I saw the Oscar nominated move Spotlight, about the Boston
Globe reporters who exposed the Catholic Church child molestation scandal. It is an excellent movie, and while I won’t
ruin for those who haven’t seen it yet, the most powerful part is the writing on
the screen at the end. I think every
Catholic—born, raised, practicing or lapsed—should see this film.
The disheartening thing is the reaction some people have to
the newspaper/reporters and the movie/actors.
This misplaced sentiment was summed up in the comments section of an
article in the Irish Times touting the release of the movie in Ireland next
week. A woman commented only about the stars of
the movie: “enough filth on screen from the lot of them to corrupt a whole
continent. Who are they trying to kid? Gimme a break!” She went on the call
actor Mark Ruffalo a ‘pro-choice abortion liberal’. Seriously???
She is slamming the entire body of work of an ensemble of
actors doing a good enough job to garner Oscar nominations by portraying
Pulitzer-winning journalists—but is OK with priests raping children? Wow!
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only person who feels this way. Of course there are good people and excellent
priests in the church. No one is denying
that. But blaming actors and writers,
instead of the perpetrators of horrific crimes against children, is absolutely
insane. Sweeping this, or any, scandal under rug
is so incredibly misguided. Having faith
in a God or a religion is fine, just don’t confuse it by having blind
allegiance to fallible human beings. No
God condones preying on vulnerable children.
Look at the big picture. The
actors and journalists were doing their jobs, the disgraced priests weren’t.
