The folks over at ACNAtoo, an advocacy organization operating in the denomination of which I am a member, published Lorica to their website today. I was asked to provide a director’s statement to accompany the post, and you can read it by clicking here.
In my previous statements accompanying the film, I’ve minced no words regarding the failure of Church institutions to adequately respond to abuse, but a careful reader will note that my most invective criticisms have been aimed at particular segments of charismatic Christian movements. Indeed, the main examples that inspired Lorica and the primary stories utilized in its screenplay come not from the high church realm of vestments and candles as depicted in our film, but from the independent and non-denominational factions where accountability is almost non-existent if a leader is sufficiently popular. This focus is an unfortunate necessity of the times, as from what I can tell, the most insidiously instilled and pervasively thorough patterns of cover-up culture are more exemplified by these corners of Christendom than any other today.
That being said, let it never be intimated that I am speaking from a position of spotless superiority, nor that my own tradition is perfect. I adore my church, and I love our place in the broader Christian communion, but my home denomination of the ACNA has its fair share of problems and its own shameful examples of institutional failures. Several of those examples are chronicled on the ACNAtoo website, and my genuine hope is that Lorica’s inclusion alongside them can do something, even if just a little, to give artistic voice to the voiceless. We Christians, both within our separate denominations and collectively in the church at large, still have a lot of work to do.