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CNN Live At Daybreak
Self-Survey by Catholic Bishops
Aired February 17, 2004 - 05:37 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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has gotten an advanced look at a report commissioned by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, due out at the end of the month. The claims of abuse are far higher than previous estimates.
From New York, here's CNN's Maria Hinojosa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David Cerulli says the sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania priest began when he was just 14 years old, but he never said a word until 10 years later.
DAVID CERULLI, SNAP: It was difficult for us to come forward, for me to come forward. And I was led to believe I was the only one. So many of us believed that. And now we know we're not the only ones.
HINOJOSA: A draft report by John Jay College of Criminal Justice confirms that there were, in fact, thousands of victims. Based on a nationwide survey of the Catholic Church's own records, 11,000 children allege they were sexually abused by priests between 1950 and the year 2002. Seventy-eight percent of those were children 11 to 17 years old.
CERULLI: It's a staggering number. One is too many, as we know. It's not surprising. However, we have to remember that this is a survey, the self-survey by the bishops. So even this number we're skeptical of.
HINOJOSA: Of the 11,000 allegations, the church confirmed 6,700 of them. The report commissioned by the Conference of Catholic Bishops and seen by CNN before its official publication on February 27th, shows that more than half of the 4,450 accused priests had a single allegation against them. Twenty-five percent had two or three allegations. Thirteen percent had four to nine allegations. A total of 147 priests were accused of abusing nearly 3,000 minors.
REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR, "AMERICA" MAGAZINE: There are 11,000 victims out there that we know of that are in need of help and I think that it shows that the church needs a program to reach out to them, to do whatever we can to help them in a healing process.
HINOJOSA: But victims say this is only the tip of the iceberg.
CERULLI: We will never know the true extent of what has happened unless survivors come forward.
HINOJOSA: Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 February 17, 2004 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has gotten an advanced look at a report commissioned by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, due out at the end of the month. The claims of abuse are far higher than previous estimates.
From New York, here's CNN's Maria Hinojosa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David Cerulli says the sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania priest began when he was just 14 years old, but he never said a word until 10 years later.
DAVID CERULLI, SNAP: It was difficult for us to come forward, for me to come forward. And I was led to believe I was the only one. So many of us believed that. And now we know we're not the only ones.
HINOJOSA: A draft report by John Jay College of Criminal Justice confirms that there were, in fact, thousands of victims. Based on a nationwide survey of the Catholic Church's own records, 11,000 children allege they were sexually abused by priests between 1950 and the year 2002. Seventy-eight percent of those were children 11 to 17 years old.
CERULLI: It's a staggering number. One is too many, as we know. It's not surprising. However, we have to remember that this is a survey, the self-survey by the bishops. So even this number we're skeptical of.
HINOJOSA: Of the 11,000 allegations, the church confirmed 6,700 of them. The report commissioned by the Conference of Catholic Bishops and seen by CNN before its official publication on February 27th, shows that more than half of the 4,450 accused priests had a single allegation against them. Twenty-five percent had two or three allegations. Thirteen percent had four to nine allegations. A total of 147 priests were accused of abusing nearly 3,000 minors.
REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR, "AMERICA" MAGAZINE: There are 11,000 victims out there that we know of that are in need of help and I think that it shows that the church needs a program to reach out to them, to do whatever we can to help them in a healing process.
HINOJOSA: But victims say this is only the tip of the iceberg.
CERULLI: We will never know the true extent of what has happened unless survivors come forward.
HINOJOSA: Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
