Friday, I saw the movie – “Spotlight.” The movie is a documentary about the investigative reporting of the Catholic priest cases of molestation of young children in Boston, MA. The movie was released in November of 2015 and I planned to see it then, but lost track of it.

From what I have learned after seeing the movie, professional reviewers focused on the investigative reporting and the determination of the team at the Boston Globe to tell a story no one wanted told. There has been great praise for the acting, directing and other attributes. The movie has been nominated for many awards and may still yet win more. I admit the depiction of the struggle of the team from the Boston Globe to dig into library records, interview survivors and fight for access to court documents was one I could appreciate and found very inspiring!

However, two other themes inside the plot lines stirred me to tears at times and made me want to shout at others. The first was hearing the testimony of the victims. No, I have never been through exactly what any one of them went through. But, I have lived through times where the pressure to please and obey authority in the name of religion and yes, God; was insurmountable, consuming and life changing. When the victims mentioned their predicament of saying “no to God”, or respecting the church, struggling with the question of loyalty to the priest and thus to their “faith;” it brought me to tears. For some reason, I tried to hide the tears from my friend in a darkened movie theater in Charlotte. Why?

I could relate to the struggles, the questions, the church- imposed embargo on admitting the truth of the reality being played out before you, drama that you never expected or dreamed would happen to you or the ones you love. This movie focused on the investigation and the behemoth the Catholic Church had become in forcing its members to look the other way and not tell the truth behind the horrible crimes committed. The details of the victim’s stories were real and yet not the main story. At the end of the film, there was an epilogue which listed over 1,000 victims came forward in the Boston area. There was also a list of maybe a hundred plus other cities around the world where other victims came forward. The scandal was much more far reaching than the reporters imagined. As a note, each of the reporters was raised Catholic and had their own individual struggles in placing their new found knowledge alongside their own faith.

The power the Catholic Church displayed then and yet, still wields today was a force which Jane Whaley and her leaders only wish they could experience. The influence of Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) and their crew of attorneys is stout, but in no way compares to the scope of the Catholic Church. I believe the culture in the South lends itself to being influenced by the preachers, pastors and church leaders who apply their trade here. In some ways, pastors in certain evangelical churches do exercise inordinate power over their members, and as like Catholics, their members struggle with loyalty to their spiritual leaders.

I recommend the movie for several reasons. Along with the excellent job the producers and writers did to tell a story which many did not want public, the acting was superb and the attention to detail was evident. One reviewer said the movie lacked a punch. He did not see the same move I saw. He missed the drama of the victims and the struggle against the Catholic Church. He must have been asleep.

At no point in this movie did I yawn from lack of interest. I regretted having to get up and be excused, then anxiously running back to my seat and ask what had been missed!

In summary, the movie was not about my struggles or the battles other survivors of WOFF have faced. And yet, there was a deep appreciation and intense identification with the victims, the Boston Globe reporters, as well as the attorneys who stood up to fight a Goliath among world religions. In many ways, the choice for victims of WOFF to tell their story has been met with the same disbelief and lack of interest as the early efforts of the victims of Catholic priests. Thus, many of us wait for the ruling out of the North Carolina Court of Appeals on the pretrial motions in the Matthew Fenner case. 2016 holds much promise.

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Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 558.