Maria Goretti and Me

1975 - love and religiosity collide …Martin and Maria get in each other’s way on a New Zealand street crossing. They fall in love. He’s 23. She’s 17. Her Catholic family of academics, lawyers, doctors - and a priest - object. Martin’s not a Catholic. Maria is not an obvious rebel. She is her school’s top scholar, expected to be an example to all the girls. She observes her Church’s laws and customs, attends Mass, recites her rosaries. Backed into a corner Maria defies her family and her Church’s laws. The religious and judgmental attitudes of others serve to bind Martin and Maria closer. Her brother the priest waits in his confessional to absolve her of her ‘sin’. But what is her ‘sin’? Maria pays a heavy price. Only in 2013 is an injustice put right.