The Spotlight Is On Again

In January of 2002 the Boston Globe began printing the stories of its Spotlight team investigation into the abuse of children by Catholic clergy. I was in my fourth year of formation at Saint John’s Seminary when this happened. As you can imagine, and as you can remember, this was an extremely difficult time to be Catholic, particularly for the seminarians who were aspiring to be priests and who were prayerful, educated and committed to their faith. They were literally under siege by the media and by protesters outside the entrances to the chancery and seminary in Brighton and still all the while going about the day-to-day routine of seminary life. These men I lived and studied with were and are good men and a good number of them went on to ordination, myself included obviously.
 
All the emotions of this time were brought back to me last week as I went to view the new movie Spotlight, which is based on the events of that time. I say “based on” because a two-hour movie cannot possibly contain all the events or the nuances of the time. Watching the reporters investigate the widening scandal was difficult; watching the Catholic Church be eviscerated again was difficult; and watching the struggles of the victims again was profoundly difficult. Is this movie an accurate portrayal of events? I’d say in some ways yes and some ways no but the shock and betrayal relived through the digital screen was visceral. You feel the anger and hurt all over again and that is painful.
 
I saw the movie by myself in Boston at the same theater where I saw The Passion of the Christ back in 2004 and I had the same feeling of not being able to talk about it as soon as the film was over. I then had to walk across the Boston Common to my car and had some moments to think and to ponder, not to mention the half-hour drive back to Walpole. So I was angry again: Angry at the stupid things the leaders of our Church had done in the name of protecting the institution rather than protecting the children, angry that the whole story never seems to be told, and angry that after 13 years I have to relive this pain all over again.
 
I guess my reason for writing this is simple: I think we need to acknowledge the movie, that it exists and that it portrays a sense of our history here in Boston that we should never forget, but that we should also feel confident is in our rearview mirror. There is no safer place for children right now than in our parishes. We CORI volunteers every year and send hundreds of folks through VIRTUS training. Priests are mandated reporters of abuse now and we are CORI’d every year as well. Every seminarian has received superlative formation at Saint John’s Seminary since at least the mid-90s that includes psychological testing along with near constant meetings with spiritual directors and those in charge of what we call human formation, all to ensure that those to be ordained are healthy and happy individuals who are very theologically educated. I, like you, love the Catholic Church and love Jesus Christ, her groom. Together let us continue to work toward making disciples for Jesus so that the love that is God continues to be our focus and our reason for everything we do.