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In a riveting scene in “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning film about clerical sex abuse, Boston Globe reporters huddle around a speaker phone listening intently to the words of Richard Sipe, portrayed by actor Richard Jenkins.
Sipe, a former Benedictine monk renowned for his defense of clerical sex abuse victims, died at his home in San Diego at age 85 on Aug. 8, 2018.
Sipe stunned the Globe reporters when he said 50 percent of American Catholic priests do not practice celibacy. He assumed that at least 6 percent of Boston priests were sexual predators.
He was wrong. The Globe uncovered nearly 100 priest predators in the Boston archdiocese, about 10 percent of its clergy.