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CNN Live Today
Catholic Church Announces New Guidelines for Abuse
Aired June 04, 2002 - 14:08 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the investigation into the Catholic Church.
Catholic leaders have come up with a new proposal to deal with priests who abuse young children.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now from Washington with more on that -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Archbishop Harry Flynn held a priest -- held a press conference where he outlined some of the details surrounding this working charter that the bishops have come up with.
This working charter will be discussed next week when they meet in Dallas.
Basically, Archbishop Flynn was very forthcoming with this.
He basically said, look, a number of people are going to be upset with the fact that -- dealing with this whole idea of zero tolerance.
A lot of the victims and the victims' family members have already said they want some sort of a zero-tolerance or one-strike-and-you're- out policy adopted by the Church.
Now, if you listen to Archbishop Flynn, it certainly sounds like this is something that the Church is willing to adopt. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY FLYNN, ARCHBISHOP OF ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS: The policy itself calls for one act of sexual abuse -- that priest is out of the priesthood, recalling the words of our Holy Father John Paul II, when he said there is no place in the priesthood for anyone who would sexually abuse the young.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: However, there is a provision in this working charter which would allow a priest accused of sexual abuse to remain within the church, allowed to perform his priestly duties under certain conditions, those being, number one, this priest has only had one offense. Number two, he has not been diagnosed as a pedophile, and number three, has had a clean record since the offense.
Archbishop Flynn referred to the pope, who strongly believes in the power of conversion, basically meaning a priest who meets those conditions that were just outlined, could, in fact, still operate within the diocese.
A number of victims and victims' family members surely are going to be upset with that particular point in this working charter.
But Archbishop Flynn also pointed out some other measures in this charter which he feels as though victims and victims' family members will probably favor.
Number one: the diocese will report any accusation of sexual abuse of a person who is a minor to the proper authorities and cooperate in their investigation.
Number two: As a preventative measure, regarding acts of sexual abuse committed subsequent to this date, even a single act of abuse of a minor, would bring about a request for laicization. That basically means reducing a cleric who has been accused of abuse to lay status.
And, number three, regarding acts of sexual abuse of a minor committed prior to this date: if the cleric is a pedophile, or if he has committed more than one act of sexual abuse of a minor, there will be a request of the cleric laicization, even without his consent, if necessary.
Carol, there is one point in this working draft that is not there that a number of people wanted to see there, and when I say a number of people, and when I say a number of people, I mean some of those who were victims in this whole priest scandal, and that is: what happens if a bishop or an archbishop doesn't agree to these guidelines? What would then be the course of punishment?
Nothing is spelled out in this charter with regards to that. Although Archbishop Flynn says, look, that wasn't the task. This go around, the task was to simply identify particular guidelines that those who are in the church can follow if an allegation of abuse arises.
Again, he says this is a working draft. Nothing has been set in stone. He says there is still wiggle room here for change. We'll have to see what happens when the U.S. Conference of Bishops meet next week in Dallas -- Carol.
LIN: Jason, you mentioned wiggle room. Is there any input from the public, from parishioners?
CARROLL: Well, Archbishop Flynn said that in terms of formulating this working draft, he did speak to bishops throughout the country. He said that he actually spoke to lay people and former victims in the city of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
So, according to Archbishop Flynn, there was input in terms of putting together this rough draft, if you will.
What's unclear at this point is, next week will victims have the opportunity to speak? Will they have the opportunity to give their input next week in Dallas. At this point it's unclear -- Carol.
LIN: Jason Caroll. Live in Washington. Thank you.
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