A Treachery to the Faithful

The Roman Catholic Church is one of the oldest institutions in history. It is an ancient organization that has preserved itself through layers of secrecy, holy rituals, and worldwide acceptance of Catholic doctrine. It is this faith that wills this system to outlast the lives of all their believers, thus, clearly showing the power of collective faith and belief. But this power, this trust, was immensely and systematically abused, betraying a billion people all believing and relying in this religion. The Boston Globe revealed a major discrepancy that exploded into a major scandal that shook the long-standing beliefs of Catholics right down to its cultural core.

It is important to look at a wider scope beyond faith and deep-rooted cultures to critically look into these kinds of issues. Therefore, in order to properly discuss and analyze this sensitive issue, two major sources will be used and analyzed: the investigative team of Boston Globe's Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church and the movie adaptation, Universal Studios', Spotlight.

On Betrayal: the Crisis in the Catholic Church

The Betrayal tells the full, in-depth story of countless of priests commiting sexual abuse towards kids, these kids' experiences as they grew with trauma, and how the Church knew of this matter and dealt with it horrifically. What started as an investigation on a single file unearthed a large, systemic evil that lurks within the holy confines of the Church all around the world.

Told by an investigative group of reporters in the Boston Globe, the book explores multiple points of view of people involved with the case and tries to understand all of the sides by providing context regarding the scandal and the individual lives of the people involved.

This journalistic book was written in a literary way that is filled with rich, appropriate imagery that provides readers just enough images to convey the proper emotions needed to be delivered. The scenes of the abuses were delicately touched and shown with no outright vulgar terms that distracts from the point. It was written in a way that captures the reader's rage and in some cases, even twist it into rage for the system of the Church itself.

The overall serious voice of the text is balanced by the frequent witty quips and sarcastic one-liners that entertain the reader, but still remain to tell the stories with honesty that does not, at all, lighten the stakes of the issue at hand.

Set mainly in the United States, with mentions of other countries with similar cases and the Vatican, the book details stories dating back from the late 1950s up until early 2002. The focal place of the abuses from which the first case of Father Geoghan was narrated was the city of Boston, a culturally-protective city that was home to more than 2 million of Catholics amounting to a number exceeding 50% of the Boston population.

It was immediately elaborated for context that Boston is a city that gatekeeps its culture. Its people protect their heritage in a way that isolates some, if not all newcomers. Cardinal Medeiros, the predecessor of the pseudo-protagonist, Cardinal Bernard Law, was described as a cardinal that was almost blatantly rejected by the people of Boston for not sharing the same cultural heritage as them. It was also multiply implied that this hardcore cultural-protection is the very reason why the sexual abuses of the Boston priests thrived for so long.

Although there was no central character in this story, as it focused on the balanced story-telling of all the parties involved, Cardinal Bernard E. Law shared more than a welcome amount of spotlight in this story. He was the only person in the stories that had enough background and a character arc that the readers could easily notice. Law was a very ambitious priest. He climbed up the ecclesiastical ladder fast, bringing with him an agenda to fight for civil rights and minorities. His motivation was clear and simple, to be the first American pope of the Catholic Church. It is this high ambition that allowed him to be blinded by all the evil that was going on in the Church.

Contextually, this choice of focus made sense as the book required more tension and a story that could be followed chronologically, especially because it was written as if it were a long newspaper article. It was also commendable how Cardinal Law's story was built-up through short appearances and mentions in beginning chapters before becoming the central point of action and name in the last remaining ones. It is not clear if this method was purposely used or it was a coincidence. Either way, it worked out fine as it satisfied the need for a proper ending which the main plot could not possibly give.

The book revealed little about human nature, but it bared the priests of the Church of their holy veil and exposed the flawed human beings underneath. In no way does the book outright blame these priests as it was clearly explained that some of the priests' mindset towards what they did was twisted to a point that they think what they did was normal and necessary. The book even tried to explain why priests take these kinds of actions and how their celibacy might have affected them. Essentially, the book attacked the system that allowed these abuses to persist, not directly the abusers themselves.

But the more important thing that the book revealed was the victims' trauma. What a single incident of fondling has done to the victims that eroded their Catholic faith completely, drove them down the dark, horrible path of addiction, drunkenness, and depression. Although not heavily detailed on the traumatic experience of victims as they miserably try to move on, the number of mentioned victims certainly added weight to the realization that the book wanted its readers to have.

Since this is the kind of book that would have the readers' intrigue even just by knowing the title and the short gist of what it is about, it required a lot of craftsmanship to keep the readers reading. Interestingly, the book opened in a catching way: a little background and smacked right into a scene of abuse. This opening is a perfect choice as intrigued readers would automatically look for the events that would be central to the book.

Although the pacing is fine, it felt like the book suffered from a lack of chronological progression as each chapter began in different settings to give way to the different points of view that seemed to matter more than the events itself. It was fine but it did render a few confusing moments of reading. The book, although understandably journalistic in nature, sometimes dumped numerous names that did not seem important at first but turned out to have a large role in the next chapters.

It was tempting to yearn for a proper resolution in an event with a large magnitude of conflict that covers pretty much a religion that has a billion of believers but the book diverted the focus on Cardinal Law and told a redemption arc for his character that satisfied the need for an ending.

The book, being an in-depth explanation of a worldwide scandal, holds enough intrigue and interest for patronage of people. Additionally, the writers have also done a good job providing the sufficient information to sustain reader interest even up until the last words of the afterword.

On Spotlight

The movie version of the issue was, in a way, difficult to even begin to envision prior to watching. The scope of the issue is just too big and too wide for a two-hour movie to give justice to, especially as the topic deals with sensitivity, actual events, and actual people.

Spotlight deviated from the storyline of the book and focused on the titular team which is composed of Boston Globe's investigative team of reporters. Basically, the movie adapted the introduction and the foreword of Betrayal.

It is commendable how the movie managed to make the plot work as it involved topics that are mostly uninteresting to audiences. Tension was really needed in most scenes as the premise was focused on the uncovering of these abuses. And while the actors and the plot provided, the accompanying score sometimes could not catch up. It did not help that it was mellow all throughout, which might explain why some scenes felt off, with the score not quite fitting them. It would've fared better if it took notes from David Fincher's The Social Network, especially as that movie dealt with a plot much simpler and plainer than Spotlight.

The cinematography was brilliant. The camera moved around satisfyingly, providing and conveying the depressing message the film wants to tell in some scenes. The montage of the victim interview was particularly remarkable as many scenes displayed a looming presence of a church in the background, signifying a larger entity that was ever-present and always watched. It was a subtle, yet unconsciously irking presence that helped out in delivering the mood of the movie.

While the film could not possibly put the names of all priests that were uncovered while giving enough context to each, it is rather gratifying for a reader of the text to see some names were added. Father Liam Barrett, not appearing in the book, was a constantly mentioned priest in the movie. Upon research, it was found that Barrett was a real sexually abusive priest that was not covered in Betrayal due to the time of his conviction.

And even though the film could not hope to fully deliver the same emotions that the book did, it made up for excellently portraying the frustrations that the Spotlight team felt as they slowly dug through newspaper clippings and searched courthouse files to uncover this phenomenon.

It also added to the movie that it featured the 9/11 terror incident as something that had affected the investigation and release of the story, a fact that was not mentioned in Betrayal. It was also a subtle reminder of reality as the Spotlight team was about to jump over the typical, hardworking, passionate reporter doing the right thing cliché.

Overall, the creative choices that were made for this film was, at first, questionable and sometimes off-putting. But it was well-rewarded with great cinematography and a satisfying conclusion that, while deviating from Betrayal, managed to be its own thing.

On the Catholic Crisis itself

The Catholic Church has been a very significant part of the world's history. It was shaped alongside humanity as it formed to be what it is today. Despite this, the states must remain apart from any church evidenced by the First Amendment of the United States and the Philippines' 1987 Constitution which upholds the separation of church and state. With this in mind, Catholic nations still consider the advice and the wisdom of the Church. And there also exists an immense amount of respect to this ancient institution.

It is the promises of paradise and eternal life that draws many people to follow what many assume to be morally good. So, having that kind of power also means having a tendency to abuse it. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In all of this, it is very enraging to be aware of these abuses as it not only taints the image of a Church more than a billion people believe in, it also damages the faith of these believers on a personal level. It is disheartening to know that the Church knew about this and tolerated it just to save its pure facade.

What also must be pointed out here is that the abuses revealed were not only exclusive to Boston or even the United States. Betrayal mentioned several countries outside the Americas and that was not even all that was exposed. Spotlight even named 4 places in the Philippines with confirmed clergy abuse.

Inside the ginormous domes and arches of churches could be another sexual abuse victim scared and/or confused about what just happened to them. This alarming pattern of abuse should not persist in any way, especially from a place of spiritual and moral cultivation and more importantly, from people who lead these places.

Disappointment is not a strong enough word to express sentiments from how the Church responded to these abuses. Shuffling and transferring priests, changing their environment could never stop this problem and that should have been common knowledge for a long-standing organization like the Catholic Church.

It is lucky for Boston to have a very functional press to uncover this truth that if not handled properly, would have been buried forever. Hopefully, this sets a standard for media reporting that would not be hindered by any organization or agenda no matter how big or small, a media that would always uphold morality and the public interest at all cost.

Finally, this crisis proves that no institution is flawless and even the ones that uphold righteousness and goodwill can be subject to corrupt practices and tolerance for their own agenda. It is easy to sweep anything under a rag if the power one wields is immense, if the sound one makes is deafening. And in these cases, it is the media's job to find the voiceless, give them a megaphone and broadcast their side to the entire world, repeatedly, tirelessly.