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| Cast Members and the Boston Globe people they play |
“Spotlight,” which portrays the Boston Globe’s investigation into clergy sex abuse, is possibly the best newspaper
movie ever made. Certainly it deserves
comparison with “All The President’s Men.” Viewer reactions will of course vary widely—but
for me, this brilliant film provoked a myriad of memories.
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One day in 1990 Murphy’s phone rang. It was our bishop and publisher, Timothy
Harrington, enraged that our recent annual directory for the Diocese of
Worcester included the name of a priest under the heading “On Assignment
Outside the Diocese.” It turned out the priest had abused a Worcester child,
and the bishop had cut a deal with the family: if they would keep quiet and
avoid court action, he would remove the priest, and he promised them the priest
would never work with children again.
But the directory listed his location at a parish in the southwestern
U.S., and the family, infuriated, had already called the bishop. Since the bishop was our boss, Murphy
apologized for embarrassing him--when the truth was we had exposed the bishop
as a liar.
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In 1991 my father asked me a favor. It seems our hometown paper, the Saugus Advertiser, had printed a letter
to the editor attacking a former priest of Blessed Sacrament Parish by the name of John Geoghan.
The writer accused Geoghan of molesting several altar boys, and called on the diocese
and local authorities to punish him.
This upset my father, an old school Catholic who considered such letters
anti-Catholic scandal mongering. He wanted
me to write a reply letter both rebutting the writer and scolding the newspaper
for publishing such inflammatory “trash.”
As gently as possible, I told my father that I
understood his reaction but felt it would not be prudent to write such a
reply. I pointed out cases where priests
had abused children, and I said there
was no reason to believe Saugus was immune to such dangers. It was possible, I told him, that the
accusations were true. The very idea
stunned my father. He was disappointed
by my reaction, but to his credit he was not disappointed in me.
Years later, of course, Geoghan was exposed as the molester of up to 100 children in six parishes, was convicted in 2002, and was subsequently beaten and strangled to death in prison in 2003.
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| John Geoghan |
Years later, of course, Geoghan was exposed as the molester of up to 100 children in six parishes, was convicted in 2002, and was subsequently beaten and strangled to death in prison in 2003.
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In 1993 I wrote a short piece on clergy sex abuse for
the Atlantic Monthly. In it I reported many of the points, on a
national level (and relying especially on the work of Jason Berry and Richard
Sipe) that the Globe’s Spotlight Team
uncovered in Boston in 2001-2002. First,
such abuse was widespread. Second, the Church
faced huge liability payments and even bankruptcies. Third, church authorities (especially bishops)
were systematically covering up the problem.
Fourth, this cover-up involved “recycling priests” to new locales where
they often molested more children.
Fifth, Bishops also cut deals with families to keep cases from going
public. Sixth, the phenomenon was
finally coming to light, after decades or even generations, for one reason:
some Catholics, after generations of submission, were finally willing to sue
the Church. (“Spotlight” portrays
what happened when a newspaper decided
to sue the Church.)
The Atlantic
accepted my piece, paid me for it, then told me they would not publish it “for
lack of space.” (Ironically, the 1993 was the same year the Boston
Globe published James L. Franklin’s piece revealing that priestly
abuse in Boston parishes might be widespread.
The story was buried in the Globe’s
Metro section, and it took eight more years for the full story to reach the
front page.)
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As “Spotlight”
shows, the Globe’s 2002 stories triggered
an explosion of accusations. In one
scene reporters scan a list of suspect priests.
At the top of one page is the name of my B.C. High debate coach, with
whom I traveled for 20 weekends a year over a three year period.
Atop another page was another Saugus priest,
George Rosenkrantz, whose “Marriage Encounter” workshop my wife and I had once attended
at Blessed Sacrament. He was also giving away
some of his library; my
bookshelves still have books bearing his signature. A third abuser worked with me when I ran the Religious
Education Program at Saint Ambrose Parish in Dorchester. Many church workers like me gave our trust to
priests who were molesting children. We
also feel betrayed, though our suffering cannot compare with that of the
survivors.
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| George Rosenkrantz |
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But perhaps my most vivid memory came the week in
January 2002 when the Spotlight team’s
story hit the headlines. That week my
work included conducting a retreat day for a parish staff whose pastor, Father Jack,
was an old family friend from his days as a young priest in Saugus. The Globe
story overwhelmed our planned agenda, and became the day’s central topic.
During the long sharing we learned that many staffers knew victims, often family members. But the bombshell was Fr. Jack’s own confession of triple suffering. First, he told us what he had never told anyone: that he had himself been abused in the 1940s by a seminary professor, and chose to say nothing because he believed (1) no one would believe him and (2) he would be expelled. Second, he was assigned to St. Margaret’s in Saugus in 1950 to assist the new pastor, who was replacing a molesting priest (that man was exiled to Ireland for “penance” but later would be recycled to another Boston parish). The new priests had two orders: clean up the mess, and keep it quiet. They did—so Jack was silent a second time. Third, in the 1960s Jack became chaplain at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton, where much of his work was spiritual counseling and confessions. He found himself counseling students who reported being abused by their pastor at nearby St. Ann’s in West Bridgewater. It happened that St. Ann’s pastor was the very same priest who had abused Fr. Jack in seminary nearly 20 years before! Jack could only pray that his silence was not the reason more kids were suffering.
During the long sharing we learned that many staffers knew victims, often family members. But the bombshell was Fr. Jack’s own confession of triple suffering. First, he told us what he had never told anyone: that he had himself been abused in the 1940s by a seminary professor, and chose to say nothing because he believed (1) no one would believe him and (2) he would be expelled. Second, he was assigned to St. Margaret’s in Saugus in 1950 to assist the new pastor, who was replacing a molesting priest (that man was exiled to Ireland for “penance” but later would be recycled to another Boston parish). The new priests had two orders: clean up the mess, and keep it quiet. They did—so Jack was silent a second time. Third, in the 1960s Jack became chaplain at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton, where much of his work was spiritual counseling and confessions. He found himself counseling students who reported being abused by their pastor at nearby St. Ann’s in West Bridgewater. It happened that St. Ann’s pastor was the very same priest who had abused Fr. Jack in seminary nearly 20 years before! Jack could only pray that his silence was not the reason more kids were suffering.
But Jack’s silence ended that retreat day in January 2002,
and later that week he told his family for the first time.
At the end of the day, Jack drove me to the nearby
station for my train back to Boston.
Waiting for the train in his car, we spoke of the day and his feelings. He admitted feeling relieved to finally get
the truth (and its heavy burden) off his chest.
He expressed hope that more people would speak up. He proclaimed his own goal to get his abuser’s
name removed from the front of St. Ann’s parish center. (To my knowledge, that name remains on the
building to this day). But amid all these
cathartic emotions, he seethed with anger at the Boston Globe for parading the Church’s shame as front page news, in
full public view. In his eyes, it was
high time to tell the truth, but it was the business of individuals and
families and parishes--not newspapers.
Some of his venom, I knew, was rooted in a common perspective that the Globe was anti-Catholic.
I could not not
reply. “But after all, Jack,” I said, “the
Globe is just doing its job. This story is the Church’s fault, not theirs. And, to tell you the truth, this is just the
kind of public service investigative reporting that wins Pulitzer Prizes.”
