Oscar Hangover Special: Why “Spotlight” Is a Terrible Film

From a couple months ago, but a must read.

I don’t “believe the victims”.

I was in Boston in the Spring of 2002 reporting on the priest scandal, and because I know some of what is untrue, I don’t believe the personal injury lawyers or the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team or the Catholic “faithful” who became harpies outside Boston churches, carrying signs with images of Satan, hurling invective at congregants who’d just attended Mass, and at least once – this in my presence – spitting in the face of a person who dared dispute them.

I don’t believe the prosecutors who pursued tainted cases or the therapists who revived junk science or the juries that sided with them or the judges who failed to act justly or the people who made money off any of this.

And I am astonished (though I suppose I shouldn’t be) that, across the past few months, ever since Spotlight hit theaters, otherwise serious left-of-center people have peppered their party conversation with effusions that the film reflects a heroic journalism, the kind we all need more of.

I don’t believe the claims of all who say they are victims – or who prefer the more tough-minded label ‘survivor’ – because ready belief is not part of a journalist’s mental kit, but also because what happened in 2002 makes it difficult to distinguish real claims from fraudulent or opportunistic ones without independent research. What editor Marty Baron and the Globe sparked with their 600 stories and their confidential tip line for grievances was not laudatory journalism but a moral panic, and unfortunately for those who are telling the truth, truth was its casualty.

continue at Counterpunch

It's long, but really a must read.

Fr. Z to Havaaaaad this Thursday

via New Liturgical Movement

From the redoubtable folks at Juventutem Boston and the Harvard Latin Mass Society comes this wonderful bit of news:

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf will be offering our first Solemn High Mass on Thursday, April 25, at St. Paul's in Harvard Square. Confessions and the Holy Rosary begin at 4:15pm. Mass for the Feast of St. Mark will start at 5:15pm. Seminarians from St. John's in Boston will be assisting at Mass. The renowned Choir of St. Paul's, featuring boys from the parish's choir school accompanied by adult male singers, will be singing their first Extraordinary Form Mass, complete with sacred polyphony. Following Mass at 7:15pm, Fr. Z, who writes wdtprs.com, the most popular Catholic blog on the web, will deliver a lecture, sure to please, in DiGiovanni Hall. Latin-English Missals will be provided. All clergy and seminarians are welcome to attend in choir. This event is co-sponsored by the Harvard Catholic Center, Una Voce Boston College, and Juventutem Boston.

Don't miss this landmark event!

It's too weird not to share

I never heard this from back in 2006 but maybe you have.  Conan was victim of a priest stalker....

It was reported that since September 2006, O'Brien had allegedly been stalked by Father David Ajemian of the Archdiocese of Boston, who, despite multiple warnings to stop, had been sending O'Brien letters signed as "your priest stalker" and coming in contact with O'Brien's parents. Frustrated that he had been denied a spot in the Late Night audience, Ajemian sent a letter to O'Brien stating that he flew to New York "in the dimming hope that you might finally acknowledge me." He stated in another letter, "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans??? You owe me big time, pal." In another letter, Ajemian seemed to make a death threat, saying, "Remember Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you." Ajemian then tried to forcefully enter a taping of Late Night but was caught and arrested. He was previously warned by the NBC security team to stay away from the studio. After a psychological evaluation, he was deemed fit to stand trial. He has since been bailed out of jail.^[112] He was then reported missing by his father on November 10, 2007. He was found and underwent evaluation at a hospital. It is known that the two had attended Harvard University at the same time. He was found fit to stand trial on April 4, 2008. On April 8, 2008, Ajemian pleaded guilty to stalking, stating that he "never meant to cause anxiety or to upset anyone." He was ordered to pay a $95 US$ court charge and to sign a two-year restraining order barring him from coming near O'Brien.^[113] On September 11, 2008, Ajemian checked himself out of his treatment at a hospital against the wishes of his bishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley. Cardinal O'Malley then released a statement saying that because he violated his bishop's wishes, Ajemian could no longer serve as a priest in the Catholic Church.^[114] As of late 2010, Ajemian has moved on to stalking Anthony Everett.^[115]

Weird.

Which reminds me, I still have to do a review on The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture.