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Former Catholic Priest John Geoghan Murdered In Prison Today
Aired August 23, 2003 - 16:19 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, ANCHOR: Back to our top story now within the last half hour, we have learned that John Geoghan, the former priest at the center of the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal, was killed in prison today. That according to public safety officials.
Phil Saviano is a member of the Survivors Network for those abused by priest. He joins us now on the phone. Mr. Saviano, I can only imagine -- well I can't imagine actually your reaction to this news, but I have to ask you what you thought when you heard it?
PHIL SAVIANO, MEMBER SURVIVORS NETWORK (via telephone): You know, I just found out about this within the last 15 minutes. And I have to tell you, it's a stunning development. And it just just goes to show you that on -- no matter what way you look at these cases, there's just no good news here.
I think that the death of John Geoghan, while some people may find a bit of satisfaction in it, is really a tragic event. And I don't wish this sort of experience on anybody.
SAN MIGUEL: Let's go back to when the charges first started coming up and the investigation got under way. Tell us how your group, the Survivors Network, for those abused by priests, became in tracking down the charges against Father Geoghan and others in the archdiocese?
SAVIANO: Well, the impetus for me in establishing S.N.A.P. in the New Egland area was the first Geoghan victims coming forward in the spring of 1997. And we started having meetings, and several of the victims came to the meetings on a regular basis. And as time went on, there were more and more victims went public, and it just sort of, you know, it exploded because the next thing we knew, there were not only Geoghan victims, but the victims of Shanley, the victims of Packman (ph, the victims of dozens of other priests started calling and coming to these support group meetings.
But next to James Porter, you know, Father Geoghan is the most notorious of all, and he's been in the news for the longest time. And this is really, you know, it's a sad ending to a very sad and long saga.
SAN MIGUEL: I'm sorry, I have just one more question to ask you because we have some other news we want to get. But I wanted to get your thoughts on how you think the archdiocese has handled things now. They recently upped their settlement offer to the victims from 55 to $65 million and Archbishop Shawn O'Malley seems to be taking charge of trying to straighten things out between the victims and trying to big some credibility back to the archdiocese there. What do you think about that?
SAVIANO: I think he's doing a good job in terms of his effort. The other thing, the other big story today is that four more priests from the Boston archdiocese have been put on leave. And that's another big development which shows that there is still priests within the archdiocese who have a tendency to molest children. But he certainly seems willing to make the right moves and to do his best to clean up the mess so to speak.
SAN MIGUEL: We've been speaking with Phil Saviano, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, on the death of John Geoghan in prison. Mr. Saviano thank you for your time today. We do appreciate it.
SAVIANO: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Today>
Aired August 23, 2003 - 16:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, ANCHOR: Back to our top story now within the last half hour, we have learned that John Geoghan, the former priest at the center of the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal, was killed in prison today. That according to public safety officials.
Phil Saviano is a member of the Survivors Network for those abused by priest. He joins us now on the phone. Mr. Saviano, I can only imagine -- well I can't imagine actually your reaction to this news, but I have to ask you what you thought when you heard it?
PHIL SAVIANO, MEMBER SURVIVORS NETWORK (via telephone): You know, I just found out about this within the last 15 minutes. And I have to tell you, it's a stunning development. And it just just goes to show you that on -- no matter what way you look at these cases, there's just no good news here.
I think that the death of John Geoghan, while some people may find a bit of satisfaction in it, is really a tragic event. And I don't wish this sort of experience on anybody.
SAN MIGUEL: Let's go back to when the charges first started coming up and the investigation got under way. Tell us how your group, the Survivors Network, for those abused by priests, became in tracking down the charges against Father Geoghan and others in the archdiocese?
SAVIANO: Well, the impetus for me in establishing S.N.A.P. in the New Egland area was the first Geoghan victims coming forward in the spring of 1997. And we started having meetings, and several of the victims came to the meetings on a regular basis. And as time went on, there were more and more victims went public, and it just sort of, you know, it exploded because the next thing we knew, there were not only Geoghan victims, but the victims of Shanley, the victims of Packman (ph, the victims of dozens of other priests started calling and coming to these support group meetings.
But next to James Porter, you know, Father Geoghan is the most notorious of all, and he's been in the news for the longest time. And this is really, you know, it's a sad ending to a very sad and long saga.
SAN MIGUEL: I'm sorry, I have just one more question to ask you because we have some other news we want to get. But I wanted to get your thoughts on how you think the archdiocese has handled things now. They recently upped their settlement offer to the victims from 55 to $65 million and Archbishop Shawn O'Malley seems to be taking charge of trying to straighten things out between the victims and trying to big some credibility back to the archdiocese there. What do you think about that?
SAVIANO: I think he's doing a good job in terms of his effort. The other thing, the other big story today is that four more priests from the Boston archdiocese have been put on leave. And that's another big development which shows that there is still priests within the archdiocese who have a tendency to molest children. But he certainly seems willing to make the right moves and to do his best to clean up the mess so to speak.
SAN MIGUEL: We've been speaking with Phil Saviano, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, on the death of John Geoghan in prison. Mr. Saviano thank you for your time today. We do appreciate it.
SAVIANO: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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