
Berry's optimism stems from his upbringing in
New Orleans.
"When you're raised in a town where the grown
ups dress up in masks and dance in the streets, it
gives you a certain optimism that humanity may
make it after all," said Berry.
At the end of the talk, the floor was opened to
the group, which was made up of students and
members of the community.
Orr's personal testimony inspired a response
from George Brunner, a full-time campus minister
with the Greensboro Area Catholic Campus
Ministries, who had brought a group of students
from the Greensboro area.
"We need to recognize that our priests, albeit
holy men, are human and they are going to make
mistakes and they are going to sin just as we do,"
said Brunner. "But, when they step on that altar
and they are 'in persona cristi' ... we need to trust
that through the words they are speaking, they are
holding Christ, and that's why we have to go to
mass."
Berry facilitated the consequent responses to
Brunner's statement. One such reaction came from
attendee Grady Scott.
"Tm a Catholic and I've struggled for years,"
said Scott. "The pedophilia, it's too psychotic and
criminal for me to gloss over and say, 'This man is
so holy ... I'm going to give him the benefit of the
doubt.'"
Scott's conflict is common among those who
have grown up holding the Catholic Church in high
regard. Berry mentioned this in his own struggle to
reconcile the horrors of child abuse with the morals
of the Catholic Church.
"I don't want to destroy the Church," said Berry.
"I want it to reform. I want it to be the Church that it
was in my life when I was a kid growing up."
Jill Peterfeso, visiting assistant professor of
religious studies, was impressed with how Berry
approached this sensitive, complex issue.
"I've been in many gatherings where faithful
Catholics are very upset about the sex abuse crisis,"
said Peterfeso in an email interview. "I felt he
handled that with grace and compassion."
From jazz funerals and environmental violations
to Nigerian playwrights and dramatic nuns. Berry
has covered a wide array of subjects.
During his visit to Guilford College, Berry found
a population of students ready to take action.
"It's encouraging to see so many young people
who are centered on social justice," said Berry.
'It breaks my heart because I felt everything had been pulled out from underneath me by the men that put it there.'
Mary Orr, Catholic community member
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