Contents
Individual cases of abuse by priests were known in Boston before 2001, too. They were reported, litigated and settled, and little changed. What set the Boston Globe’s investigation apart from earlier reporting was its choice of target – an example of the Center of Gravity.
A new editor asks a question
Situation
On July 30, 2001, Martin Baron, previously at the Miami Herald, takes over as editor of the Boston Globe. He comes across the case of the former priest John J. Geoghan, who has been accused of numerous acts of abuse. The church records on the case are sealed by court order. Baron asks why, has the paper file a motion to unseal them and puts the Spotlight team on the story: Walter V. Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer and Matt Carroll.
Link to the principle
Baron does not point the investigation at yet another individual case but at a question about how things fit together: What did the church leadership know? With that, the target shifts from the perpetrators to what protected them.
The diagnosis: The system keeps them in office
Situation
The investigation shows that in 1984 Cardinal Bernard Law transferred Geoghan to a new parish, although he knew of abuse allegations and an auxiliary bishop had advised him against it in writing. In the years before, the archdiocese had quietly and confidentially settled allegations against numerous priests.
Link to the principle
This is where the center of gravity lies. Individual perpetrators could carry on only because transfers, settlements and secrecy protected them. This protection came from the top. As long as it held, any individual story would have changed little.
The means: Directories and court records
Situation
The team analyzes the archdiocese’s annual directories. Priests who are listed again and again as on leave or unassigned form a conspicuous trail. At the same time, the paper fights in court for the release of the records. In November 2001, Judge Constance M. Sweeney orders the Geoghan files opened. An appeal against the ruling fails in December. The roughly 10,000 pages are to be made public at the end of January 2002.
Link to the principle
All the means serve the same goal: proving that the leadership knew. The directories show the scale; the records show the knowledge. No part of the work gets sidetracked.
The breakthrough
Situation
On January 6, 2002, the first article in the series appears. On January 31, the Globe reports on at least 70 more priests whose cases the archdiocese had secretly settled over the previous 10 years. Hundreds of victims contact the paper. In all, the Globe publishes more than 900 articles on the subject.
Link to the principle
Because the first report hits the center of gravity, it opens the door to everything that follows. The victims see that this time it is not about an individual case but about the system, and they come forward.
The consequences
Situation
On December 13, 2002, Pope John Paul II accepts Cardinal Law’s resignation. The revelations trigger investigations in many dioceses in the United States and around the world. In 2003 the Boston Globe wins the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. In 2015 the feature film “Spotlight” is released.
Link to the principle
If you hit the center of gravity, you move the whole. You can see it in how far the effects reached: the investigation of a small team triggered inquiries far beyond Boston. The Pulitzer jury emphasized that it brought about changes in the Catholic Church.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- If nothing changes despite many individual cases, ask what is protecting the cases.
- Direct your work at that point, not at the next symptom.
- Choose means that all prove the same thing.
- Count on many people coming forward once you hit the core.
- Even powerful organizations have a point on which their cohesion depends.
Summary
The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team did not investigate the next individual case but the question of who in the archdiocese’s leadership knew. In doing so, it hit the center of gravity: the protection that transfers and confidential settlements gave the perpetrators. Once this point became visible, the entire system began to waver.
Sources
- The Investigative Staff of The Boston Globe: Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church. Boston: Little, Brown and Company 2002.
- Carl von Clausewitz: Vom Kriege. 3 vols. Berlin: Ferdinand Dümmler 1832–1834 (in German).
