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Church Abuse Policy
Aired November 11, 2002 - 13:07 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now turning to the crisis in the priesthood. Catholic bishops are meeting in Washington to revise their policy on priests and sexual abuse, trying to make it more acceptable to the Vatican. Critics are there as well in a hotel near the bishop's meeting.
Our Jason Carroll is live in the nation's capitol.
Jason, i would think that emotions are probably running high for this.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Marty.
A number of the critics that you mentioned are unhappy with the revised version that the bishops will be voting on this week. If you take a look behind me, you can see some of them have gathered in front of the hotel. Some holding signs saying "stop spiritual violence." They represent victims groups which say that this version the bishops are looking at is a weaker version of the original.
Many church leaders say the revised policy that they're going to be looking at protects children, as well as priests.
Originally, back in June, the so-called Conference of Bishops came up with a zero-tolerance policy, but the Vatican refused to approve it, basically saying it did not give priests due process. So they got together, Vatican officials, with some bishops here in the U.S., a mixed committee, and they revised it, and this new policy that they're going to be looking at is very different from the old one in some specific ways. First of all, it calls for church tribunals to actually review cases of sexual abuse before any action can be taken against a priest. And also, it imposes a statute of limitation which expires when the victim is 28. And victims groups point out that, look, when many of these past cases that we've seen, victims come forward many years after that. So they're concerned with that particular aspect of the revised policy.
This morning, Bishop Wilton Gregory addressed the U.S. conference of bishops, and he stressed the need for adopting a new policy, basically saying that the reputation of good priests have been tainted because of what's happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BISHOP WILTON GREGORY, U.S. CONF. OF BISHOPS: Priests today too often are being unfairly judged by the misdeeds of other priests, men often long departed from the ministry, or even deceased. One can hardly talk of the priesthood today without mentioning that some priests and bishops have seriously failed to live up to our vocation.
Whenever I'm listening to or reading a story about the good work of priests, I have gotten into the unfortunate habit of anticipating the "but," which will lead into some terrible tale of malfeasance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: The U.S. Conference of Bishops are expected to vote on this revised policy on Wednesday. Some have already indicated that they are in favor of the new language that's included in the revised policy, but they also say whatever they end up adopting here, it's not likely to please everyone -- Marty.
HARRIS: No, it is not. Jason Carroll, live from Washington D.C., we 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
Aired November 11, 2002 - 13:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now turning to the crisis in the priesthood. Catholic bishops are meeting in Washington to revise their policy on priests and sexual abuse, trying to make it more acceptable to the Vatican. Critics are there as well in a hotel near the bishop's meeting.
Our Jason Carroll is live in the nation's capitol.
Jason, i would think that emotions are probably running high for this.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Marty.
A number of the critics that you mentioned are unhappy with the revised version that the bishops will be voting on this week. If you take a look behind me, you can see some of them have gathered in front of the hotel. Some holding signs saying "stop spiritual violence." They represent victims groups which say that this version the bishops are looking at is a weaker version of the original.
Many church leaders say the revised policy that they're going to be looking at protects children, as well as priests.
Originally, back in June, the so-called Conference of Bishops came up with a zero-tolerance policy, but the Vatican refused to approve it, basically saying it did not give priests due process. So they got together, Vatican officials, with some bishops here in the U.S., a mixed committee, and they revised it, and this new policy that they're going to be looking at is very different from the old one in some specific ways. First of all, it calls for church tribunals to actually review cases of sexual abuse before any action can be taken against a priest. And also, it imposes a statute of limitation which expires when the victim is 28. And victims groups point out that, look, when many of these past cases that we've seen, victims come forward many years after that. So they're concerned with that particular aspect of the revised policy.
This morning, Bishop Wilton Gregory addressed the U.S. conference of bishops, and he stressed the need for adopting a new policy, basically saying that the reputation of good priests have been tainted because of what's happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BISHOP WILTON GREGORY, U.S. CONF. OF BISHOPS: Priests today too often are being unfairly judged by the misdeeds of other priests, men often long departed from the ministry, or even deceased. One can hardly talk of the priesthood today without mentioning that some priests and bishops have seriously failed to live up to our vocation.
Whenever I'm listening to or reading a story about the good work of priests, I have gotten into the unfortunate habit of anticipating the "but," which will lead into some terrible tale of malfeasance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: The U.S. Conference of Bishops are expected to vote on this revised policy on Wednesday. Some have already indicated that they are in favor of the new language that's included in the revised policy, but they also say whatever they end up adopting here, it's not likely to please everyone -- Marty.
HARRIS: No, it is not. Jason Carroll, live from Washington D.C., we 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
