NEW YORK, June 28 (UPI) -- A Catholic News Service review has panned a documentary produced by a British filmmaker linking celibacy to child abuse scandals within the Catholic Church.
The BBC said the review, written by David DiCerto, called the film "a polemic against the Catholic Church's entire sexual ethos."
DiCerto, who works for the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, derided the documentary for "trotting out the hoary chestnuts about the church's thinking that sex is, at best, a necessary evil."
Wrote DiCerto: "The church does not deny that certain members of the clergy have committed heinous crimes resulting in immeasurable harm by their betraying the trust of those they were sent to serve. But the show's oversimplified prognosis, which recommends ending celibacy as a panacea to the ills facing the church, is hardly convincing."
The program, scheduled for telecast n the United States Monday on cable's HBO, was filmed in 10 countries and features interviews with current and former priests, abuse victims, historians and psychologists.
Filmmaker Antony Thomas said he wanted to examine celibacy and the sexual abuse cases that have cost the Roman Catholic Church $1 billion.
