Latest / The food files / Episode 2: The Boston Church Scandal — When Protecting the Institution Failed the Children

Transcript

Episode 2: The Boston Church Scandal — When Protecting the Institution Failed the Children · The food files

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome back, everyone. 2001, Boston Globe editor Martin Barron encountered
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a question that sounded deceptively simple. What do church leaders know?
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: There have already been allegations against Catholic priests, but the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: deeper question wasn't merely whether individual priests had abused children.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It was whether the institution knew about dangerous behavior and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: nevertheless allowed accused clergy continued access to children. The Globe
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Spotlight investigative team began digging. Court documents became crucial. And
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: on January 6, 2002, the newspaper published an investigation centered
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: on former priest John Geohan. The reporting document said church
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: officials had received information about the priest's behavior while he
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: continued to be reassigned. More than 130 people eventually came
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: forward with allegations against the priest. The story didn't remain
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: about one, though. Spotlights subsequently reported that the Boston Archdiocese
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: had quietly settled abuse claims involving scores of priests. Now
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the question became institutional. How does an organization respond when
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: acknowledging wrongdoing threatens the organization? Psychology provides part of the answer.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Organizations develop identities just as people do. This is who
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: we are. We help people. We protect children. Evidence contradicting
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: that identity creates extreme discomfort. One response is reform, another
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: is minimization, and this one was an isolated incident. This
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: person has received treatment. We don't have enough evidence. Collectively,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: they can create a system in which protecting the institution
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: becomes confused with fulfilling its mission. Hierarchy compounds the problem,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and strongly hierarchical organizations, people lower in the structure, may
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: assume those above them possess information they don't. Someone higher
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: up must know. Someone else must be handling it. and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: challenging authority can carry social and professional consequences. But documents
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: uncovered in Boston made abstract organizational theories concrete. The Globe
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: reported that church officials knew of serious concerns involving the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: priest Gihon. While he was moved among assignments, documents revealed
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: that at least one bishop had explicitly questioned one reassignment.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: That matters because warning signs weren't merely visible in retrospect.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Some were recognized at the time. The scandal expanded rapidly.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Survivors came forward, documents became public, similar investigations appeared elsewhere.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: It's important to maintain the distinction at the center of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: crimes behind closed doors. This isn't an argument about Catholic
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: theology at all, nor does criminal behavior by clergy describe
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Catholics in general. It's far from it. It's an examination
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: of institutional behavior. The same mechanisms can potentially appear wherever
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: organizations possess prestige, hierarchy, incentives to protect themselves. They could
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: pop up in religious organizations, schools, sports programs, corporations, government agencies.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: The organizational danger doesn't change, even though the setting might.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: When someone reports wrongdoing, an institution faces a choice. Protect
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the image of the institution or the people the institution
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: exists to serve. The Boston Scan will demonstrate what can
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: happen when those two things are mistakenly treated as the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: same goal. Sometimes the greatest threats to an institution's reputation
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: isn't exposing the truth. It's what the institution does to
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: try to keep the truth behind closed doors. And that's
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: what this podcast is all about. It's to investigate and
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: look at those cases in the past where institutions are
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: trying to keep the truth in wraps at the same
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: time destroying a lot of their reputation. That's it for now.