Just after seeing Spotlight

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Austere

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And I can honestly say this, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve never felt as deflated before in my whole life. I’m saying this as a critique of the film or the team that produced those articles; those people should be commended to the moon, for the exposed a great evil. But honestly, I’ve never felt as drained leaving a movie, or anything else besides that in my life. A feeling not of anger, although there is a semblance of that but a great deal of disappointment. If any of you have seen the film, would you feel yourself to have a similar outlook to my own? Either way, it was a very sobering experience but I do not detract from the film at all.
 
Austere said:
And I can honestly say this, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve never felt as deflated before in my whole life. I’m saying this as a critique of the film or the team that produced those articles; those people should be commended to the moon, for the exposed a great evil. But honestly, I’ve never felt as drained leaving a movie, or anything else besides that in my life. A feeling not of anger, although there is a semblance of that but a great deal of disappointment. If any of you have seen the film, would you feel yourself to have a similar outlook to my own? Either way, it was a very sobering experience but I do not detract from the film at all.
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Now you can see “Risen,” which I believe was the other film you were considering. That may have a more beneficial effect on you although I haven’t seen either film.
 
The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied. Now you can take the opportunity to pray and do penance for the sake of the Church, she certainly needs it.
 
Austere said:
And I can honestly say this, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve never felt as deflated before in my whole life. I’m saying this as a critique of the film or the team that produced those articles; those people should be commended to the moon, for the exposed a great evil. But honestly, I’ve never felt as drained leaving a movie, or anything else besides that in my life. A feeling not of anger, although there is a semblance of that but a great deal of disappointment. If any of you have seen the film, would you feel yourself to have a similar outlook to my own? Either way, it was a very sobering experience but I do not detract from the film at all.
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I’ve wanted to see it but I know it will break my heart. I feel like as soon as the words “catholic” or “priest” are uttered in public someone will always comment on sexual abuse. This week and last Law and Order SVU had a 2 part episode about a sex ring in which young catholic school girls were being abused and the CC was right in the middle of it. Our church is under attack, it has been for many years and these shows and movies only fuel the fire of hate for our church.

Pray for our church and priests who are under intense demonic attack, pray they find God again. Pray for the victims and their families, for the innocence lost and the great suffering they have to endure every day. Justice will be served for everyone when they reach their final judgement.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied. Now you can take the opportunity to pray and do penance for the sake of the Church, she certainly needs it.
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^^^THIS!
 
I believe all Catholics must eat of the bitter herbs of this terrible scandal. We must admit that we are a Church of sinners and that our leaders failed us most grievously. But these priests and religious worked within a society intent on silence. Today, even the stones cry out. Prayer and penance is all that is left for us for generations. We have lost many of the youth and the respect of our neighbours. Many are ready to throw the first stone, fully aware of the rampant sexual promiscuity of the times and looking to take us down a peg.

So be it. The devil is past the rampart but Christ promised that His Church would prevail. In this faith we must soldier on, intent on cleansing the stables but only with compassion and self-knowledge of our own failings.
 
Austere said:
And I can honestly say this, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve never felt as deflated before in my whole life. I’m saying this as a critique of the film or the team that produced those articles; those people should be commended to the moon, for the exposed a great evil. But honestly, I’ve never felt as drained leaving a movie, or anything else besides that in my life. A feeling not of anger, although there is a semblance of that but a great deal of disappointment. If any of you have seen the film, would you feel yourself to have a similar outlook to my own? Either way, it was a very sobering experience but I do not detract from the film at all.
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Like I said in the other thread, be prepared to weep.

It hurts, but I do think it’s necessary to know what happened. We can’t ever let it happen again.

Now, if you feel like you need to be reminded of the good the Church has done, watch The Letters! It’s about Mother Teresa’s life. Or even Brooklyn, which was the other Oscar nominee for best picture this year. It’s not necessarily a “Catholic” movie, but it does show the Church being a force for good in the community. The priest in that one is a good man. Nice relief after seeing so many horrible clergy in Spotlight.
 
I guess I was more troubled with the information in the movie that most of those reporters were lapsed Catholics. The main newsman was a Jew and it did show Boston was not likely to go against the Church.

In one scene the reporter talking about being sick to go to Church when he knew what he knew, like the problem was the fault of the whole Church and not with some priests in the Church and authorities who enabled them.

Also, what bothered me is when they said about the abused----“Well, they are lucky, they are still living” that made it sound like the Church had some abusers killed so they would not talk. I doubt that ever happened but if it did then they needed to show proof. But I think they were talking about the ones who killed themselves because they had been abused.

The movie could have been much more blatant in what happened to some who had been abused and shown the aftermath of their ruined lives but they soft peddled that aspect which I know many in the Church are grateful for.
 
when I went to see this movie I knew I wouldn’t walk out feeling elated. I had many mixed emotions - disappointment, anger, sadness, shame.
 
My friends, you’re absolutely right when you say we should pray for the Church, the priests and all those affected by such evil. I believe it was a very hard pill to swallow but one that needed to be. I think the worst scene for me had to when the grandmother of the blonde reporter was reading one of the first volume’s with the story on it; she just looked so sad and disappointed.
 
Austere said:
My friends, you’re absolutely right when you say we should pray for the Church, the priests and all those affected by such evil. I believe it was a very hard pill to swallow but one that needed to be. I think the worst scene for me had to when the grandmother of the blonde reporter was reading one of the first volume’s with the story on it; she just looked so sad and disappointed.
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I wish the film had followed up with what the Church is doing now to stop the abuse. Veritas training for anyone who has any work with kids in the least bit. It was thought at the time these men could be cured but we now know they can’t.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied. Now you can take the opportunity to pray and do penance for the sake of the Church, she certainly needs it.
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Any abuse is horrendous, but it should be remembered that Catholic priests have committed abuse at a lower rate than school teachers, ministers of other religions, and men in the general public. It has been blown out of proportion by the media.
Here is a site of interest: I don’t know how accurate it is, but I would tend to believe it before a Hollywood movie, which after all is designed to raise our ire. Catholic sex abuse facts.

.
 
why do people keep making excuses? it doesn’t matter to me that Catholic priests have a lower rate of sexual assaults or that many are long dead. what matters to me is that it hapened in the first place and was covered up for decades! and we still hear of it happening. I don’t understand why people want to make excuses.
 
7_Sorrows said:
why do people keep making excuses? it doesn’t matter to me that Catholic priests have a lower rate of sexual assaults or that many are long dead. what matters to me is that it hapened in the first place and was covered up for decades! and we still hear of it happening. I don’t understand why people want to make excuses.
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Because it’s bad enough it happened, it doesn’t need to be made worse by overstating what went on. Stick with the truth.
 
oneofmany said:
I don’t think “Spotlight” did but many articles written about it do.
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I have read several articles, not hundreds, so my opinion might be different, but I would think they would have to write the truth-present the facts.
 
7_Sorrows said:
how did they overstate what went on?
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We are overstating it when we say things like:
“The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied.”

I don’t believe that the amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, I believe most priests are good, sincere and faithful servants of Christ. About 4% of priests committed abuse between 1950 and 2002.

“We don’t see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else,” Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told Newsweek. “I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.”

.
 
Viki63 said:
We are overstating it when we say things like:
“The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied.”

I don’t believe that the amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, I believe most priests are good, sincere and faithful servants of Christ. About 4% of priests committed abuse between 1950 and 2002.

“We don’t see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else,” Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told Newsweek. “I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.”

.
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Immorality can include many things. I am not sure where that quote is from. Immorality might include viewing pornography, sexual behavior, abuse of alcohol or drugs. Priests are human and fight temptation like everyone else. That is why we must pray for them often!
 
Viki63 said:
We are overstating it when we say things like:
“The amount of immorality among the clergy is horrendous, but it must be revealed for it to be remedied.”
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Sorry to be coming to the table so late…

I just saw this movie, I apologize but I don’t get the opportunity to watch many movies.

The Boston Globe was right in bringing attention to this subject. I am in the Los Angeles area and it was a big story when the L.A. Archdiocese started to receive attention. The result was a settlement that cost the Church over six hundred million (just in L.A.).

I don’t mean to sound insensitive to anyone that may have encountered such a trauma. But the movie emphasized how everyone within the community just looked the other way. That is typical of us when we are faced with a tough issue that we would rather not confront.

Hopefully it taught us to watch our kids a little closer, be observant of questionable acts where ever they can occur. I personally don’t like being alone with small kids, it’s terrible that I even have to think how it looks. But, sadly we lost some innocence.
 
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