I saw the movie “Spotlight” this morning, and it exceeded my
expectations in every way. It’s definitely an Oscar contender, and I
think it’s a film everyone should see. Not only does “Spotlight” do a
great job of dramatizing the Boston Globe’s investigation into the abuse
scandal, but it also shows the extent to which Boston was controlled
not just by the Catholic church but by what one could call “the old
Irish boy’s club” that demanded silence from priests, police, survivors,
their families, and entire communities.
Indeed, it seems like many Bostonians had direct knowledge of abusive priests, but assumed that it was just that one guy and the church knew how to handle things. The willingness for communities to turn a blind eye to abusive priests leads a lawyer working for the church to proclaim (and here I’m paraphrasing), “It takes a village to raise a child, and a village to abuse one.”
https://extraecclesiamestlibertas.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/it-takes-a-village-to-abuse-a-child-further-thoughts-on-spotlight/
Indeed, it seems like many Bostonians had direct knowledge of abusive priests, but assumed that it was just that one guy and the church knew how to handle things. The willingness for communities to turn a blind eye to abusive priests leads a lawyer working for the church to proclaim (and here I’m paraphrasing), “It takes a village to raise a child, and a village to abuse one.”
https://extraecclesiamestlibertas.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/it-takes-a-village-to-abuse-a-child-further-thoughts-on-spotlight/