15 Facts About Phil Saviano

Phil Saviano brought a lawsuit against his local diocese, uncovering evidence of additional abuse.

Phil Saviano was the founder of the New England chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Phil Saviano attended St Denis Church in Douglas, Massachusetts, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester.

Phil Saviano earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975.

Phil Saviano then went to Boston University and earned a master's degree in communications in 1979 or 1980.

Phil Saviano's mother died in 1976; he never told her about the abuse he had suffered as a youth.

From 1982 until 1991, Phil Saviano worked in concert publicity and promotions, working closely with his lifelong friend Judy Collins and with other artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme.

Phil Saviano was a dealer of Mexican folk art, launching an e-commerce website in 1992.

In December 1992, aged 40, unemployed, and believing that death from AIDS was imminent, Phil Saviano gave an interview to The Boston Globe publicly disclosing Holley's abuse.

Phil Saviano sued and learned from evidence gathered during the court case that Holley was a serial child abuser, that seven bishops in four US states were aware of Holley's abuse, and that the church had secretly sent Holley to four different church-operated treatment centers.

In 1997, Phil Saviano established the New England chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Phil Saviano encouraged other victims to inform the public of their abuse, and documented dozens of other priests who abused children.

Phil Saviano consulted on the film and was portrayed by Neal Huff; the two became friends after working together.

In 2009, Phil Saviano learned he would need a kidney transplant.

In 2021, after cardiac surgery and a stroke, Phil Saviano was diagnosed with untreatable gallbladder cancer; he entered hospice care at his brother's home in Douglas in October and died on November 28,2021, aged 69.