UNITED STATES
Deseret News
Compiled by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News
“Spotlight” took home the top prize at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, earning “Best Picture” honors for its depiction of The Boston Globe reporting team who exposed years of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Catholic leaders joined journalists, moviegoers and advocates for sexual abuse victims in celebrating the win, sharing their gratitude for the reporters whose work resulted in a global call for the church to address the problem.
“The priestly abuse of children (and) cover up by bishops is one of the most heinous scandals in history. Thank God journalists discovered it,” tweeted Christopher Hale, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and leads the Diocese of Louisville, retweeted his November reflection on “Spotlight” in the wake of the Oscar win.
“We can only be healthy as a Church and as a society if we honestly confront the sexual abuse of children and rebuild relationships one at a time,” he wrote on his blog around the time of the film’s release.
“Spotlight” has had a similar impact on the Catholic community as the original reporting, leading sexual abuse survivors to step forward, talk about their experiences and, in some cases, join lawsuits against church leaders, The Boston Globe reported after Sunday’s ceremony.
“I’m happy and I’m proud of the filmmakers and the actors,” David O’Regan, the Boston-Worcester director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told the Globe.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.