“Spotlight”: Courageous Media Exposé of the Catholic Church Scandal

Today, we are going to present the award-wining film entitled “Spotlight.” Based on a true story, the film takes us to the offices of the Boston Globe, the oldest and largest daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The Spotlight team all grew up in Catholic families and know how powerful the churches are. But they are bravely prepared to face the inevitable challenges in order to fulfill their duties as true journalists. The lawyer of the victims claims the archbishop of Boston knew about Father Geoghan’s crimes without doing anything to stop it.

The Spotlight team meets with victims and uncovers 13 sexually abusive priests. But a researcher named Richard reveals that his findings over the past 30 years suggests there are actually many more abusive priests in the Boston area. After more than three weeks of extensive work, the Spotlight team finally identifies 87 potentially abusive priests, which is remarkably close to Richard’s estimate. They start to verify them one by one. It is no longer about one person or a few bad priests, but a much bigger problem within a system that has turned a blind eye to such heinous crimes.

Directed by Tom McCarthy, who also co-wrote the script with Josh Singer, the 2015 film “Spotlight” earned widespread praise from both critics and viewers for its talented actors, wonderful screenplay, and historical accuracy. It won over 100 awards, including the 2016 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has also courageously spoken up about this ongoing issue, including during a conference in November 2021. “So why do these priests have any immunity? What right do they have to continue living in luxury, while many children languish all their lives? (That’s right, Master.) Either murdered or languish all their lives, and losing faith in God and in the teaching of Jesus. [...] These priests, they are evil, they are devils! They are not priests. You have the right to treat them just like any other citizen, any criminal. In fact, they are worse than any normal criminals, because they know right, but they did wrong. They abused their power to molest the children and took away their childhood, their dignity, and their whole life also.”