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American Morning

Victim Discusses Abuse by Church

Aired March 19, 2002 - 08:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the burgeoning sex scandal in the Catholic Church. In Boston, Massachusetts, Cardinal Bernard Law, who has been under growing pressure to resign because of the huge dimensions of the scandal in Boston, gave an unprecedented interview yesterday in which he talked about the church's old way of treating sexual abuse allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON: The policies that we had in place we had in place thinking that they were sound and responsible. Others thought the same thing. But in retrospect, I see that they were lacking, that they were wrong in not addressing the problem in terms of no assignment and in terms of public reporting. And we've dealt with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: And New York's Cardinal Eagen this morning is responding to a published report that he mishandled child molestation charges against priests when he was the bishop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. "Dealing with the past," he says, "is a painful thing. You can't go back, but what you can do is go forward."

Cardinal Eagen acknowledges people have been hurt and trust has been shattered. And as the crisis grows, so does the call for the leadership of the Catholic Church to embrace reform and abolish its longstanding policy of secrecy.

For one victim of sexual abuse at the hands of the priest, the church scandal has been a liberating experience, if you will. Mark Serrano settled his lawsuit against the church in 1987. He was abused over a period of seven years by his parish priest when he was a boy in New Jersey.

And he joins us this morning from Washington, D.C. Mark, it's nice to have you with us.

MARK SERRANO, SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM: Good morning, Jack. Thank you for having me.

CAFFERTY: At the time that you settled your case with the Catholic Church, you signed a confidentiality agreement. That was 15 years ago. You are choosing at this point to violate that agreement. Why?

SERRANO: I'm choosing to violate that agreement, Jack, because the time has come. Far too many survivors across America have dealt with the crimes that were committed against them, crimes of sexual abuse against them as children and crimes of legal abuse against them as adults and the time has come for survivors to speak out, to raise the outrage about what has happened in the church and about how the Catholic Church leadership has handled it.

CAFFERTY: You don't have any problem with the fact that you accepted money in return for agreeing not to do this?

SERRANO: You know, Jack, I worked for two long years very hard to change the diocese of Paterson, to get them to take responsibility for James Hanley (ph), the perpetrator who violated me for so many years, to get them to change the way that they address whistle-blower victims like me. I worked very hard to do that. We played our hand out as the way that we were persuaded to settle the case and we settled it.

What I'm more focused on today is calling into account the church leadership for the egregious way in which they have handled this. Catholics across America are learning the truth about their church. They are saddened and I understand they're saddened because I share in it. And they need to rise up and they need to recognize what has truly happened in the halls and rectories across America.

CAFFERTY: What's the answer? What should the church be thinking about doing to address this issue and resolve it? It is a huge and festering wound among the Catholic population around the world. What's the, what are the solutions?

SERRANO: Jack, to begin with, for one to suggest that the Catholic Church leadership should take the lead on reform on this issue would be akin to suggesting that Andrea Yates should be assigned as the director of a day care center. Everyone knows that she's a troubled woman and there is much debate about why she killed her children, but she can't be trusted again.

The Catholic Church leadership should not be trusted with children. They have proven over and over again to put their brethren, their fellow priests, ahead of children. And what has to happen, I believe, is that the laity of the Catholic Church, regular folks who go to mass every Sunday, they need to demand accountability. They need to demand to know who knew what and when. They need to just bring in the sunshine and we need complete accountability and understanding of not only who has committed crimes against the church, who has covered up crimes against church people, but also who's doing it today.

CAFFERTY: Well, you know some...

SERRANO: There are pedophiles throughout America still committing these acts today.

CAFFERTY: Some would suggest, Mark, that the church has gotten a pass from law enforcement and from the criminal justice system. In the state of New York, molesting an underage minor is statutory rape. That's a felony. And if you're convicted, prison time follows. And yet the vast majority of these things were never revealed to prosecutors, police or the criminal justice system.

This morning in one of the New York papers, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, is calling for that to change, saying that he wants all evidence of abuse to be turned over to law enforcement officials and they will decide whether or not to prosecute priests who molest children. Is that the right approach?

SERRANO: Jack, I commend the efforts of prosecutors across America. I commend the efforts of Attorney General Riley in Massachusetts for his brave actions against the church. It's going to take a whole new standard of accountability because the church has been given a pass. But, you know, in America we don't get one free bank robbery. And the church should not be given free opportunities to hide pedophiles and, you know, these pedophiles are, they are guilty of the worst crimes possible.

CAFFERTY: Mark, let me interrupt because I want to get your answer to one more question before we lose the satellite here.

SERRANO: OK.

CAFFERTY: John Geoghan is perhaps the most notorious priest, at least that we know of. He has been accused of molesting and fondling 130 boys up in Boston. He was convicted of molesting one child one time and he is serving a 10 year prison sentence based on that conviction.

The priest who molested you did so over a period of seven years and has since retired and is now living his life in New Jersey. How does that go down?

SERRANO: James Hanley walks the streets of Paterson, New Jersey today and sadly he victimized numerous other boys besides myself. And that's why I'm saying today that the diocese of Paterson should have taken responsibility for him many, many years ago.

As a matter of fact, I notified them in early 1985 of his abuse and in 1986, the photo that you showed, he was saying mass to a group of children because he was still in a parish assignment. And this is going on today. He is still walking the streets today of New Jersey without any accountability, without any supervision or monitoring.

CAFFERTY: Yes, it boggles the mind.

Mark, we've got to leave it there.

SERRANO: Yes, sir.

CAFFERTY: I appreciate it very much. Thanks for joining us this morning

SERRANO: Thank you for having me this morning. CAFFERTY: All right, Mark Serrano, a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest in the Catholic Church, joining us from Washington, D.C.

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