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American Morning

Look at Priest Sex Scandal

Aired June 10, 2002 - 08:19   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: A group that represents victims of sexual abuse by priests wants to be able to speak at the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas, which begins on Thursday. And according to "USA Today," they are willing to drop out of a lawsuit to do that. The survivors' group was invited and then disinvited to address the conference.

The bishops' meeting is meant to show how concerned they are about the many sexual abuse charges against Catholic priests.

And as Brian Palmer reports, that's the message one New York bishop was trying to get across to his parishioners yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical Sunday mass at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York -- in form, but not in content.

WILLIAM MURPHY, BISHOP, ROCKVILLE CENTRE DIOCESE: We too recognize that we are sinners, that this church is not a church just of saints.

PALMER: Bishop William Murphy addressing the profane issue of sexual abuse from his sacred pulpit.

MURPHY: Today, this church of sinners seeks pardon from God and forgiveness of those who have been harmed. Never again the criminal betrayal of trust and the destruction of the innocence of a child.

PALMER: Murphy delivers his last Sunday homily before the meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, at which a policy on sexual abuse is expected to be adopted.

(on camera): How do you feel the diocese has handled the issue of sex abuse?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the best of their ability.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The church made some mistakes, and the people made some mistakes, some of the priests. But overall, you know, we can get through it, and it was a great apology.

PALMER (voice-over): Murphy's diocese had several alleged cases of abuse, all of which were too old for the district attorney to prosecute. Murphy says the church owes victims more than an apology.

MURPHY: We owe to them whatever means we have at our disposal to minister to their particular issues, which is that basically of the horrendous psychological trauma that they have experienced because of these.

PALMER: Matt Mosher, a former altarboy, was among the victims. The diocese paid his therapy bills, but won't discuss his charges of abuse.

MATT MOSHER, ABUSE VICTIM: I'm not happy with an apology. I want to see people prosecuted. I want to see laws changed. People often wonder why is a 14-, 15-year-old committing suicide, doing drugs? Here you go, a perfect example, my situation. I had a shock. I'm ready to go. The only reason why I didn't do it is because of my mother and my brother and my father. I didn't want them to see me there lying there.

MELANIE LITTLE, MOSHER'S ATTORNEY: The Catholic church is supposed to be a charitable organization. It is not supposed to be run like a corporation, like a business, like a legal entity. They should be stepping forward, regardless of the law, to help these people.

PALMER: Bishop Murphy has instituted a policy that says from now on abusers will be removed from ministry and reported to the police. But victims say that's not enough. They want the church to admit and to expose past sins of priests before the church marches into the future.

Brian Palmer, CNN, Rockville Centre, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And when the bishops meet later this week in Dallas, they will consider a proposal that calls for zero tolerance against priests who sexually abuse children in the future, but allows for some past transgressions.

CNN contributor William Bennett, head of Empower America, calls the meeting a moment of truth for the Catholic Church.

He joins us now from Washington.

Welcome back, Bill. How are you doing this morning?

WILLIAM BENNETT, EMPOWER AMERICA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Paula. Fine, thanks.

ZAHN: Is that an acceptable solution, to allow abuse in the past as long as it didn't happen more than once, and then penalize people if the abuse happens in the future?

BENNETT: I don't think it is, and I don't think it'll satisfy the public. And I, more importantly, I don't think it'll satisfy the laity. I'm a Catholic layman. You know, this is awful. Every day it seems to get worse. I love my church, but we have got to end this. And the only way to end it, it seems to me, is a clear acknowledgement of wrong, and there have to be penalties, there has to be justice -- not just a show of concern, but justice.

You know, you just had that very moving segment on Moxley, Martha Moxley. It wasn't just concern for the victim that had to be satisfied, but justice had to be satisfied. And I think the bishops have to realize that they are part of the problem, or their action so far is part of the problem. There are bishops who were assigning and reassigning predatory priests to be in situations where they preyed on children hundreds of times, and these bishops simply have to be removed. Otherwise, it seems to me, the message is weakened and distorted.

ZAHN: You say these bishops have to go, and "The Washington Post" raises the issue of accountability in a pretty stinging editorial today.

BENNETT: Right.

ZAHN: They write, "The documents are silent on the recommended response to bishops and others in the church hierarchy who may continue to protect pedophile priests. The church is in a crisis in large measure because of the way in which the bishops have dealt with the problem. Dallas will be incomplete without the bishops explaining how they will hold themselves accountable."

Now, Bill, I know you said the bishops who may have been responsible in making decisions that might have led to young kids being abused should be removed. But what faith do you have that that's going to happen at these meetings?

BENNETT: I don't have faith that that will happen, but I would urge it in the strongest possible terms. Otherwise, I think the issue will not be credible. There's been too much talk the last couple of weeks about the PR that they need to do, the spin they need to do. Think about that, PR of the bishops, you know? The PR won't work, the spin won't work, Paula, if the substance isn't good; if we can't rely on the Catholic church to be substantively clear about right and wrong, heaven knows where do we go?

Consider an analogy. Supposing you had a head of a hospital, chief of staff of a hospital, who was sending doctors around who were not making people better, but making people sick. And instead of getting rid of these doctors, they kept putting them in with other patients. I mean it's impossible. Morally, it's impossible. I mean even a, you know, wretched layman like me can see that. All of the laity can see that.

Why don't they get this point? Unless some of those bishops are removed, Cardinal Law, someone I admired before I found out about these things, he has to be removed. And other bishops probably have to be removed as well. And then there are other questions.

The main thing, I think, that the bishops have to show is that they understand the outrage of the laity and that they are going to take it very, very seriously -- not just a bunch of legal gobbledygook about procedures.

ZAHN: But what incentive do they have to throw their own out at this point? I mean they can read the polls like you and I can, but there doesn't seem to be any indication in any of the communiques leading up to this that that's what they plan to do.

BENNETT: The church is their incentive. The integrity of this church, which they love. This church has for thousands of years had to discipline bishops, cardinals, even some popes. You know, we had situations where we had more than one pope. This church has had to deal with that situation before.

I have to tell you, I didn't think, I didn't realize at the beginning of this thing just how big it was. But it is a huge issue, and there are other issues they need to address, as well.

The culture of predatory homosexuality in some of the seminaries, according to a number of accounts, is another thing that when Catholics get together, this is what they talk about. Catholics shake their heads and say well, these guys are making distinctions between pedophilia and ophibophilia (ph) and young children, and not so old children, and whether they did it in the past or the future.

Most Catholics I know, from all political persuasions and all walks of life, are saying they don't get it. This is impossible. You cannot tolerate this to any degree, and you cannot accept it in your own ranks. And you cannot accept bishops who took a hand in reassigning these predatory priests.

ZAHN: Bill Bennett, good of you to join us with your insights.

BENNETT: Thanks.

ZAHN: I have to admit, you made me a little nervous this morning when you referred to yourself as a wretched layman. What does that mean for the rest of us?

BENNETT: Well, we are all sinners, Paula, but some, you know, some sins are really actionable. I mean, what does it mean for the rest of us? Please. Anyway, you can read "The Book of Virtues," but I didn't write it because of an excess of virtue, I promise. I'm just struggling...

ZAHN: You've been imposing a lot of guilt on those of us listening to you this morning.

BENNETT: Struggling like all of us, Paula, struggling like all of us.

ZAHN: Yes, the Book of Job, I guess, makes us all fully understand that, doesn't it?

Bill Bennett, thanks so much.

BENNETT: Thank you.

ZAHN: Appreciate your time this morning.

BENNETT: Thank you.

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