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Catholic Bishops Change Policy for Abuse
Aired November 13, 2002 - 13:34 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: American Catholic bishops have changed their policy for punishing priests accused of sexual abuse. They are promising the new rules will balance the rights of priests and victims.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us live from Washington, where the vote came down not too long ago. Was there any dissent on this -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a little bit there, Marty. It's taken several months to get to this point. But finally, the U.S. Conference of Bishops have adopted a revised policy on sexual abuse. It was approved by an overwhelming majority, although a few bishops stood up and said they were opposed to the revised policy, simply because they thought it was still too tough on priests. Even so, it was approved anyway.
Now it's going to go to the Vatican for its approval. And that's likely to happen, simply because several Vatican officials were actively involved in revising the policy.
You may remember, though, Marty, back in June, in Dallas, the U.S. Conference of Bishops got together and came up with a so-called "zero tolerance policy" on sexual abuse. But the Vatican refused to accept that policy, saying it didn't give priests due process, so they got together and helped revise it.
The revised policy that was approved today calls for church tribunals to be set up to review allegations of abuse before a priest -- before any action can be taken against a priest. It also imposes a statute of limitation, which expires when a victim turns 28. Again, this has got to be approved by the Vatican. Most of the bishops and the cardinals that I talked to said that, even though this policy may not be perfect, they do believe it will help protect children, as well as priests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDINAL ROGER MAHONEY, LOS ANGELES: I just rise to support this measure. It is a -- it brings us a long way down the road to help solve this problem and gives us a framework, a mechanism for the future, that really is worthy of the support, of the full support of this body.
CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, BOSTON: The charter's purpose, which is the overarching purpose of all we do within this area, is the protection of children moving forward. And if that is our primary goal, then I think the norms are a reasonable way for us to proceed. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Now, critics say that they've got some problems with this revised policy, namely, they have a problem with the statute of limitations. They say, historically, many victims come forward many, many years after the abuse has taken place. They also say there's nothing in the revised policy or the revised norms that clearly spells out how a bishop would be punished, if he chooses not to follow the policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ISELY, SURVIVORS NETWORK: And the revision, they need to have made was about themselves. There is still not a single measure, disciplinary measure, concerning them. So what good is the rule of law, this is Cannon law, which it isn't a law, civil or criminal law. It's a professional code for priests -- and not them, incidentally -- but what good is a rule of law, when the people who make this law can break the law and there are no penalties when they do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Again, this revised policy now heads to the Vatican, where it is likely to get approval. In fact, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney telling us today that he expects, probably, to get full approval from the Vatican, probably, by the end of November, which means it would then become church law for the Catholic church here in the United States, by the end of November -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Thank you, Jason. Jason Carroll, live from Washington.
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 13, 2002 - 13:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: American Catholic bishops have changed their policy for punishing priests accused of sexual abuse. They are promising the new rules will balance the rights of priests and victims.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us live from Washington, where the vote came down not too long ago. Was there any dissent on this -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a little bit there, Marty. It's taken several months to get to this point. But finally, the U.S. Conference of Bishops have adopted a revised policy on sexual abuse. It was approved by an overwhelming majority, although a few bishops stood up and said they were opposed to the revised policy, simply because they thought it was still too tough on priests. Even so, it was approved anyway.
Now it's going to go to the Vatican for its approval. And that's likely to happen, simply because several Vatican officials were actively involved in revising the policy.
You may remember, though, Marty, back in June, in Dallas, the U.S. Conference of Bishops got together and came up with a so-called "zero tolerance policy" on sexual abuse. But the Vatican refused to accept that policy, saying it didn't give priests due process, so they got together and helped revise it.
The revised policy that was approved today calls for church tribunals to be set up to review allegations of abuse before a priest -- before any action can be taken against a priest. It also imposes a statute of limitation, which expires when a victim turns 28. Again, this has got to be approved by the Vatican. Most of the bishops and the cardinals that I talked to said that, even though this policy may not be perfect, they do believe it will help protect children, as well as priests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDINAL ROGER MAHONEY, LOS ANGELES: I just rise to support this measure. It is a -- it brings us a long way down the road to help solve this problem and gives us a framework, a mechanism for the future, that really is worthy of the support, of the full support of this body.
CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, BOSTON: The charter's purpose, which is the overarching purpose of all we do within this area, is the protection of children moving forward. And if that is our primary goal, then I think the norms are a reasonable way for us to proceed. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Now, critics say that they've got some problems with this revised policy, namely, they have a problem with the statute of limitations. They say, historically, many victims come forward many, many years after the abuse has taken place. They also say there's nothing in the revised policy or the revised norms that clearly spells out how a bishop would be punished, if he chooses not to follow the policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ISELY, SURVIVORS NETWORK: And the revision, they need to have made was about themselves. There is still not a single measure, disciplinary measure, concerning them. So what good is the rule of law, this is Cannon law, which it isn't a law, civil or criminal law. It's a professional code for priests -- and not them, incidentally -- but what good is a rule of law, when the people who make this law can break the law and there are no penalties when they do it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Again, this revised policy now heads to the Vatican, where it is likely to get approval. In fact, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney telling us today that he expects, probably, to get full approval from the Vatican, probably, by the end of November, which means it would then become church law for the Catholic church here in the United States, by the end of November -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: Thank you, Jason. Jason Carroll, live from Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
