<\/div>\n
Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight<\/i>, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up in Boston thirteen years ago.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>The movie was painful to watch. \u00a0It vividly portrayed the unfathomable suffering of the sex abuse victims, the absolute failure of church leaders in dealing with and reporting predator priests, the outrage rightfully expressed by those uncovering the abuse, and finally the heartbreak of faithful believers whose faith in Jesus Christ was shaken and oftentimes crushed by the criminal behavior of priests and bishops.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Certainly this is not a Friday night, dinner-and-a-date type of movie. \u00a0Spotlight<\/i>, named after The Boston Globe\u2019s<\/i> team which led the investigation, slowly unravels a story revealing the inner workings of the newspaper. \u00a0The movie is not only about the sex abuse scandal of Boston, but is very much also about The Boston Globe<\/i>. \u00a0The movie not only places responsibility on the Catholic Church for the abuse cover up, but on the whole community. \u00a0A line in the movie that points to this is \u201cif it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.\u201d \u00a0The movie shows how The Boston Globe<\/i> itself had known about the abuse years before, but had not reported it effectively. \u00a0Lawyers, parents, and prominent members of society had all known, and nobody had taken steps to weed it out.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>I once heard that \u201cgetting caught\u201d is an expression of God\u2019s mercy since \u201cgetting caught\u201d allows for repentance and a change in behavior. \u00a0If a person does not get caught, the sin continues and the person\u2019s soul remains in peril. \u00a0This simple principle applies to what has happened to the Catholic Church in the United States. \u00a0Disgracefully for a period of time, a number of priests abused children and their superiors did not respond as required by law. \u00a0Now that the abuse has come to the light, the Catholic Church has been able to repent and change its behavior. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Spotlight <\/i>unfortunately does not provide a single hint of the Church\u2019s response after the sex abuse scandal. \u00a0What the movie reports was accurate in 2002, but it is certainly not the case today. \u00a0Since the publication of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People<\/i> in 2002, the Catholic Church in the United States has become a national leader in its efforts to protect children and youth. \u00a0The Church also has the strongest measures in the world in place for protecting children and young people, including safe environment training for children and adults, background checks and a zero tolerance policy towards sexual abuse. Just in the Diocese of Savannah, 16,987 employees and volunteers have had background checks and attended a training where they learned tools to recognize predatory behavior, develop safe spaces and report suspected abuse. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>The uncovering done by The Boston Globe<\/i> has directly led to a needed transformation of procedures within the Catholic Church. \u00a0Other institutions, both secular and religious, now look to the Catholic Church for guidance in regards to child and young adult protection.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>As I watched the movie last night I realized something. \u00a0The same day The Boston Globe<\/i> broke its first story about the sex abuse cover up, Sunday January 6th, 2002, I was at a discernment retreat at Camp Villa Marie in Savannah. \u00a0That same morning I told the Vocation Director that I would apply to the seminary for the diocese. \u00a0As I worked on my application to the seminary, news coverage of the scandal grew more and more. \u00a0At one point a professor asked me, \u201cPablo, have all these scandals made you change your mind about becoming a priest?\u201d \u00a0I was very surprised by the question because the scandals had never made me question my desire to respond to God\u2019s call. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Many young men continue to respond to God\u2019s call out of love of Jesus Christ and His Church. \u00a0It is not easy to be a priest in today\u2019s society. \u00a0Unfortunately, though thousands of airplanes land safely at their destinations, the one that crashes makes it to the news. \u00a0Though thousands of priests and bishops faithfully and lovingly serve the people of God, the grave errors of a few have marred the Church\u2019s authority when preaching the Gospel. \u00a0It will take years of faithful service to the Gospel to regain the unconditional trust many once had in the Church (both Catholics and non-Catholics).<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>One case of abuse perpetrated by a priest is one case of abuse too many. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>In the end, Spotlight <\/i>may be seen as a redemptive movie. \u00a0The exposure of the pain of victims and of the many \u00a0faithful who felt betrayed by the Church they loved, has led to serious reform within the Church which will help ensure that no other children will be victims of such abuse.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>Picture: Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire, England (2007)<\/span><\/p>\nPictures are mine, all rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up in Boston thirteen years ago. The movie was painful to watch. \u00a0It vividly portrayed the unfathomable suffering of the sex abuse victims, the absolute failure of church leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Spotlight on the Church: The Movie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Labyrinthine Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-28T22:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-25T22:18:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-NaEbLngw7jU\/VjE4Flr6GyI\/AAAAAAAAEVM\/ok1VyGTye9g\/s400\/IMG_3145.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html\",\"name\":\"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-28T22:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-25T22:18:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\"},\"description\":\"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/\",\"name\":\"Labyrinthine Mind\",\"description\":\"Seeking God in the labyrinth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\",\"name\":\"Father Pablo Migone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Father Pablo Migone\"},\"description\":\"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie","description":"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie","og_description":"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html","og_site_name":"Labyrinthine Mind","article_published_time":"2015-10-28T22:03:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-25T22:18:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-NaEbLngw7jU\/VjE4Flr6GyI\/AAAAAAAAEVM\/ok1VyGTye9g\/s400\/IMG_3145.JPG"}],"author":"Father Pablo Migone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Father Pablo Migone","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html","name":"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-28T22:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-25T22:18:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b"},"description":"Last night I attended a screening of the movie Spotlight, a movie about the investigative reporting which led to the uncovering of the sex abuse cover up","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2015\/10\/spotlight-on-church.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spotlight on the Church: The Movie"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/","name":"Labyrinthine Mind","description":"Seeking God in the labyrinth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b","name":"Father Pablo Migone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Father Pablo Migone"},"description":"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-NaEbLngw7jU\/VjE4Flr6GyI\/AAAAAAAAEVM\/ok1VyGTye9g\/s1600\/IMG_3145.JPG\")
<\/a><\/div>\n