It seems like you may be trying to stir the pot, especially since you are not Catholic according to your profile (although a previous post by you suggested you were born into the Church and left).
I am sorry that you are so quick to assume the worst of somebody. I can only assure you that I intended nothing of the sort. The allegation would perhaps be more plausible if that had been the only film that I suggested. However, it was merely one of a number of suggestions, and was, as I believe I made clear, only mentioned as an afterthought. My other suggestions included a film about Winston Churchill, three true crime dramas, a film about a gay attorney with AIDS, a couple of chick flicks, and a film about
The Washington Post publishing classified documents about the Vietnam War.
Why are you suggesting that a Catholic parent show his children a movie about sexual abuse and corruption in the Catholic church?
We have enough struggles with dealing with the clergy sex abuse situation in the USA as it is.
We’re also all well aware of that movie.
I did not realise that this was a forbidden topic. Personally, I think it is better for us all if these things are put out in the open. You remember correctly that I am an Anglican priest, although I am originally an Irish Catholic from Liverpool. In the Church of England and the Church in Wales, we are currently all coming to terms with a landmark report just published by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which details child sexual abuse perpetrated over a period of almost 80 years by laypeople and clergy, including Victor Whitsey, who was a diocesan bishop and a member of the House of Lords. I can assure you that the last thing that I would want to do right now would be to cover it up. When my grandchildren are old enough to understand these things, I shall consider it a moral obligation to be open and honest with them about the truly wicked crimes that Anglicans have committed.
I must say, I thought that
Spotlight handled the subject outstandingly. I thought that it was even-handed and did not sensationalise the topic. Some of the journalists involved were Catholics and retained some sympathy for the Church. It was not the hatchet job on the Catholic Church that some people feared. I believe that every Catholic I know has seen the film at least once. When it was released in the UK, Catholic parishes were arranging cinema trips and film evenings to see it and discuss it. I can assure you that when somebody makes a film about the monstrous crimes of Peter Ball or Victor Whitsey, or the all but criminal corruption of George Carey, I shall be the first in line to see it.
