Spotlight, Mercy, and the Future of the Priesthood

As a general rule, I always say that in order to truly understand a movie, I should see it twice. Yet, after seeing Spotlight, I never thought I would watch it again; it was hard enough the first time. But, when my Mom mentioned she wanted to see it, I told her I would go with her, almost without hesitation. Holy Spirit? Perhaps. Or maybe I wanted to see it again purely because it was one of the most enticing films I’ve ever seen.

By that I mean that the level at which the movie is made is high. Very high. Setting the content aside, the actors all portrayed their roles very objectively; in no way did any personal opinions or biases shine through the façade of the characters. This was very important for this film in particular, one that I’m sure could have drawn out many opinions and biases. Also, the film did not add any suspense to the story line. They just told the story, for the most part, as it was, and let the original story line pull the viewer in.

Perhaps, however, I needed to see the movie again for a deeper reason. For those who don’t know, Spotlight portrays a team of investigative reporters who uncovered almost the complete extent of the priest sex abuse scandal in Boston, even down to the cover-up by the Archdiocese of Boston. The film begins after an arrest of Fr. John Geoghan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who had, when all was said and done, abused at least 130 children over the course of thirty years. Years later, a new editor comes into the Boston Globe after a short article was written about a new accusation against Geoghan, looking for a follow-up story. He gives the job to the Spotlight team, a small squad of investigative reporters for the Globe. They begin unwrapping the large box that is the extent of the abuse and the alleged cover-up that went along with it. After many setbacks, including the September 11^th terrorist attacks, and many encounters with uncooperative attorneys, police officers, victims, reporters, judges, and just about everyone else in between, they find out that all of their worst fears are true. They publish an article, which appeared in the Globe in 2002 (link at bottom of page), and when all was said and done, Cardinal Law, Archbishop of Boston, resigned, and almost 250 clerics had been found guilty of molesting children. horrifying stuff.

So, what can one get out of this film spiritually? Why did I, a young seminarian discerning the same priesthood in which these men participate in, see the movie twice? Here are a few thoughts:

The importance of a healthy psycho-sexual development (and why it’s so stressed in seminary today)

In all honesty, we talk about sex a lot in seminary, and not in the ways that you would think. Don’t quote me on this, but at least twice a semester, topics dealing with healthy sexuality come up in formation sessions. Issues such as pornography, sexuality, celibacy, and chastity are just some of the topics discussed. Most recently, a fairly notable psychologist came and addressed the entire community on psychological evaluations that we all took to enter seminary. One of the areas of focus in the evaluations is psycho-sexual development, which is a big fancy term for the maturation and development of how one views sex in general and his personal sexuality. In the film, Sacha Pfeiffer (portrayed by Rachel McAdams) talks to a man who used to be a priest. When she asks him about his years of abuse, he says that he fooled around with some kids, but he never got any pleasure out of it. If that statement sounds wrong to you, it’s safe to say that your psycho-sexual development is sound.

In seminary systems today, this is essential. It is very important that each man knows himself as a sexual creature. It is important that each man know this is not bad, not something to be repressed or ignored. At the same time, it is important to know just what celibacy entails, what it means to truly live out the virtue of chastity, and for each man to reflect on these things and, with the help of spiritual directors, confessors, and formators, to assess whether or not they are healthy enough to faithfully live out priesthood in the future. Are things better? It would seem so, thanks in part to the attention that is now paid in the seminary system on psycho-sexual development.

God’s Justice and Mercy

This is where things get difficult, folks. What seems just for these men who ruined the lives of so many people at such a young age and awful things, for sure? But all of us, all sinners, are worthy of many of the same punishments those men are due. We’ve done things that have hurt others on an emotional level. Sometimes we do those things over and over. In the end, no matter how many times we’ve sinned or what we’ve done, we do not deserve heaven. It would be just for God to banish us all to hell. But this is where God is special. No matter how awful of a person we are, God wants to forgive us. All we have to do is ask. Does this seem just? Rationally speaking, no. However, God’s Justice is his Mercy. In other words, in our mind, justice works a certain way: you have to pay for your wrongdoings. For God, however, it is just that he would offer us forgiveness no matter the sin. Why? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me. If I had to guess, it has something to do with the fact that he loves us more than we can ever imagine. He loves us as the human race, but he also loves each of us individually. For that reason, he wants nothing more than to spend eternity with us in heaven. So, it seems just to him that his mercy would forgive and forget all things, if only we have the courage to ask for that forgiveness.

In this, the Jubilee Year of Mercy, something we should all focus on is being “merciful like the Father”, the slogan for the Year of Mercy. In other words, forgive without question. Grudges can ruin your life; let them go. Forgive, yes, and always remember to forget as well. Most importantly, be merciful to yourself, just as your Father is merciful towards you. This is a big order. I think I speak for most when I say forgiving oneself is the hardest person to forgive. Yet, God has already forgiven you through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And he wants to keep forgiving you. There’s a story about a girl who reportedly saw Jesus. The story makes it to her local bishop, who arranges a meeting with her. In the meeting, he tells her, cleverly, that the next time she sees Jesus, she is to ask Jesus what the bishop’s sins are, and then come back and tell him what Jesus said. The girl does just that. When she returns, the bishop asks the girl what Jesus said. The girl says that Jesus told her, when she asked what the bishop’s sins were, that he doesn’t remember them. That’s God’s mercy.

Hope for the future

The first time I saw Spotlight, I went with a brother seminarian. We rode the train there, talking about school, seminary stuff, and what we thought the movie would be like. The train ride home was a different story. It was mostly silence. Except for when we agreed that neither of us were ready to talk about what we just saw. I was still in awe.

The two of us weren’t the only seminarians to see the film. In fact, I would say that about a dozen members of my community saw the film. We can all agree on one thing: we are not going to be bad priests. By that, I don’t just mean that we aren’t going to abuse kids, that’s a given. I mean that we are going to be priests that serve humbly, live joyfully, and love radically.

I’ve been asked several times whether the priest abuse scandal affects my discernment. The answer is no. I acknowledge that it happened, but I know that those of my brother seminarians who go on and get ordained are going to be great priests. In order to do that, though, we must serve humbly: we must recognize the needs of our parishioners and lay down our lives so that those needs can be met. We must also know our limits, demonstrate a big part of humility. Above all, we must live joyfully: being a priest is not an easy life. However, if we give ourselves over to Christ completely, he will return so much joy to us, and it is our job, then, to spread that joy to everyone we meet, just by how we live our lives. Finally, we must love radically. This is the most important thing. The inherent problem of priests who abused children is that they did not know how to love. This new generation of priests must know God’s love firsthand, and must love others in the same way. Love is the key to mending the wounds that many still have. The love of God heals all; we must spread that love in a radical way.