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American Morning

Dioceses of Orange County and Los Angeles Agrees to Pay $1.2 Million to Settle Lawsuit by Lori Haigh

Aired April 10, 2002 - 09:05   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. In the last hour, we told you about new calls for the resignation of Boston's cardinal law, after new revelations about another priest sex abuse case there. And last week in California, the dioceses of Orange County and Los Angeles agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit by Lori Haigh. She claims that, as a teenager, she was sexually abused by a Los Angeles priest, Father John Lenihan (ph), became pregnant and then had an abortion at his request, she said. CNN's Frank Buckley has her story.

(BEING VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today, Lori Haigh is a 37- year-old married mother of two. But more than 20 years ago, she says, she was barely a teenager who was being sexually abused by a priest, Father John Lenihan.

LORI HAIGH, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: Father John began to sexually abuse me when I was 14 years old. When I was 16 years old, Father John got me pregnant. When I told him about the pregnancy, he told me that I had to get an abortion.

BUCKLEY: Haigh came forward after a series of columns in the Los Angeles Times in which a Father X confessed to one sexual relationship with a teenager and additional relationships with female adults. Mary Grant (ph) says she was the unnamed teenager in the articles, who settled her own case against the church in 1991. Church officials say Lenihan was permitted to continue working as a priest, most recently at this church in Dana Point (ph), California, after mental health experts said he didn't pose a threat. But he was removed from the ministry after the newspaper articles appeared.

Haigh, meanwhile, has leveled charges against two other priests whom she said ignored her attempts as a teenager to report the abuse. One, this man, now, Monsignor Lawrence Baird (ph), whom Haigh alleges also inappropriately touched and kissed her when she was a teenager.

At a news conference last week, Haigh watched as Monsignor Baird strongly denied the allegation, saying he had no memory of ever even meeting Haigh.

MONSIGNOR LAWRENCE BAIRD: I have 100 percent memory that I have never made an inappropriate contact with any person during my 33 years as a priest.

BUCKLEY: The diocese of Orange says it found the allegations against Monsignor Baird to be unsubstantiated. But officials did apologize for the actions of Father Lenihan, saying he engaged in serious breaches of conduct and has agreed to leave the priesthood. Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Father Lenihan's attorney told CNN he had no comments on Haigh's allegations. And Father Lenihan, through his attorney, declined our invitation to appear on American Morning.

Joining us this morning from Los Angeles are Lori Haigh and her lawyer, Kathy Freberg. Thank you very much for being with us this morning.

HAIGH: Thank you.

ZAHN: So Lori, first of all, what does the settlement mean to you?

HAIGH: The settlement so far means a small apology that I've received from the bishop. It means a 20 years of going through the memories and the aftermath of all of this. It means that they've finally admitted to me that they believe what I've said.

ZAHN: So you call this a small apology. You say the bishop apologized to you. But isn't it also, true, that Father Lenihan has neither denied nor confirmed that any of your charges are true?

HAIGH: That's correct. In fact, they're having a problem finding Father Lenihan right now.

ZAHN: That doesn't surprise you; does it?

HAIGH: No, it doesn't.

ZAHN: Let's go back and give you a chance to tell your story. When did this alleged abuse start?

HAIGH: When I was 14 years old, it was in 8th grade, I played guitar at my Catholic school for the masses that they had. Father John was a priest that would come and give masses to the whole school and the families and afterwards he had approached me once and told me that I should come play guitar at his mass.

It wasn't the church that my family went to. They went to Holy Family where Father Baird is - or was at the time.

I went and I joined the group and although I was only 14 years old or because I was only 14 years old, I was unable to get myself to and from church, my parents still attending the other church. Father John offered to pick me up and drive me home. And that became a routine for a couple of years. Monday nights were bible studies. Wednesday nights were youth groups. Thursday nights was the guitar practice. Saturday nights was movie nights and Sunday night was church. Father John was driving me to and from all of those events. And that's when the molestations happened were in the car usually on the way home.

ZAHN: Did you tell anything, anybody about what you alleged to have happened? Did you tell your parents?

HAIGH: At the time, no. I was concerned that Father John such an icon in the community. He had basically told me - I asked him what would happen if I was to tell somebody and he just flat out told me that he would deny it and I knew that it would be my word against his. And he was such an icon in the community and I really was just a kid. We were - we were caught by the police when he was on top of me in his car. And the policemen gave me a talking to and gave him a stern talking to. I went to the two other priests at Holy Family. Nobody seemed to be interested in doing anything about it at the time.

ZAHN: And at what point during this three, four-year period did you become pregnant?

HAIGH: When I was 16. I had just turned 16. I was going through nauseousness, morning sickness. A friend of mine acquired a pregnancy test and we took it in her bathroom. And when I found out, I got on the phone crying to Father John. My friends were right there. They were listening to the conversation. They heard Father Lenihan tell me to have an abortion.

ZAHN: And still at this point you didn't tell anybody else other than these (INAUDIBLE)?

HAIGH: My friends told their parents. My friends told their parents. And their parents approached Lenihan regarding it. He's always been able to talk his way out of everything. Convince people that, you know, none of this really happened. And he base - he approached my friends who had told their parents and in one e-mail my friends comment was, she felt that he was physically threatening her to lie to her parents that she had made this up.

ZAHN: All right. So in addition to your claims you've made about Father Lenihan, you also made charges against two other priests. One of them is Monsignor Lawrence Baird who we just heard in the package preceding this and he says he doesn't even know who you are and adamantly denies in impropriety. And he has even threatened to sue you for defamation of character unless you recant your story. Do you plan to do that?

HAIGH: I'm not going to recant my story because the - this obviously did happen. I took a polygraph on the issue and passed with 99.9 percent honesty. I've been able to outline detailed blueprints of their offices and I'm going to be showing up in their appointment books just as soon as we can get our hands on them. I don't have any concern.

ZAHN: So Kathy, as Lori's advisor, you've already accomplished the settlement from we said the two dioceses in California. Do you plan to fight anything else on a legal front? KATHY FREBERG, ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIM: We are certainly considering that. Lori has, once again, been victimized by these priests who have called Lori a liar. Saying this did not happen. And it's just not fair to the victims to face the threat of defamation of character lawsuits. This is has a tendency to scare away victims. And Lori has stood her ground and she said she's not going to put up with this. So, yes, we are going to fight it.

ZAHN: How much do you think she's going to have to put up with?

FREBERG: Well we will deal with this day by day. And if it takes us a year, two years however long it will take to clear her name and to make sure that everyone understands she's telling the truth, we'll do it.

ZAHN: And a final word, Lori, on what it's like to be put through this?

HAIGH: It's a terrible process to go through and reveal things in your past that your friends and family and husbands and wives and everybody don't know the extent of. You don't just skip to the courthouse and file a lawsuit and it's no fun at all. This has been horrible, horrible ordeal to go through.

ZAHN: Well we acknowledge this has been a difficult time for you and your family. We appreciate your sharing your story with us this morning. And Kathy Freberg, we appreciate your time as well.

FREBERG: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thanks for joining us on AM.

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