Spotlight: The Geoghan Documents

By the Spotlight Team: Walter V. Robinson, Stephen Kurkjian, Matt Carroll, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Michael Rezendes
Boston Globe
January 24, 2002

On January 24, 2002, the Boston Globe published the Spotlight Team's analysis of John Geoghan's personnel file, which the newspaper had gone to court to make public. This feature was an important milestone in coverage of the crisis, increasing the public's understanding of diocesan documents and the mechanisms of priest transfers. On this page we present enhanced versions of the articles in this important feature, with all the photographs and documents in the original print edition, as well as links to the documents discussed in the articles. We also provide a reading copy of the original print edition.

Articles in The Geoghan Documents

• Documents Show Church Long Supported Geoghan: Officials Gave Comfort Despite Abuse Charges, by Walter Robinson and Matt Carroll
          • A Forgiving Reply to a Plea for Action [letters by Margaret Gallant and Cardinal Humberto Medeiros]

• Memos Offer Split View of Priest: Medical Records Contrast on Risk, by Michael Rezendes
          • Written Reports Clash with Verbal Assessment [3 doctors' assessments vs. Banks notes]

• Letters Exhibit Gentle Approach Toward Priest, by Sacha Pfeiffer
          • Letters of Compassion to Geoghan [excerpts of 9 documents with links to originals]

• Officials Avoided Confronting Priest, by Stephen Kurkjian

• The Troubled History of John Geoghan, January 24, 2002

• Law Says He Won't Quit over Scandal, by Michael Paulson

Reading Copy of the Original Print Edition

Click on a page to view the page in full-screen format. Scroll to the bottom of the full-screen display to page through it and to return to this main page.