The Power of the Cathloic Church
The Spotlight is based on a true story. In 1976, at a Boston Police station, two policemen discuss the arrest of Fr. John Geoghan for child molestation. A high-ranking cleric talks to the mother of the children. An assistant district attorney then enters the precinct and tells the policemen not to let the press learn what has happened. The arrest is not publicized and Geoghan is released.
In 2001, Marty Baron, the new managing editor of The Boston Globe, meets Walter "Robby" Robinson, the editor of the newspaper's "Spotlight" investigative team. After Baron reads a Globe article about a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, charging that Cardinal Bernard Law, the Archbishop of Boston, knew about Geoghan's sexual abuse of children and did nothing to stop it, Baron urges the Spotlight team to investigate. Journalist Michael Rezendes contacts Garabedian, who initially declines to be interviewed. Though he is told not to, Rezendes reveals that he is on the Spotlight team and convinces Garabedian to talk.
JAN. 6, 2002 | PART 1 OF 2
Church allowed abuse by priest for years
Aware of Geoghan record, archdiocese still shuttled
him from parish to parish. January 6, 2002, 5:50 p.m.
When the priest violated this young soul, the priest stripped some of his sprint away and marked him for life. The priest uniform represents who left the scars. That's the uniform the boy wears and carries inside. In time if he is fortunate, the outfit will fade and not define him.
