What is “The Keepers”?
The name is well known to Catholics in Baltimore, a city on the American east coast. Released in May on the Netflix online film platform, this seven-part documentary looks back at the 1969 assassination of Catherine Cesnik, a nun who worked at a Catholic high school for girls in the city, Keough High School.
He suggests that his death could be linked to the discovery of several cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest at the establishment, Joseph Maskell. According to victim testimonies shown in the documentary, the priest asked his victims to come to his office, where he engaged in fondling and rape, sometimes in the company of other priests, police officers and local notables. . “Cathy” Cesnik would have discovered this pedophile “ring”. She was found dead a short time later. “The Keepers” makes for the first time the link between this murder, which caused a stir at the time, and the accusations against the priest.
How did the idea for the documentary come about?
The aunt of Ryan White, the director, a Catholic from Baltimore himself, attended Keough High School and told him about the case. She was one of Sister Cathy’s students and the friend of Jean Wehner, one of the girls that Joseph Maskell allegedly raped. She was 14 years old. In 1994, the latter was one of two victims to file a complaint against the priest, borrowing the name “Jane Doe” given in the United States to people who wish to remain anonymous in legal cases.
The complaint was unsuccessful because the limitation periods had passed. Other women have come forward following the procedure. The archdiocese paid some $472,000 in compensation to sixteen victims. But Joseph Maskell was never charged.
What impact in the United States?
The documentary arouses great emotion in Baltimore, an American Catholic stronghold. He accuses the archdiocese of having been aware of the acts attributed to Joseph Maskell, long before his arrival at Keough High School. The judicial authorities are also singled out for their laxity in the investigation of this appreciated priest in the Baltimore police department, where he was chaplain. ” In making this documentary, we knew we wouldn’t be solving a 45-year-old mystery. But as time went by, we realized that the story had been buried.”explained Ryan White in an interview with Fox News.
Joseph Maskell having died in 2001, all eyes turn to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. An online petition asking the institution to make information in its possession about the priest public has garnered nearly 50,000 signatures. But the archdiocese refused the request citing their confidentiality.
« They will only reveal his file if the pope asks them! »exclaims Frank Dingle, local leader of the association SNAP, a group of victims of priests who has been working on the Cesnik case since 2004. “ Church attendance had been declining for some years in Baltimore. It’s gone down even more since the documentary. A lot of people tell me they can’t stand the lies anymore. » According to him, “The Keepers” encouraged “ tens » victims of priests to come forward.