The Secret is Out! A review of the novel “Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church”

“Betrayal: The crisis in the Catholic church” by the investigative staff of the Boston Globe is a nonfiction novel that brings forth the events and findings of the investigation.

On January 31, 2002, the Boston Globe would publish an article that left people shocked all around the world. The team, which consisted of editor Walter V. Robinson and reporters Matt Carroll, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Michael Rezendes, issued the work out to the public. The findings, based on six months of research, brought to light hundreds of kids that were raped and abused by Catholic priests in the Boston area. After digging deeper, the team would soon come to find out that for most cases, the Catholic Church actually knew that it was going on. The church and the leaders tended to brush it aside and ignore it. In one case, John Geoghan was accused of sexually abusing more than 130 kids. He got away with his actions for so long because Cardinal Bernard Francis Law covered them up. He would move the priests from parish to parish despite the allegations made against the men. For some like Geoghan, Robert V. Gale and Paul Shanley, Cardinal Law decided to send the priests to psychiatrists. After seeing doctors and undergoing treatment, the priests were cleared and seen as “treated” therefore being let back into the ministry by the Cardinal. After being let back in, more allegations were made against the men even though the cardinal and psychiatrists deemed the priests “cured or “treated”. Even with all of these case and allegations against the priests, most of them were not actually charged with something until 2003-2005.

The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team displayed an enormous amount of courage by publicizing this report. From struggling to get reports and finding solid evidence, the obstacles faced in this novel are forced upon you in a way that make the reader experience an emotional rollercoaster and leave a lasting effect. If journalism and nonfiction novels are your cup of tea, then this book will be a favorite.