I have a knack lately for watching controversial films. Today I saw Spotlight about a team of investigative journalists looking into the many allegations of sexual misconduct with minors by priests. The movie had me groaning as far as the various allegations of the misconduct, but I only took it as something that happened between a minor and a priests.
I know of no one who had truly been abused as many young Catholic parishioners had. It somewhat doesn't help that I'm personally not Catholic. How would I have responded if my child had been abused sexually by a clergyman I thought I could trust.
We see how it was handled by many involved especially the victims. Many didn't want to acknowledge what happened and hadn't for many years afterwards. They weren't ready and if it involved their parents they probably didn't believe it either. Thankfully the work of an investigative journalist team exposed more than the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was able to cover up.
Sometimes courageous people on a mission and willing to stand on their own can truly expose something very big. Unfortunately such people become a target in a variety of ways, but these individuals know something is going on and hopefully influence others to take a look.
