Frontline

The Silence (2011x11)

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Tom Curran and reporter Mark Trahant examine a little-known chapter of the Catholic Church sex abuse story: decades of abuse of Native Americans by priests and church workers in Alaska. The Silence shows how the isolation of the villages and the absolute authority of the church over the Native population created an atmosphere where molestation could go unchecked and unreported. As part of the recent church settlement with the victims, the bishop of Fairbanks returns to all of the villages where the abuse occurred and apologizes to the victims in person. FRONTLINE is there when the bishop comes face-to-face with the reality of the abuse that the church denied for years. The Silence is a co-presentation with Native American Public Telecommunications (NATP).