Former Douglas sexual abuse victim's experience featured in movie 'Spotlight'

By Richard Duckett
Telegram & Gazette
November 4, 2015

http://www.telegram.com/article/20151104/NEWS/151109632

Phil Saviano, a victim of abuse by priests depicted in the movie "Spotlight," is seen at St. Denis Catholic Church in Douglas. Photo by Paul Connors

Phil Saviano, one of the victims of abuse by priests depicted in the movie "Spotlight," consulted on the film's script. Photo by Paul Connors

Although the movie "Spotlight" doesn't officially open in Boston until Friday, Phil Saviano has already seen it four times.

The first occasion was a private screening for victims of child molestation by Roman Catholic priests who are depicted in the film. The movie dramatizes the Boston Globe "Spotlight" team investigation into abuse in the Catholic Church that won the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. Mr. Saviano, who grew up in East Douglas, is played by actor Neal Huff.

"Each time I saw it I had a stronger emotional reaction," Mr. Saviano said. At the red carpet Boston premiere last week, "There were tears running down my cheeks. I was hoping most people wouldn't see me," he said. By the same token, "There's a lot going on in the film, a lot of detail. I was very pleased."

Mr. Saviano was molested by the late Rev. David A. Holley of St. Denis parish in East Douglas over the course of months in 1964 and 1965 when Mr. Saviano was 11 and 12 years old. Now 63 and living in Roslindale, Mr. Saviano is a founder of the New England chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

In 2001, he met with reporters of the Spotlight team and was "a key reason why the team decided to delve into this scandal in the first place," said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP.

"They knew of two priests," Mr. Saviano recalled. "I went in with a list of 13 from Boston and 14 from Worcester (Catholic dioceses)."

That meeting is depicted in "Spotlight," which shows Marty Baron (played by Liev Schreiber), then the Boston Globe's new editor-in-chief, insisting the team drop what it's doing to pull on the thread of allegations against Boston Archdiocese priest John J. Geoghan.

"If only two people can be credited, it's Marty Baron and Phil Saviano," said Mr. Clohessy, who lives in St. Louis. (SNAP's national office is in Chicago.) "Baron said 'Let's do this,' and Phil showed them it could be done."

"Spotlight" opens Friday in initially limited release. It will be at AMC Loews Boston Common. But the film could well expand its reach in the weeks ahead, given already excellent reviews ("superbly controlled and engrossingly detailed," according to Variety) and even some Oscar buzz.

The film is directed by Tom McCarthy ("The Station Agent") and co-written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. The cast also includes Mark Ruffalo as Globe reporter Michael Rezendes, and Michael Keaton as Walter "Robby" Robinson, the Spotlight team editor.

Mr. Saviano said Mr. Rezendes suggested to Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Singer that they get in touch with him. "Josh (Singer) came up to Boston and took me out to dinner at Davio's. Three and a half hours later we ordered dessert."

That was over three years ago, however, and for a while Mr. Saviano heard nothing more about the prospective film until an actor auditioning for his role (not Mr. Huff) gave him a call from Los Angeles. But when the film crew was in Boston last year, Mr. Singer gave Mr. Saviano a copy of the script and asked him to read it. "I sent them back four single-spaced typed pages," Mr. Saviano said.

Mr. Saviano suggested that in his scene with the Spotlight team it could be emphasized that the number of females who were victims (40 percent) was significant, and that many of the abusers, including Rev. Holley, "groomed" their victims. He also discussed how a child's spirituality could be devastated.

"There were three big points and they did write that in," Mr. Saviano said. "The fact that they let me have input on the script is remarkable. I've been really struck by how committed everyone is."

Mr. Huff also contacted Mr. Saviano and went to Boston to meet him as he was preparing for the role. "We had a good rapport. He's got a good heart," Mr. Saviano said.

Mr. Clohessy, himself a victim of abuse by a priest as a child, described Mr. Saviano as "a very gentle, loving man, who's extremely passionate and determined. In the film he comes across as angry. Like most of us he was extremely frustrated about how little people seemed to care."

SNAP was founded nationally in 1988. "From 1988 until 2002 we not only felt that we were lone voices in the wilderness - we were," Mr. Clohessy said.

John Geoghan was found guilty in a case of indecent assault and battery in 2002. He was later murdered in prison. David Holley was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison in 1993 in New Mexico for child molestation while he was a priest there. He died in prison in 2008. At the time of his conviction he was still technically a priest in the Worcester diocese.

When Rev. Holley's case was in the news in 1992, Mr. Saviano said, "I was just floored. I never knew he had stayed in the priesthood. I just assumed he would have got caught." After a couple of victims in New Mexico stepped forward to tell their stories in 1992, Mr. Saviano decided he should go public as well.

A long road was ahead on several levels. In 1992 Mr. Saviano was an AIDS patient. He filed a lawsuit against the Worcester diocese and successfully held out against a non-disclosure clause in 1996. "I think they thought, 'He's not going to last too long, let's settle,' " he said.

In fact, he was starting to feel better, thanks to new treatments. He founded the New England chapter of SNAP in 1997. "I thought, 'I'm feeling pretty good. I'm going to formalize my outreach.' The victims of Father Geoghan were showing up on the news looking shell-shocked, and I figured, 'I've got to help these guys.' "

Mr. Saviano has served on the national board of SNAP and is currently a board member of BishopAccountability.org.

Along the way, Mr. Saviano did communicate with Rev. Holley while he was in prison and received three letters from him. They begin, "Prayerful wishes to you." But "there wasn't any apology or feeling of remorse," Mr. Saviano said. In one letter, Rev. Holley wrote that he was "disillusioned by our legal system."

Mr. Clohessy has seen "Spotlight" three times. "I think it's just amazing," he said. "I think as much as a non-documentary can possibly do, it portrays the insular Boston culture, the secretive church hierarchy, the deeply wounded victims, and the heroic work by lawyers and journalists to uncover this continuing crisis."