CHICAGO (IL)
DNAinfo
By Joe Ward | March 1, 2016
CHICAGO — With its Oscar win Sunday, “Spotlight” not only honored the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the sex abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church but it also shined a light on a Chicago-based group that has been fighting for victims of priest abuse for decades.
The film shows how SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests) helped Globe reporters find victims and track down pedophile priests in Boston. While that was happening, SNAP leader Barbara Blaine was in Chicago trying to make it very clear that this issue went much further than Boston’s Irish Catholic enclave.
“This movie is vindication,” Blaine said Monday. “It says what we’ve been wanting to say for a long time.”
Before the film won Best Picture, “Spotlight” actor Mark Ruffalo joined the film’s writers and director to attend Blaine’s rally in Los Angeles. Their message? The film was a victory, but there must be more accountability in the Catholic Church’s handling of its sex abuse scandal.
Blaine, a River North resident, said her group is working to capitalize on the buzz surrounding “Spotlight,” which shows how reporters exposed pedophile priests who had abused hundreds of children in Boston.
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