Survivor of Clergy Sex Abuse, Phil Saviano Passes Away at 69

It is so heartbreaking and greatly devastating to have learnt of the sudden and unexpected passing away of the survivor of Clergy Sex Abuse, Phil Saviano, who passed on at the age of 69, on Sunday in Douglas, Mass., at the home of his brother, Jim.

Phil was a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a degree in zoology. He went on to study occupational therapy at the Boston University, he later changed to communications where he earned his master’s degree in 1979. He was a greatly determined and focused activist who documented the actions of dozens of pedophile priests in the Boston area, and one of the secrets he carried was that of the early ’60s, when he was 11, and was sexually molested by his parish priest in Massachusetts.

As a result of the sexual assault on Phil, 30 years later, he began suffering from AIDS and he had afeeling within himself that he would pass on soon, he publicised the abuse and his horrific experience in the hands of the Boston Globe. Fortunately for Saviano, he didnt die as he thought, he then went on to play a classic and paramount role in exposing the widespread pedophile priest scandal coursing by the aid of Roman Catholic Church.

Phil was serving at the public relations when he found that he was H.I.V. positive due to the fact that he had been abused, he connected with survivors like him in 1997, and pioneered and masterminded the New England chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which is a renowned national group.

We extend sincere condolences to the family of the deceased, he will be greatly missed as he lived life to fight for just cause and the rights of the less privileged and the sexually molested.

”Phil Saviano carried a terrible secret for much of his life — that in the early 1960s, when he was 11, he was sexually molested by his parish priest in Massachusetts.

Nearly 30 years later, suffering from AIDS and believing he would soon die, he decided to go public about the abuse and disclosed his experience to The Boston Globe. As it happened, Mr. Saviano lived, and he went on to play a pivotal role in bringing to light the widespread pedophile priest scandal coursing through the Roman Catholic Church………”