Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church: The findings of the investigation that inspired the major motion picture Spotlight

I read this book in 2003. What I wrote back then in my journal felt angry, but given the topic, the outrage is definitely appropriate. However, if you are one of those Catholics who think your church can do no wrong, then you probably want to stop reading here and avoid this book. For the rest of the open minded and rational people, read on. By the way, this is not "happy" reading; for some people, it will make you angry or depressed, but it is an important read. If I recall, I borrowed this one at the public library. Here is what I wrote back then:

>>The book was written by the staff of the Boston Globe, who broke the story. The book does an excellent job of documenting the scandal. The victims' narratives were moving, but what I found show more outrageous and upsetting was the church's arrogant culture of indifference to the victims and selfish desire to protect itself. I think when I was younger I would have never considered the church to be selfish, but over time I have seen enough of their bureaucracy and medievalism to be disappointed and dissatisfied. At any rate, the evidence of how the church protected pedophile priests, moving them from parish to parish, was simply outrageous; I truly felt angry the church allowed such a thing to happen without regard to the children that were harmed. The church at all times was more preoccupied with protecting its image than community safety, rushing to secret settlemenents with victim families. Over time, I have realized that the more I become educated, the more I question things, including the church's arrogance and closed mindedness. I understand and applaud the sincere Catholics whose faith moves them to good works, but it is clear the overall culture of the church is one of oppression and self-perpetuation of pretension and closed minds. This book only reaffirmed my reasons for dissatisfaction. The book ends documenting laity efforts to reform the Catholic Church from within, yet it was not a hopeful note as the entrenched hierarchy seems more interested in "quashing" any dissent. For an investigative piece, this book is an excellent book; it was well done. It includes an appendix with various documents to add to the narrative, including letters to bishops by victims or the victims' families appealing for help or protection, appeals that were mostly patronized or altogether ignored. This is one of the most enraging and moving books I have read recently. show less

My god. You want to read the most terrifying book? Read this. The only horror story that comes close to this is [a:Jack Ketchum|90070|Jack Ketchum|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1398128441p2/90070.jpg]'s criminally under-read [b:The Girl Next Door|179735|The Girl Next Door|Jack Ketchum|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298460378s/179735.jpg|1109091].

Both made me uneasy and angry. The difference is, Ketchum based his fictional novel on a real-life event. Betrayal can't hide behind fiction.

I had to take this book in small sips, because I became enraged with something virtually every page.

Betrayal is the perfect title for this. How else could you describe a 2000-year-old religious institution that holds incredibly strong beliefs on what show more constitutes sin, from eating meat on a Friday, to gays, to birth control, and also holds to antiquated notions such as only male priests, celibacy, and the fact that they are above the laws of men?

And yet...for all these beliefs, when their so-called "men of god" commit an act that, personally, I believe is worse than murder: The destruction of a child's innocence and the terrorism that occurs during the act, and the guilt and pain that follow that child through the rest of their lives. And those that oversee them, the ones that should be holding them to the high values they are expected to uphold, instead look the other way, send them back into the same opportunities, often with glowing recommendations. And also to place blame with the victims. Or the families.

That is evil. And, for me, offers incontrovertible proof that if there truly is a god, then they are an evil and twisted force that has no right to be venerated and worshipped.

This is a horrifying book to read. Yet, it should be read...especially by those that claim the Catholic faith. Because this shows that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If there was any justice, the church would fall. I hated this book. I'm glad I read it.

I now know the true face of evil. show less

This book is heartrending and sickening in its exposure of a major coverup by administration of the Catholic Church over abuses of adolescent boys by priests. The Boston Globe has done a masterful job setting the stage and explaining the problems of tracking down this series of atrocities and tracing them to their roots. An eye-opening read. As a person of faith (though not Catholic) who also seeks to pursue social justice, I was especially struck by the people who stayed in the church but sought to reform and improve it.

Much like when I read Souless by Jim DeRogatis, I have this weird feeling about rating a book that discusses the sexual abuse of children by Catholic Priests.

When I first started to read this book I expected it to be a little bit more like the movie Spotlight. I was very wrong. I thought this would be the story of Spotlight learning about what happened in Boston, not what their research detailed. I needed to take a break from the book a few days after starting because of the stories recounted throughout. I pushed to finish this book because of how significant it is. I would recommend this book to people that want to understand what happened in Massachusetts and how it happened.

The Roman Catholic Church has a problem, it hasn't faced up to it's responsibilities as well as it's power, it has got too complacent and not realised that it needs to change, needs to clean up it's act and face up to a spiderman moment and realise that with absolute power comes absolute responsibility. It's chickens have come home to roost and there needs to be root and branch changes if it wants to survive. If an organisation wanted to destroy itself from within it could take lessons from the Catholic Church because it's doing a stellar job.

This is an account of what happened when investigators started asking questions, looking into cover up after cover up and asking the awkward questions and it was tough to listen to.

An excellent book. The only thing that was a bit of a "let down" was that it was not like "All the President's Men" in that it is just The Boston Globe's original reporting shaped into a book and doesn't detail how the Globe Spotlight team approached the story. (I'll have to watch the movie for that :-) That's simply a head's up for anyone expecting something else.

An excellent book. The only thing that was a bit of a "let down" was that it was not like "All the President's Men" in that it is just The Boston Globe's original reporting shaped into a book and doesn't detail how the Globe Spotlight team approached the story. (I'll have to watch the movie for that :-) That's simply a head's up for anyone expecting something else.