‘spotlight’ Actor Joins Advocates to Strengthen New York’s Child Sex Abuse Law

By Michael O’keeffe
New York Daily News
June 14, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/spotlight-actor-joins-advocates-n-y-child-abuse-law-article-1.2674004

Actor Neal Huff as Phil Saviano in “Spotlight,” joins advocates to build awareness on New York child sex abuse law. (UNIVERSAL STUDIOS)

Neal Huff was waiting in line at a Westchester post office earlier this year when a clerk recognized him as the actor who played dogged victim advocate Phil Saviano in “Spotlight,” the Academy Award-winning film about The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal.

The clerk had a big smile on his face as he announced that he was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Huff said that kind of openness is necessary to change laws that prevent victims from seeking justice.

“That is the only hope this issue has, if people talk about it,” the actor said. “Awareness is the tool we need to change these laws, because the laws will not get changed without public outcry. It is mind-boggling to think of how far back New York is on this issue.”

Huff has teamed up with Saviano to ensure the public outcry sparked by “Spotlight” doesn’t wane once the closing credits end.

The actor and the activist marched across the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this month, along with hundreds of other survivors and supporters, to encourage lawmakers to repeal the statutes of limitations on sex abuse cases in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

They traveled to Albany last month to lobby for passage of a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations in New York, which bars victims from pursuing criminal charges or civil lawsuits after their 23rd birthday.

Huff and Saviano will also appear together at SNAP’s (the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests) annual conference in Chicago later this month.

Saviano, 63, and Huff have forged a deep friendship. Saviano said he was impressed because while the New York actor understood that he would be playing the Massachusetts activist in the film, he would be standing in for millions of other abuse victims who have been denied their day in court.

Child sex abuse survivor Phil Saviano (blue jacket), marched across the Brooklyn Bridge calling for passage of the Child Victims Act. (JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

“Right from the get-go, Neal understood that he would be representing not only me but all those other clergy abuse victims,” Saviano said.

Saviano said he was repeated molested by Father David Holley, beginning in 1964 when he was just 11-years-old. The abuse continued for 18 months until Holley mysteriously disappeared from Saviano’s Douglas, Mass., parish.

Holley, also accused of sexually abusing children in Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, was sentenced to up to 275 years in prison in 1993. He died behind bars at age 80 in 2008.

Saviano, who was diagnosed with AIDS, got an attorney -- Eric MacLeish, played by Billy Crudup in “Spotlight” -- who eventually negotiated a $12,500 settlement with the Diocese of Worcester. The agreement did not bar Saviano from speaking publicly about the abuse.

Church officials, Saviano said, probably thought that he would be dead soon after the deal was reached. But a new medication cocktail to combat the deadly virus kept him alive.

“Protease inhibitors,” Saviano said, “turned my life around.”

Saviano then became an advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse. He spent years trying to convince Boston-area media that the Catholic hierarchy not only tolerated predator priests but covered up their abuse, a key scene in the film.

Michael Meenan (c.) a survivor of child sex abuse who was abused at age 17 by a Catholic high school teacher, talks awareness issues with Neal Huff (l.). (JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

“When you’re a poor kid from a poor family and a priest pays attention to you, it’s a big deal,” the Saviano character tells the reporters. "How do you say no to God?"

Huff emailed Saviano shortly after he got the part and asked if he could visit him. Their first meeting lasted 12 hours.

“He was trying to understand the emotional life of a sexual abuse victim. He had a great sensitivity and awareness,” said Saviano.

Huff, who attended Fordham Prep in the Bronx and NYU, said Saviano surprised him by convincing director/writer Tom McCarthy and writer Josh Singer to tweak the script at the 11th hour. The references to “grooming” - how a pedophile befriends a child to lower inhibitions and initiate sexual contact - came at Saviano’s insistence, he said.

Huff said his approach to the role was shaped in part by a close friend who has struggled for years after being sexually abused as a teen. That man’s struggles, he said, have driven his work on behalf of statute of limitations reform.

“Think about the sheer numbers of people hurt by this,” he said. “Think of all the promise lost. When you rob a child of power and render them helpless, it is hard not for them to feel helpless for the rest of their lives.”