UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights
This blog entry is a brief guide to the documents, newspaper articles, and reports that are the basis of the movie Spotlight. If you wonder what Mike Rezendes is reading in the cab, or what’s in Phil Saviano’s box of documents, or what editor Marty Baron means when he says, “You’ve all done some very good reporting here,” read on.
The movie is the story of an article getting written:
Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years, by Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe (1/6/02)
It’s also about the fight to unseal some documents, and once those documents are unsealed, after the end of the movie, the Spotlight team will write this remarkable story:
Documents Show Church Long Supported Geoghan, by Walter V. Robinson and Matt Carroll, Boston Globe (1/24/02)
The emotional center of the movie is a cab ride through the neighborhoods, past the characters we’ve gotten to know, while reporter Mike Rezendes reads a letter aloud. The letter was written by Margaret Gallant, the aunt of the children we see at the beginning of the film. It’s one of two she writes, one to Cardinal Medeiros, and one to Cardinal Law, his successor. These are the letters, with their answers:
* Margaret Gallant to Cardinal Medeiros about Geoghan and Her Family (8/10/82)
* Globe Transcript of Gallant’s Handwritten Letter
* Cardinal Medeiros to Margaret Gallant Replying to Her Letter (8/20/82)
* Margaret Gallant to Cardinal Law about Geoghan with Boys Again (9/6/84)
* Cardinal Law to Margaret Gallant Replying to Her Letter (9/21/84)
When Rezendes arrives at the Globe, he reads this letter by Auxiliary Bishop John D’Arcy, who objects that Law has reassigned Father Geoghan. Law is ignoring Gallant’s letter, and D’Arcy’s “breaking ranks,” says Sacha Pfeiffer.
* Auxiliary Bishop John D’Arcy to Cardinal Law, Breaking Ranks (12/7/84)
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