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American Morning

Experts Discuss Priest Sex Crisis

Aired May 13, 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The ever-growing church sex scandal has many homosexual priests feeling like scapegoats. They say they are being blamed for the epidemic of abuse by American church leaders who, in recent weeks, have become outspoken about a once taboo subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is an ongoing struggle. It is most importantly a struggle to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: "Time" magazine writer Amanda Ripley interviewed a dozen gay priests for her piece this week that goes inside the church's closet. And she joins us now, as well as psychologist Michael Mendola, a Franciscan priest whose practice focuses mainly on gay clergy. Good morning.

MICHAEL MENDOLA, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Good morning, Paula.

AMANDA RIPLEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

ZAHN: Glad to have both of you with us.

MENDOLA: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, Dr. Mendola, you are among a dozen or so priests that talked with Amanda, basically coming out of the closet publicly for the first time. Why was it so important for you to have this conversation with her?

MENDOLA: Well, I felt it was important to help people to understand the struggle that priests who are gay are going through right now. I had approached, perhaps trying to understand -- the struggle itself is really the key element for me. And one of my roles of helping priests -- part of my practice is with priests who are gay, helping them with the same struggle.

It's basically a double closet most priests have to come out to. One closet is coming out as gay, perhaps to the church, parishioners or to the public. And the other closet is actually coming out as priests to the gay community. And both communities aren't always understanding of the part that's coming out. So it is a very difficult, very, a balancing act for most priests who are gay.

ZAHN: And that is the struggle, to figure out how you are supposed to lead your lives?

MENDOLA: It's the conflict that I think everyone goes through trying to understand their sexuality. It's a -- I think it's very mysterious in all of us and I think some people are gay, some people are bi, some people are straight and I think we're all struggling. I think it's a universal struggle and I think the conflict for priests is perhaps trying to understand their own struggle in their life in a society that doesn't really accept homosexuality. And I think that's, and especially the church, perhaps the church leaders and so on.

ZAHN: Amanda, in your piece you call what you describe as the disproportionately gay priesthood as "the church's second biggest secret." But a church spokesman who was on our show not long ago had this to say about that the kind of conclusion. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The percent of homosexuals in the priesthood is more or less what you will find in the male population of the United States, perhaps somewhat higher. But these type of, talking about 30 to 50 percent of Catholic priests in the United States being homosexual is nonsense. There's no statistical evidence for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So he doesn't buy the statistics at all.

RIPLEY: And that's...

ZAHN: And are they recorded anywhere? I mean if you have folks like Dr. Mendola, who were never even comfortable talking about this publicly, I mean how do you even know the numbers?

RIPLEY: You're right, you don't. There are no good numbers. I think, you know, there have been different surveys. None of them are perfect. They put the numbers between 15 percent and more than 50 percent. Actually, you know, many priests that we talked to would say a third to 50 percent. But it is anecdotal.

Now, there is a great irony here in that U.S. church officials at the highest levels have for so long denied, like that clip suggests, that there is this reality that there are so many gay priests. And now suddenly in the last few weeks we're seeing a turnaround there. Not only are they acknowledging how may gay priests there are, which is a historic moment. I mean that's really unusual for several cardinals to talk about that publicly, although they've talked about it privately for many years. And now, so they're in the one breath acknowledging it. On the other hand, then, turning and, in some cases, blaming these very priests for the church's scandal.

ZAHN: Do you feel like your population has been scapegoated in this scandal?

MENDOLA: Well, the number of priests who are gay, I think it's very misleading if you -- I think there's the same number of priests who are gay back in the '60s and '70s into the current day, 2002. I think in the '60s and '70s a lot of the priests who left were mainly straight. A lot of my colleagues who left really wanted to get married. So when they left, the percentages changed.

But there is basically the same number from '60s, '50s, '80s and '90s. It's just basically the percentage changed and it becomes a higher percentage based on the number of priests who are around. But if you go back in time in the last, you know, four or five decades, you would find that it's the same number. It's not any higher percentage or lower percentage.

ZAHN: Let's forget the numbers for a moment, though. Is it your feeling that some members in the church leadership are not making a distinction between being a practicing gay priest and being a pedophile? I mean do you feel that by and large the public is led to believe that the sex abuse is being committed by gay priests because they're gay?

MENDOLA: I think that's the message that's gotten out and I think it really needs to be understood very, very well that pedophilia and homosexuality, from all my research there's no significant correlation between the two, homosexuality and pedophilia. It doesn't exist in all the research that was done. And I think people misunderstood that quite a bit and I don't think it is a gay issue and, you know, a gay issue that leads one to be a pedophile. I don't think that's the issue at all.

I think there are two separate entities. They're two different parts of who we are and they really don't come together at all. And I think the public is misled by it. I think it really needs to be cleared up.

ZAHN: Amanda, in your research did you see evidence of gay priests being scapegoated in this scandal?

RIPLEY: There's certainly been a series of statements from certain U.S. cardinals that would clearly suggest that things, saying things like this is not a pedophilia type problem, it's a homosexual type problem, even indicating gay priests in general, whether they are celibate or not. There have been statements to that effect, as well, saying that they're just not fit to be priests.

Which is, among the gay priests we talked to, that provokes a real sense of betrayal because here they are doing what is a very difficult job and doing it, in many cases, very well and then to be told that even if you are celibate and you have done nothing criminal, you are somehow invalid, you know, is just very, very dismaying.

ZAHN: Dr. Mendola, we've got 10 seconds left. Have you lost faith in the church leadership as we've watched how they have dealt with the sex abuse scandal? MENDOLA: I sometimes do question, you know, where our church leaders are going. I think we're all struggling. I think they're struggling. I think they're scared. I think they have feelings just like us. They're fearful of what they're going to say, what they're going to do. Some parts I have lost some credibility -- my own credibility with them. But I do feel at the very end, I think something very positive will evolve from all of this. I know it's a struggle and I don't condone any of the pedophilia, I don't condone any of the, you know, of really the trauma that's really taken place in the church, you know.

And I think with the bishops and the cardinals, I think they're really struggling over how to be open. And I think this has been a long, long time for them where they really have really kept many, many secrets. Now they're in a situation where they really do have to share quite openly and I think it's a big struggle for them. I think they're in a big conflict and they don't really know how to do it all the time.

But I do feel deep down that, you know, my trust is still there and it'll always be there.

ZAHN: I'll tell you, I think it took a lot of courage for you and your fellow priests to come forward to talk about your homosexuality publicly at a time when you feel so embattled not only by the church leadership, but the public, as well.

Amanda Ripley, thanks for your piece. And Michael Mendola, continued good luck to you.

MENDOLA: Thank you, Paula.

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