Community abuse

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one” Mitchell Garabedian- Spotlight

In the movie Spotlight, Marty Baron, the new editor of the Boston Globe Newspaper proposed a story to its investigative team that involved uncovering accusations of a catholic priest in the Boston area involved in a molestation scandal. The newspaper would file a motion to lift the seal off of some important documents that would prove that a priest had molested 80 children over the course of 30 years. However during their investigation the team experiences friction from the church, victims and even law enforcement. This paper will highlight the struggle between high power distance culture, low power distance culture and moral obligation within a community heavily influenced by the Catholic Church.

In this film, the catholic church represents power, credibility, and hope to its congregation and members of the community. So when the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team began investigating priests accused of sexual abuse police officers, lawyers, and judges all worked together to make sure that the their findings weren’t published in order to keep the church’s reputation untainted. For example when reporter Michael Rezendes went down to the courthouse to view the sealed documents that became public record a first time, he found that the documents were removed. Once they were published a second time, the officers on duty wouldn’t allow him to remove the documents from the building, and gave him a hard way to go to obtain copies for his research. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the church made a huge effort to discredit anyone who looked into the cases. Public statements by prominent bishops outweighed the truth of the matter/ the “accusation”

While the priests in the church held positions of authority and had power within the community, their power outranked that of the common man, so when the victims came forward to share what happened to them in the past, their stories were often challenged by public statements made by prominent bishops. When picking their victims, the priests made sure to target a specific type: poor young boys with low self esteem, from broken homes, and absentee fathers. The priests go after boy victims not because they’re gay but because they have more shame and are less likely to talk about the abuse that they suffered, making them less credible. The victims’ and their families held the priests in such high esteem, sometimes even referring to them as God. For example one priests made one of his victims who was gay, believe that participating in sexual acts toward him was acceptable because it was as if God was telling him was alright to do so.

While the scandal was taking place, several lawyers, and other members of society with high ranking positions worked together to sweep it under the rug. As a result of the abuse some victims became depressed, drug addicts, or even dead. Knowing this outcome members of the community still failed to speak up, because if word got out that these events were true, there would be great tension within the community, which majority of the community attends the catholic church.

In closing the movie Spotlight is based on true events and the team was able to publish and share the story of not only the victims that were silenced for years, but the work that they produced on the scandal helped to unpack other similar instances within the catholic church across the country. It was difficult for people to accept as the church is a place for support, healing and hope for the hopeless. It was also difficult for victims to come forward as they felt shame and officials to speak up on their behalf as they felt as though they were helping the majority of the community. In the end, the truth came out and now victims today are able to tell their stories with less hesitation.

Sarah Brown