{"id":4797,"date":"2017-05-05T09:49:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T13:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4797"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:02:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T15:02:00","slug":"the-priests-have-been-busy-with-more-than-their-vespers-and-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2017\/05\/05\/the-priests-have-been-busy-with-more-than-their-vespers-and-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Priests Have Been Busy With More Than Their Vespers and Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>Matt Carroll ran to the house down the street from him. \u00a0The house used for the \u201ctreatment\u201d of priests who were removed from their parishes for \u201csick leave.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0What was he hoping to see? \u00a0What did he think he would do at this house? \u00a0He posted a picture of the house on his fridge along with a sign that read, \u201cKids Stay away from this house.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sacha sat through the lengthy Sunday morning services with her Nana. \u00a0She wondered while she smelled the thick scent of lemon furniture polish. \u00a0Was everything throughout the church, parish and diocese as scrupulously cleaned and sanitized?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Robby poured over his old school yearbooks, searching faces and wondering. \u00a0\u00a0Mike begged for interviews, hassled courthouse workers and judges and hustled for the story. \u00a0And none of them slept well. \u00a0For a year. \u00a0For a year, they gave up time with their families, sleep and most activities that did not include their work. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What were they willing to sacrifice so much for? \u00a0As it turns out many people knew for what. \u00a0The stories were shifted from one lawyer, to a sibling, to a psychiatrist, to a priest, to a reporter, to the archbishop and so on in no particular order or preference. \u00a0The victims waited, ostracized by the nature of the crime and ignored by those who should have helped.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As journalists in the Spotlight division of the Boston Globe searched through the records, volumes and notes, these were not isolated events. \u00a0As they sought corroboration for their findings the numbers grew. \u00a0How many children will it take to make it newsworthy? \u00a0It <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

started with a delving into a victims\u2019 group of 11\u2014no, 10. \u00a0It grew into the thousands. \u00a0As the number climbed, Mike, one of the Spotlight journalists, grew more and more impatient. \u00a0He was taking this story very personally. \u00a0He wondered why they should wait to show that this crime reached the highest ranks in the Catholic Church. \u00a0There might be more victims with each day they waited. \u00a0His conscience burned as he waited. \u00a0The crime grew from the city of Boston stretching around the world. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Robby, the supervisor of the Spotlight department of the newsroom, felt the snubs from his friends as he tried to pursue and break through the ranks. \u00a0He had gone to Catholic school. \u00a0How had he escaped? \u00a0He met with a man from his alma mater: one of the lucky ones, grown, married and with children. \u00a0But he had been picked out and groomed for his coach, a priest. \u00a0How could so many have ignored something this huge right beneath their own feet?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With all of this hidden behind such a large and powerful organization, could a handful of regular people like these investigative journalists really break through the barricade and do something to stop the abuse? \u00a0They were up against the good ol\u2019 boys club, money, power and pompousness. \u00a0While the victims cried out quietly for help. Will the perpetrators of these crimes against the children in their charge face justice? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Matt Carroll ran to the house down the street from him. \u00a0The house used for the \u201ctreatment\u201d of priests who were removed from their parishes for \u201csick leave.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0What was he hoping to see? \u00a0What did he think he would do at this house? \u00a0He posted a picture of the house on his fridge along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8845,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions\/8845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}