Sunday,
December 10, 2006
Is Catholicism the Enemy of Italian
American Cultural Identity??
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
one statement that "leaped" out at me, although Church Clergy Abuse
is the Central Theme was:
"Growing
up in (an) Italian neighborhood... things were always Italian and
Catholic. I never saw a separation. I see it now and understand that I can be
one without the other. It's taken me a long time to figure that out because I
think the Catholic Church has wormed its way into ethnic groups to the point
where we came to believe that Catholicism was our cultural identity. We got
protective of it. We didn't want to think outside of it. We didn't want to
question or criticize because it felt like some sort of betrayal of where we
came from - of our ancestors. I now understand that being Italian-American is
my cultural identity..."
By
Gail McCarthy , Staff writer
December 08, 2006
Editor's
note: Gail McCarthy, the Times' arts & entertainment reporter, caught up
this week with filmmaker Joe Cultrera and his
brother,
Joe Cultrera: 'I can get my God elsewhere'
McCarthy: What was the catalyst for making the film and your desire to
create this documentary?
Joe Cultrera: The initial catalyst was
watching other media treatments ! of
the clergy abuse crisis and feeling they were all missing the point of origin.
They never bothered to look at how we were sucked into the Catholic system from
the get-go, how we were watched over by the eyes of those saints and bleeding
hearts that lined the walls of our homes and that followed us wherever we went.
We were taught fear, shame and embarrassment.
It was those elements of our blind faith upbringing that allowed abuse to
happen and go undetected, unspoken about for decades. My brother made me
realize that the Catholic Church taught us all these things - in part - as a
way of protecting itself. I wanted to make a film from the inside that dug
under the fingernails of the situation and walked the viewer step by step
through it. A film that was not afraid to criticize the very core of the
situation, but that would do so in a very quiet, undramatic
way - by simply showing what one survivor and his family went through. The film
is pure experience, not gussied up with dramatic music and re-creations.
McCarthy: What was the most difficult part of the filming?
Joe Cultrera: Sitting down and asking
questions of my brother, parents and sister that I did not really want to ask
was very difficult and scary. Like most families, we do not sit around and have
these sorts of d! eep
discussions. They are not comfortable. But if there is anything I have learned
from this process it is not to be afraid to talk or to confront your fears. The
film created a dialogue and an understanding within our family that was not
previously there. We are stronger because of it.
McCarthy: What connection does the film/filmmaker have to
Joe Cultrera: My brother
Back in 1976 when I was first playing around with making movies I created some
crazy Super-8 films that were screened at various places in
McCarthy: How has the film and its release affected your life?
Joe Cultrera: I've never lived a more
spiritual existence than I have this year. Taking this film from city to city,
encountering people and creating dialogue with them, has been like some new
type of church. I feel like a missionary man who is trying to dig down to some
true sense of God. Making this film and being at screenings has taught me that
God is not something you need a priest or a corporate entity to access. It is
there in dialogue with your family and within the community you create every
day.
McCarthy: Is there humor and warmth infused into what is otherwise a heart-rendering tale?
Joe Cultrera: It's a film about family. My
family has a good sense of humor - especially my brother. No matter what this
church has dumped on him and us, they cannot steal our smiles. I am incapable
of making a film that doesn't have some sense of humor about itself. Whenever
bad stuff happens to us, laughter, wisecracks and my mother's smile have always
been there to even things out. When I first showed the film to
McCarthy: Did your family's Italian heritage and culture influence the
film?
Joe Cultrera: I tried to create the detail of
our upbringing as a foundation to build the film upon. In creating that
specific detail I figured a lot of people from other backgrounds would find
some sort of recognition, ev
e! n if they weren't specifically Italian.
Growing up in the Italian neighborhood of
McCarthy: What was the catalyst for making the film and your desire to
be a part of this documentary?
McCarthy: What was the most difficult part of the filming?
McCarthy: What connection do you have to
McCarthy: How has the film and its release affected your life?
But he was able to ask the tough questions, and I have a much more immense respect
for what he does and how he took all these pieces and put it together in a
story. He's an amazing editor. With my parents and sister, I think the film has
opened up a space that wasn't there before. It helped to start some
conversations with all of us about what happened and how we dealt or didn't
deal with this.
McCarthy: What about the humor and warmth in the film?
McCarthy: Did your family's Italian heritage and culture influence the
film?
In my fantasy world, I live in
Joe went to
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