What do you know about the Spotlight movie?

[GiveTheTruth]

I know what it is like to belong to a parish and have a priest who was thought to be sincere get arrested for masterbating a 16 year old boy. They all should get life in prison and those who cover up should get life in solitary confinement It’s unfortunate that the entire clergy is painted with a broad stroke when the problem is even greater in the protestant community.

I hope that all Catholics will use their God given wisdom and see this movie only after it comes out of the theaters and is available on DVD or Netflix.

Why do I say that?

The agenda is clear. This movie is coming out just before the holiday season so it will dominate our Thanksgiving discussions and dampen one of our most beloved holidays - Christ’s Mass a/k/a Christmas. I really would like to see a movie about the Jewish Orthodox community payoffs by the Beth Din who cover up numerous sex abuse cases come out during rosh hosanna or the passover holiday.

 

[Marianne_Ph]

Excellent points, Give The Truth. Thank you.

 

[debraran]

I will see this eventually. It is well acted and true, very well documented and they took their time doing it to make sure things were done well. The Vatican and others seem to approve (as much as you can with the topic)
You can’t sweep such a huge embarrassment under the rug, it happened, you have to face it and move on and show a different church in the future. It doesn’t matter who else has molested children, who else has scandals, the Catholic church has always loomed larger and put itself above many others.
Many years ago, when I read about this and saw the many pictures of priests and what they did and what they admitted doing, I left for a while. Pope John Paul ll helped me return when he died with God’s grace. These priests weren’t the church and it can recover and will go on, but the cover-up was awful and they deserved the repercussions. There are repercussions for actions and they caused many people to not only be hurt, but have their faith destroyed.
That is a heavy responsibility.
I hated this period of shame but I’m glad they did dig up the truth. Not knowing and sticking your head in the sand wont help others recover and keep the chances of it happening again minimal.

I hope they mention the hardworking faithful priests though, if they do that in some way, I will feel better about it.

 

[Midwest88]

Putting anything about this topic in front of the public is a bit like discussing how black people got to America. In the end, the bare facts are going to make black people feel rather badly, at a minimum, toward a solid chunk of white people from several generations ago.

Sanitizing that story in order to try and prevent black people from becoming upset with Any white person Ever is an endeavor that does happen sometimes and it meets with well-deserved criticism.

Uh, what? Who says anything about sanitizing and why are “we” letting a movie dictate the discussion about a dark spot in Catholic history?

We should tell the truth about our history.

Look, I’m not going to play the “America is a country that should be ashamed of itself for slavery.” It’s a tired game that I refuse to play. I don’t believe people in America are being told that slavery was a time filled with joyous blacks throwing cotton in the air and catching it on their tongues like snowflakes.

At this point in time I couldn’t tell you the names of any reporter for the Boston Globe, but this was really important and from what I know so far, the reporters were very well researched and their personalities are represented as well as they can be. I’ll be paying special attention to the Catholic reporters in order to see what they tend to do with the whole situation. That’s another thing I don’t know anything about.

Okay, and?

Bernard Law is the one point of concern for me as of now, I’m reasonably certain that he wasn’t researched as intensively and despite being a very public figure, I’m not so sure if his character is extremely accurate. That may require some extra digging.

Overall though, all parts taken together, this movie is likely to go down as the main source for the next generation’s collective memory of the event, especially for anyone born in the 90’s and later. Even for people born much earlier, if they never lived near Boston this may be their main opportunity to fill in a lot of details.

Are you serious? As I said, why let a movie - a work of fiction and drama (even if it’s based on a true story) - dictate the history and perception of the Catholic Church? That’s like me saying Oliver Stone’s JFK helped me form a more complete picture of the man’s assassination. If the “main source”, and you seem to declare with such gladness, for the next generation is this movie about the Boston molestation then I guess we should just get our knowledge from movies from now on.

 

[yellowbird]

I know what it is like to belong to a parish and have a priest who was thought to be sincere get arrested for masterbating a 16 year old boy. They all should get life in prison and those who cover up should get life in solitary confinement It’s unfortunate that the entire clergy is painted with a broad stroke when the problem is even greater in the protestant community.

I hope that all Catholics will use their God given wisdom and see this movie only after it comes out of the theaters and is available on DVD or Netflix.

Why do I say that?

The agenda is clear. This movie is coming out just before the holiday season so it will dominate our Thanksgiving discussions and dampen one of our most beloved holidays - Christ’s Mass a/k/a Christmas. I really would like to see a movie about the Jewish Orthodox community payoffs by the Beth Din who cover up numerous sex abuse cases come out during rosh hosanna or the passover holiday.

Very true.

I have no desire to see the movie - I like to feel uplifted when I walk out of a movie theater and I can’t imagine there is much of that in this movie given the very sad circumstances.

If what you described happened to my 16 year old son, I would be devastated. Such a sinful world in which we live, and you are so right - this happens all over, not just in our backyard.

Christ have mercy.

 

[Padres1969]

Hadn’t heard of this movie until today when I came across an article in my local paper regarding former Catholic priest Richard Sipe, turned psychotherapist, who treated many troubled priests and was one of the sources that the Globe’s team contacted during their investigation. Will likely see this based on the good reviews I’m reading even from religious and Catholic circles.

 

[iwillrisenow]

I saw it. To me, it was a procedural first and foremost. Without giving anything away, although it’s been hailed by some as the Film of the Year to me it was…strong (particularly in acting), but nothing particularly noteworthy. It was, however, an insightful way to tell a very, very difficult story.

As far as it being an anti-Church Hollywood bash-fest…it might read that way to some but I think any Catholic who sees it will only see several Catholics (most, if not all, of the Spotlight team identify as “lapsed”) struggling to come to terms with a fallen world. There is one particularly touching scene by Mark Ruffalo’s character where he expresses a deep conflict that so many face at some point in their lives…it will most likely fly over the head of those who are not of faith but those who are will understand. The characters’ shock and pain as they uncover the past is portrayed beautifully and respectfully. As far as the anti-celibacy argument is concerned…well, the film doesn’t exactly try to represent multiple viewpoints on the issue, which is one of its greatest flaws. Although it is clearly certain characters’ theorizations about why this occurred and not the only reason given (local culture looms large), the film lands on the side of taking what those characters have to say as ultimate truth…with good reason, given what they have experienced.

All this being said, I am too young and too new of a convert to have experienced the events portrayed in the film firsthand. And I would certainly understand if the pain is too raw to experience anything like that, no matter how the story is told.

 

[yellowbird]

I saw it. To me, it was a procedural first and foremost. Without giving anything away, although it’s been hailed by some as the Film of the Year to me it was…strong (particularly in acting), but nothing particularly noteworthy. It was, however, an insightful way to tell a very, very difficult story.

As far as it being an anti-Church Hollywood bash-fest…it might read that way to some but I think any Catholic who sees it will only see several Catholics (most, if not all, of the Spotlight team identify as “lapsed”) struggling to come to terms with a fallen world. There is one particularly touching scene by Mark Ruffalo’s character where he expresses a deep conflict that so many face at some point in their lives…it will most likely fly over the head of those who are not of faith but those who are will understand. The characters’ shock and pain as they uncover the past is portrayed beautifully and respectfully. As far as the anti-celibacy argument is concerned…well, the film doesn’t exactly try to represent multiple viewpoints on the issue, which is one of its greatest flaws. Although it is clearly certain characters’ theorizations about why this occurred and not the only reason given (local culture looms large), the film lands on the side of taking what those characters have to say as ultimate truth…with good reason, given what they have experienced.

All this being said, I am too young and too new of a convert to have experienced the events portrayed in the film firsthand. And I would certainly understand if the pain is too raw to experience anything like that, no matter how the story is told.

Thank you for your review!

 

[7_Sorrows]

I plan to go see it on Friday.

 

[Alex_H]

This movie came up in my RCIA class. It led to an interesting discussion about the reforms made by the church since the discovery of the child abuse scandal. The leader of the RCIA class is our Deacon. He talked about all of the precautions the church goes through to ensure the safety of the children.

I was thinking about seeing this movie but I’m not entirely sure. I don’t typically go to movies and I worry that it would hurt my faith in the church that (I believe) Jesus founded.

 

[7_Sorrows]

This movie came up in my RCIA class. It led to an interesting discussion about the reforms made by the church since the discovery of the child abuse scandal. The leader of the RCIA class is our Deacon. He talked about all of the precautions the church goes through to ensure the safety of the children.

I was thinking about seeing this movie but I’m not entirely sure. I don’t typically go to movies and I worry that it would hurt my faith in the church that (I believe) Jesus founded.

One of our priests asked why our Church is holy. The answer is because it was founded by Jesus Christ.
I converted over 7 years ago. I am glad the sex abuse was uncovered
because of this investigation. The precautions that have been instituted are hopefully preventing such terrible things from happening again.

 

[GiveTheTruth]

Alex H.,

Let not your heart be troubled. Jesus tells us that the evil will be amongst the good in Matthew 13:24-30. Everyone will get their due in the end.

I have been attending mass now regularly for at least three years and prior to that on and off for 11 years. I was raised Catholic, but was never confirmed. I’m now in RCIA as well
and would not let this movie deter me. This is not reflective of all Catholics whether laity or clergy, but rather a small percentage. It’s unfortunate, but true in all walks of religion. I plan on seeing this movie, but AFTER it comes out of the theaters. I don’t want to reward Hollywood, because they seem to only make movies that show Christ’s Church in a bad light and so I refuse to participate with them. They never seem to make any movies depicting the overwhelming good the Church contributes to society or some of their great leaders. I’ve attended some non-denominational churches in the past, but found the truth in Catholic teaching and theology.

God Bless you.

 

[Alex_H]

One of our priests asked why our Church is holy. The answer is because it was founded by Jesus Christ.
I converted over 7 years ago. I am glad the sex abuse was uncovered
because of this investigation. The precautions that have been instituted are hopefully preventing such terrible things from happening again.

I have heard that anyone who works for the parish, or volunteers, must go through background checks, psychological evaluations, classes that teach how to spot misconduct, certifications, and bi-weekly reports of any unusual sightings. That’s for all clergy and anyone who comes in contact with minors. (Clergy, Church Employees, Volunteers etc)

 

[7_Sorrows]

I have heard that anyone who works for the parish, or volunteers, must go through background checks, psychological evaluations, classes that teach how to spot misconduct, certifications, and bi-weekly reports of any unusual sightings. That’s for all clergy and anyone who comes in contact with minors. (Clergy, Church Employees, Volunteers etc)

yes. our parish offers safe training classes several times a year. I will be taking it soon as I am going to be doing volunteer work for the parish. I think it is good they have put this all in place.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I did see the movie today. I would say there definitely was an agenda to go after the Church, but at the same time, the actions of the priests and Cardinal Law needed to be exposed. I don’t know how they thought they were going to be able to keep it a secret forever. The movie was powerful and as the amount of the coverup became evident, you just had a terrible feeling of betrayal. I know that Popes Benedict XVI and Francis have apologized for the actions of these many priests, but has anyone from the Vatican written a book for faithful Catholics explaining how it all happened and was allowed to happen?
I think this movie really needs to be seen, but many Catholics won’t see it. It was a very dark stain on the Church and will, unfortunately, be hard for many to forget. I thought the movie was well done. Like dixieagle said, the Church handed this scandal to the media on a silver platter. Thank goodness this investigation uncovered what had been happening. These priests were very sick men. We need to pray for these priests and all their victims. All priests need our prayers.

 

[dixieagle]

I did see the movie today. I would say there definitely was an agenda to go after the Church, but at the same time, the actions of the priests and Cardinal Law needed to be exposed. I don’t know how they thought they were going to be able to keep it a secret forever. The movie was powerful and as the amount of the coverup became evident, you just had a terrible feeling of betrayal. I know that Popes Benedict XVI and Francis have apologized for the actions of these many priests, but has anyone from the Vatican written a book for faithful Catholics explaining how it all happened and was allowed to happen?
I think this movie really needs to be seen, but many Catholics won’t see it. It was a very dark stain on the Church and will, unfortunately, be hard for many to forget. I thought the movie was well done. Like dixieagle said, the Church handed this scandal to the media on a silver platter. Thank goodness this investigation uncovered what had been happening. These priests were very sick men. We need to pray for these priests and all their victims. All priests need our prayers.

I had a great aunt - an absolute saint, and one of the first Catholic women to graduate from Radcliffe (Harvard) - who was a good friend of Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald. Back as far as the late 1930s he expressed his alarm to her, stating that priests who abused children were a “cancer on the Church” and would cause the worst scandal the Church had seen in centuries.

He founded the Servants of the Paraclete, which tended to troubled (originally alcoholic) priests, and wrote relentlessly to the Vatican and other members of the Church hierarchy about the problem as he saw it. Here is a link: ncronline.org/news/accountability/bishops-were-warned-abusive-priests

He was a voice crying in the wilderness for a very long time. Clearly, and sadly, most of those who should have paid attention, did not.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I had a great aunt - an absolute saint, and one of the first Catholic women to graduate from Radcliffe (Harvard) - who was a good friend of Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald. Back as far as the late 1930s he expressed his alarm to her, stating that priests who abused children were a “cancer on the Church” and would cause the worst scandal the Church had seen in centuries.

He founded the Servants of the Paraclete, which tended to troubled (originally alcoholic) priests, and wrote relentlessly to the Vatican and other members of the Church hierarchy about the problem as he saw it. Here is a link: ncronline.org/news/accountability/bishops-were-warned-abusive-priests

He was a voice crying in the wilderness for a very long time. Clearly, and sadly, most of those who should have paid attention, did not.

thanks for the link dixieagle. he was indeed a voice crying in the wilderness. if only someone had paid attention back then perhaps these issues could have been addressed earlier and many children would not have continued to be victimized. he saw the danger these men presented and no one listened. very sad

 

[GiveTheTruth]

Should the sainthood of John Paul II be called into question?

 

[Robyn_p]

Should the sainthood of John Paul II be called into question?

No. Saints can and do make mistakes. Even terrible mistakes. John Paul was a holy man, but not a good judge of character. He wasn’t like Cardinal Law who knew but tried to cover it up. He really thought these were just lies being spread around.

I’ve heard that a tactic used by the communist party to discredit the church there was to accuse innocent priests of sexual misconduct. If this is true, it makes sense of why John Paul was hesitant to believe the accusations. Nowadays we wouldn’t even take the chance, but back then, nobody would have expected it was true. How could it be?

One can be a saint and still handle situations badly. His flaw was that he was too trusting in the bishops and priests involved.

 

[yellowbird]

I think so much of the abuse happened in a different era. Attitudes in general were different. My elderly Mom talks about her Uncle - everyone knew he “fiddled” with little girls and the grown ups’ response was to “try to keep an eye on him” but that didn’t stop him from sexually abusing several of his young relatives. When he sexually abused a neighbor girl his family sent him back to Italy. The police were never called - it was all hushed up.

This was in the early 1950’s. No idea why that’s the way it was handled - just the way it was.