Survivors of clergy sex abuse said they hope the upcoming film Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s groundbreaking report that Roman Catholic officials routinely covered up abuse by priests, prompts more victims to publicly confront their abusers.
The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize and set off a global wave of investigations that found similar patterns at dioceses around the world.
The scandal damaged the Catholic Church worldwide, undermining its moral authority and requiring costly legal settlements. The Church is still struggling with the crisis.
The film, which focuses on the work of the investigative reporters who spent months tracking down sealed court records, victims and abusive priests, does not depict abuse but shows the heavy emotional toll it took on survivors, many of whom turned to alcohol, drugs or suicide when unable to overcome their pain.
“I do think it will encourage more survivors who are still trapped in silence and shame and suffering to find the courage to speak up,” said David Clohessy, who runs the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and was sexually assaulted by a priest as a teenager.
How do you say no to God?
Spotlight, starring Mark Ruffalo as reporter Mike Rezendes, Michael Keaton as editor Walter “Robby” Robinson and Rachel McAdams as reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, opens in US theatres tomorrow. It received strong early reviews in festival showings, and some in the film industry describe it as a possible Academy Award contender.
Victims portrayed in the film describe how paedophiles of all stripes “groom” their victims, first lavishing attention on them, then sharing inappropriate secrets like pornographic magazines before moving on to raping them.
“You feel trapped because he has groomed you. How do you say no to God?” victim Phil Savino, played by Neal Huff, tells Pfeiffer in one early scene.
Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, which maintains records on abuse and cover ups, said he worries that a movie set more than a decade ago could lead some viewers to believe the crisis had passed.
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing for people to ask themselves in what ways is this continuing and in what ways is it better,” said McKiernan, who has seen the film. “How is it that this terrible problem duplicated itself around the world, and what do we do about that?”
Victims’ advocacy groups note that they continue to fight to reform US state laws that set tight time limits on when victims of sexual assault can sue their alleged attackers.
Boston’s archbishop, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, appointed after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over the scandal, said the film “depicts a very painful time in the history of the Catholic Church”.
The description of the abuse crisis as part of the Church’s “history” angers victims and their advocates, who contend that abuse is ongoing in dioceses around the world.
That, said director and co-screenwriter Tom McCarthy, was intended to underline the point that the crisis of abuse has not passed.
“My biggest concern is that not only the Church, but the laity, the parents will think, ‘OK, this was a problem of the past. We’ll lower our guard’,” McCarthy said. “Until we’re certain that this problem has been dealt with completely, we have to remain vigilant. We have to push for reform, for change.”