MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com
By Dialynn Dwyer @dia_dwyer
Boston.com Staff | 03.01.16
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley praised the media for its role in leading the church to acknowledge systemic sexual abuse by priests in a statement released Tuesday on the importance of the film Spotlight. The film, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday, chronicles the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by reporters for The Boston Globe that ultimately exposed the abuse crisis within the Roman Catholic Church.
The archbishop of Boston didn’t mention the paper by name or reference the film’s awards in the statement posted to the Archdiocese website:
Spotlight is an important film for all impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse. By providing in-depth reporting on the history of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the media led the Church to acknowledge the crimes and sins of its personnel and to begin to address its failings, the harm done to victims and their families and the needs of survivors. In a democracy such as ours, journalism is essential to our way of life. The media’s role in revealing the sexual abuse crisis opened a door through which the Church has walked in responding to the needs of survivors.
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