BishopAccountability.org

Publisher's Notebook: Torn Between Faith and Profession

By Dennis Anderson
Frontiersman
July 8, 2018

https://www.frontiersman.com/opinions/torn-between-faith-and-profession/article_c3cdc802-8232-11e8-ad2a-67013ef52194.html

Former Boston Globe editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, right, and actor Michael Keaton, who portrayed him in the 2015 film ‘Spotlight’, which won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 2015 Academy Awards. On July 19, Robinson will be in Wasilla for a sit-down conversation at Everett’s.


I’m a cradle Catholic. I typically avoid movies concerning the church. Hollywood doesn’t always portray Catholics and our faith in the best of lights. When the movie ‘Spotlight’ was released, I had zero interest in watching the film. ‘Spotlight’ tells the story behind the Boston Globe’s investigative journalism team’s efforts to uncover the widespread of child sex abuse by priests in the Boston area. Subsequently, they uncovered that the church not only knew about these priests, but made unbelievable efforts to conceal the epidemic. 

All told, there were over 90 priests confirmed to have been involved. The Globe’s investigation revealed that the church, lawyers and some of the faithful went to great links to keep the accusations quiet. The team also exposed the fact that psychologists working with the church believed that these priests could be rehabilitated. Some were declared cured and sent back into parishes only to abuse again. One such priest was John J. Geoghan, and since the mid-1990’s, more than 130 people have come forward with horrific tales of his abuse, according to the original Boston Globe article released in January of 2002. Geoghan was the early focus of the team because the church successfully had the court documents attached to his case sealed.

Released in 2015, the movie was critically acclaimed. Those involved in the movie raked in the awards in 2016 including the Academy Award of Best Picture. I’ll typically search out movies that are this lauded. I just wouldn’t budge on this one. Another shot fired at the faithful, I reconciled in my mind. But I had no idea what the movie was about, other than a scandal that I was personally in denial about.

One evening, while searching through Netflix for something to watch, ‘Spotlight’ appeared in the recently added folder. I checked out the trailer and decided to acquiesce. The trailer had me intrigued because it portrayed that the movie was focused on the passionate efforts of the Spotlight team. So, I watched.

At this time, I was in my first year as Publisher of the Frontiersman. As I watched the movie I never felt so conflicted. As the reporters dug deeper and actors portraying victims told their stories, I was riveted. My emotions ranged from disbelief because, after all, it’s just a movie to the embarrassment that I blindly followed my church to the point where it could do no wrong.

After watching the movie, I began researching the actual story, including reading the first two articles of the more than 600 written by the Boston Globe staff on the subject. I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe that the leadership of the church I loved would time and time again return known child sex abusers back into the midst of their prey. I was shocked at how easy it was for these priests to get so intimate with vulnerable families. How the church would quiet the priests who would report these abuses. All for what appeared to be saving the church’s reputation. I felt so naïve and betrayed. Sacha Pfeiffer, a Spotlight reporter, said her grandmother told her after reading the stories, “I can’t believe this happened, because we all thought the priests were little gods.” 

Many of us who have been deeply rooted in our faith felt the same way. Having a priest over for dinner or coffee was an honor. Families line up to serve the church and build a relationship with their priest. The majority of priests are incredibly devout, spiritually gifted and genuinely care about the parishioners they serve. Now the scandal is a global phenomenon and trust in the relationship between priest and parishioner has to have suffered. That’s a small price to pay when the victims of the abuse are considered. 

As recently as January of this year Pope Francis defended Chilean Bishop Juan Barros against accusations of his involvement with covering up sexual abuse by priests in his country in the 1980s and 1990s. This shows that denial is still ingrained into a disturbing number of the faithful, including at the highest levels of the church. Pope Francis later called his defense of Barros a ‘grave mistake’. Thirty-one bishops in Chile would offer their resignation. Three resignations were accepted including Barros’. These facts that have been revealed and are no longer denied by the church are hard for me to reconcile with personally. 

After watching the movie and researching the child abuse scandal, I have only been to Mass a handful of times. My on-again, off-again relationship with the Sunday ritual of going to Mass is off again and my belief in the dogma of the church has been shaken, but not destroyed. 

I know locally some had their own reconciling to do as former Anchorage Catholic priest Frank Murphy was whisked away from Anchorage in 1985. Murphy was beloved by his parishioners. He was described to me by those who knew him as a very outgoing fun-to-be-around type. The Boston-born priest arrived in Anchorage in the 1960’s. When he left in 1985, the local faithful were told by then Archbishop Francis Hurley that Murphy was being treated for alcoholism. Murphy was eventually back in Boston as a hospital chaplain. At the time of his departure, from Anchorage Murphy was being investigated by police. 

A lawsuit against Murphy, the Anchorage Archdiocese, the Boston Archdiocese and the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle was filed by five men who claimed abuse as early as 1964 and as late as 1981. It was settled for $1.4 million. In 2012, the attorney for plaintiffs in more than 100 claims of sexual abuse by the Society of Jesus, settled for a reported $50 million. The suit involved more than a dozen Jesuits assigned to Alaska between 1961 and 1987. The scandal is far-reaching and hits very close to home.

On July 19th Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, who was editor of the Spotlight team for the Boston Globe that broke the Boston Diocese story will be here in Wasilla. In the movie, Robinson is portrayed by Michael Keaton. We will have a luncheon at Everett’s at the Mat-Su Resort in which Tim Bradner, longtime Alaska journalist and UAA Atwood Chair Tim Bradner, will have a sit-down discussion with Robinson. The Frontiersman, Gorilla Fireworks and Everett’s are sponsoring the event. For more information, visit Frontiersman.com or call me directly at 352-2255. The investigative reporting of the Catholic church scandal will be one of many topics discussed.

If you are a victim of sexual abuse please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). One victim who stood out to Robinson after the story broke and the team was inundated with phone calls from victims was an 87-year-old man from Maine. He claimed he was abused by a priest in 1926. He lived with the abuse his entire life and never told anyone according to Robinson.

 




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