Spotlight - It Takes A Village To Abuse A Child

Spotlight is a movie about the Catholic Church abuse scandal that was covered up in Boston for many years from the 1960s to 2001. The movie is powerful, and immerses the viewer into the cover ups discovered by the investigation by the newspaper, the Boston Globe. The team of investigators from the newspaper uncover a trail of shame and fear that existed in Boston for generations.

The most important part of the movie can be summed up in one line, "It Takes A Village To Abuse A Child." This movie shows how children are vulnerable to abuse when there are systemic problems. It not only calls out the Catholic Church, it also calls into question the system that is supposed to protect children from abusive priests.

When you think about it, how did so many priests violate over a thousand children without anyone be prosecuted? Why did child protective services, family courts, and the media fail to bring attention to he repeated abuse by priests?  Every safety net played a role in neglect. In fact, the movie acknowledges that the same paper that exposed the scandal was guilty of covering up the stories in the past.

There is much to learn from Spotlight. You can apply this to any system of care that has abuse. Up to 10 percent of our population can experience sexual abuse during a lifetime. The scandal with the Catholic Church is not a singular issue. Hopefully Spotlight will inspire many to ask questions of all our services within a community to ask tough questions, and protect our children from future abuse.

I was haunted by a part of the movie that portrayed the local church leadership as indifferent to the scandal. Hinting that in some cases, it was not the priests faults. Fast forward 15 years and similar testimony was uncovered by the bishop in our diocese. Here is the link below:
Syracuse Bishop Blames Victim's For Abuse