UNITED STATES
WSIU
[with audio]
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
In the early 2000s, investigative reporters at The Boston Globe helped uncover cases of child sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church in Boston, a story that was recently told in the movie “Spotlight.” Since then, the church has implemented some changes to make children safer. That might not have happened without Joe Crowley. He was one of the first men to talk about his abuse to reporter Sacha Pfeiffer.
Joe Crowley died this past Sunday at age 58, and this morning in The Boston Globe, Pfeiffer wrote a tribute to Crowley. She’s with us now. Sacha Pfeiffer, welcome.
SACHA PFEIFFER: Thanks for having me.
MCEVERS: How did you first meet Joe Crowley?
PFEIFFER: I was introduced to him through a network of lawyers and advocates. And we met at a cafe, and I remember thinking that he was so smart and funny and articulate. But he was also really insecure and very nervous. And he clearly was still recovering from what had happened decades earlier just emotionally and psychologically. And we stayed in touch ever since.
MCEVERS: What happened to him?
PFEIFFER: When Joe was growing up, he lived in an extremely unstable family. His mom had schizophrenia. His dad was mostly out of the picture. There were five siblings total. They actually spent a few years in a children’s home, sort of the equivalent of an orphanage.
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