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American Morning
Bishops to Meet to Evaluate Progress on Child Abuse
Aired June 19, 2003 - 08:02 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.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: From St. Louis starting to today, the nation's Roman Catholic leaders are confronted by a pair of shocking headlines today as they convene their spring meeting.
The bishop of the Phoenix diocese, Thomas O'Brien, has resigned this week after being charged with leaving the scene of a fatal car accident. That was in Phoenix.
Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently quit his job as head of the board that was formed to oversee sex abuse reform. In the process, he said some secretive bishops are now acting like the mafia.
From St. Louis this morning, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop from Los Angeles, is our guest here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back and good morning to you there in St. Louis.
CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: You know the words from Frank Keating. He says you and others are acting like the mafia. He also says, I want to put this on the screen for our viewers to see it. I'm quoting now. "I think there are a number of bishops -- and I put Cardinal Mahony in that category -- who listen too much to his lawyer and not enough to his heart."
How do you respond to that, cardinal?
MAHONY: Well, I think, Bill, the emphasis and the focus needs to be on the job we were committed to in Dallas last year, and that is to make the church safe for children and young people. And I'd have to say we have really, I think, done a fine job, the bishops across the country.
I have great respect for Governor Keating. He's a man of deep faith and wonderful commitment. In fact, I regret I've never met the governor.
But we've been working very hard. I've been coming to bishops meetings now for 28 years. And we've passed all kinds of statements and plans and action plans. I have never seen the bishops return home like we did after Dallas, and take such extraordinary steps in order to set up new boards, in order to take priests out of ministry, set up safeguard the children programs, victim assistance programs, 800 lines. I think they've done an enormous amount of good in one year. And that's really our focus today. Yes, there are tragedies. There's suffering in the past. But right now we're looking to the future, and we're all welcoming the audits that are under way. And that's really where the story is.
HEMMER: Cardinal, you said something that kind of sets me back a little bit. Frank Keating was the head of this board and you never met him. Is that what you're saying?
MAHONY: Yes, unfortunately, I never met Governor Keating. He never called me. I met many of the other board members. We had four of them in Los Angeles for several hours in March, and Kathleen McChesney (ph) we had out.
We've been working very closely with Kathleen and board members and they all understood our difficulties in California with the strictest privacy laws in California. We had to find a way to get the information to the study without breaking California laws. And John J. College agreed with us, and we have now resolved that problem and we're moving forward together.
HEMMER: I understand that. Put that aside for a second. Isn't that not the problem that's inherent right now in terms of communication? The fact that you never even met with the guy who headed up the board that was on the lay side of the church, set up to look at these reforms and make sure the reforms take place?
MAHONY: Well, it is unfortunate that I met the governor. Most of us have not. But we have met the board members. And they have been very responsive. They've come to California. We've met with them, I've met with Kathleen McChesney (ph) and others, and so we're getting the job done.
I'm very, very proud of the work the bishops have done across this country. Unprecedented implementation in one year. Yes, we have some more steps to take, but we've got to keep our eye on the goal. The goal is protecting children and youth and everyone in our church and every other public organization.
HEMMER: You pick up a number of newspapers today, the "Washington Post" quite critical for a lack of leadership. It says that's the problem when it comes to reform in the church.
There are some other numbers. "USA Today" says 500 priests in various dioceses have been removed over the past twelve months. It would appear at that level, anyway, there are changes and reforms being made. Twenty-three dioceses have paid out about $250 million.
Is this the kind of change that you point to right now that says over the past twelve months you have made changes? And if there are Catholics out there who think the church has simply lost its way, what do you say to them right now, Cardinal Mahony, about reinstilling their own faith in the church today going forward?
MAHONY: Well, I invite all of our Catholics and the general public to have faith in the church. We're working together with many, many lay leaders. The bishops are not doing this by ourselves. We have our best, talented laypeople taking leadership roles, helping us with leadership and with governance.
And as I say, we have unprecedented improvement in one year. I've never seen anything like it. And it's a very positive step. And that will only improve. And this meeting is to see where we are, what we need to do.
The audits that are being conducted are going to be very thorough, take in all the articles of the charter we passed in Dallas, and making those articles come alive, and make sure everything's being implemented. That's our commitment, and we're doing the job.
HEMMER: Wish you the best of luck and all the Catholics, as well, watching on the outside, looking in to see if the reforms do, again, take firmer root over the next twelve months. We'll talk again, Cardinal Mahony, thanks, live in St. Louis.
MAHONY: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 19, 2003 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: From St. Louis starting to today, the nation's Roman Catholic leaders are confronted by a pair of shocking headlines today as they convene their spring meeting.
The bishop of the Phoenix diocese, Thomas O'Brien, has resigned this week after being charged with leaving the scene of a fatal car accident. That was in Phoenix.
Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently quit his job as head of the board that was formed to oversee sex abuse reform. In the process, he said some secretive bishops are now acting like the mafia.
From St. Louis this morning, Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop from Los Angeles, is our guest here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back and good morning to you there in St. Louis.
CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: You know the words from Frank Keating. He says you and others are acting like the mafia. He also says, I want to put this on the screen for our viewers to see it. I'm quoting now. "I think there are a number of bishops -- and I put Cardinal Mahony in that category -- who listen too much to his lawyer and not enough to his heart."
How do you respond to that, cardinal?
MAHONY: Well, I think, Bill, the emphasis and the focus needs to be on the job we were committed to in Dallas last year, and that is to make the church safe for children and young people. And I'd have to say we have really, I think, done a fine job, the bishops across the country.
I have great respect for Governor Keating. He's a man of deep faith and wonderful commitment. In fact, I regret I've never met the governor.
But we've been working very hard. I've been coming to bishops meetings now for 28 years. And we've passed all kinds of statements and plans and action plans. I have never seen the bishops return home like we did after Dallas, and take such extraordinary steps in order to set up new boards, in order to take priests out of ministry, set up safeguard the children programs, victim assistance programs, 800 lines. I think they've done an enormous amount of good in one year. And that's really our focus today. Yes, there are tragedies. There's suffering in the past. But right now we're looking to the future, and we're all welcoming the audits that are under way. And that's really where the story is.
HEMMER: Cardinal, you said something that kind of sets me back a little bit. Frank Keating was the head of this board and you never met him. Is that what you're saying?
MAHONY: Yes, unfortunately, I never met Governor Keating. He never called me. I met many of the other board members. We had four of them in Los Angeles for several hours in March, and Kathleen McChesney (ph) we had out.
We've been working very closely with Kathleen and board members and they all understood our difficulties in California with the strictest privacy laws in California. We had to find a way to get the information to the study without breaking California laws. And John J. College agreed with us, and we have now resolved that problem and we're moving forward together.
HEMMER: I understand that. Put that aside for a second. Isn't that not the problem that's inherent right now in terms of communication? The fact that you never even met with the guy who headed up the board that was on the lay side of the church, set up to look at these reforms and make sure the reforms take place?
MAHONY: Well, it is unfortunate that I met the governor. Most of us have not. But we have met the board members. And they have been very responsive. They've come to California. We've met with them, I've met with Kathleen McChesney (ph) and others, and so we're getting the job done.
I'm very, very proud of the work the bishops have done across this country. Unprecedented implementation in one year. Yes, we have some more steps to take, but we've got to keep our eye on the goal. The goal is protecting children and youth and everyone in our church and every other public organization.
HEMMER: You pick up a number of newspapers today, the "Washington Post" quite critical for a lack of leadership. It says that's the problem when it comes to reform in the church.
There are some other numbers. "USA Today" says 500 priests in various dioceses have been removed over the past twelve months. It would appear at that level, anyway, there are changes and reforms being made. Twenty-three dioceses have paid out about $250 million.
Is this the kind of change that you point to right now that says over the past twelve months you have made changes? And if there are Catholics out there who think the church has simply lost its way, what do you say to them right now, Cardinal Mahony, about reinstilling their own faith in the church today going forward?
MAHONY: Well, I invite all of our Catholics and the general public to have faith in the church. We're working together with many, many lay leaders. The bishops are not doing this by ourselves. We have our best, talented laypeople taking leadership roles, helping us with leadership and with governance.
And as I say, we have unprecedented improvement in one year. I've never seen anything like it. And it's a very positive step. And that will only improve. And this meeting is to see where we are, what we need to do.
The audits that are being conducted are going to be very thorough, take in all the articles of the charter we passed in Dallas, and making those articles come alive, and make sure everything's being implemented. That's our commitment, and we're doing the job.
HEMMER: Wish you the best of luck and all the Catholics, as well, watching on the outside, looking in to see if the reforms do, again, take firmer root over the next twelve months. We'll talk again, Cardinal Mahony, thanks, live in St. Louis.
MAHONY: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
