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Church in Crisis? Bishops Meet This Week
Aired June 16, 2003 - 14:04 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it might not be necessary, but Los Angeles cardinal Roger Mahoney was expected to call for former Oklahoma Governor Keating's resignation at the Catholic Bishop's Conference, which begins Thursday in St. Louis. And as CNN's Jamie Colby reports, the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church remains the one issue many Catholics want to see addressed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At church services across the country, the focus remains on prayer. But some parishioners say they are troubled by allegations of sexual misconduct by priests.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as the church living up to the responsibility by the Catholic, I am very upset with that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to question our pastors and our priests, we start doubting and that's a big problem.
COLBY: How much progress has been made after the nation's Catholic bishops adopted a plan to remove priests who engaged in sexual abuse? Not enough, says David Cerulli, a spokesman for abuse victims.
DAVID CERULLI, SURVIVOR NETWORK OF PEOPLE ABUSED BY PRIESTS: What came out of Dallas was an awareness, and awareness by the bishops that this problem exists and needs to be dealt with.
COLBY: Cerulli says greater access to church records is needed.
CERULLI: I'd like to see the bishops pledge to release the records, all the records.
COLBY: Along with more time for victims to seek legal restitution.
CERULLI: We need an extension or an elimination of the statute of limitation laws. Victims need to have their day in court.
COLBY: U.S. Catholic bishops will meet in St. Louis this week where Father Thomas Reese says the issue of abuse will be discussed in closed-door sessions.
REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "AMERICA": I think the bishops, although they are truly committed to keeping abusive priests away from minors, and they are doing it by reporting them to the police and removing them from ministry, they really don't want to put their dirty laundry out in public.
COLBY: Last year each diocese committed to develop a written policy on abuse, provide assistance to abused claimants, establish an independent review board, formulate removal procedures once allegations are proven, and prohibit reassignments or transfers once allegations are proven. Local churches are still in the process of implementing these. Parishioner, Maureen Doyle believe these measures will work in time.
MAUREEN DOYLE, PARISHIONER: I think we need to have transparency, and we need to have accountability, and we need to have healing, and we're in the process of trying to get to that point.
COLBY (on camera): Parishioners like Maureen Doyle say so long as the issue of sexual misconduct among priests is discussed, it has a chance of being rectified and perhaps prevented from happening again.
Jamie Colby, 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 June 16, 2003 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it might not be necessary, but Los Angeles cardinal Roger Mahoney was expected to call for former Oklahoma Governor Keating's resignation at the Catholic Bishop's Conference, which begins Thursday in St. Louis. And as CNN's Jamie Colby reports, the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church remains the one issue many Catholics want to see addressed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE COLBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At church services across the country, the focus remains on prayer. But some parishioners say they are troubled by allegations of sexual misconduct by priests.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as the church living up to the responsibility by the Catholic, I am very upset with that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to question our pastors and our priests, we start doubting and that's a big problem.
COLBY: How much progress has been made after the nation's Catholic bishops adopted a plan to remove priests who engaged in sexual abuse? Not enough, says David Cerulli, a spokesman for abuse victims.
DAVID CERULLI, SURVIVOR NETWORK OF PEOPLE ABUSED BY PRIESTS: What came out of Dallas was an awareness, and awareness by the bishops that this problem exists and needs to be dealt with.
COLBY: Cerulli says greater access to church records is needed.
CERULLI: I'd like to see the bishops pledge to release the records, all the records.
COLBY: Along with more time for victims to seek legal restitution.
CERULLI: We need an extension or an elimination of the statute of limitation laws. Victims need to have their day in court.
COLBY: U.S. Catholic bishops will meet in St. Louis this week where Father Thomas Reese says the issue of abuse will be discussed in closed-door sessions.
REV. THOMAS REESE, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "AMERICA": I think the bishops, although they are truly committed to keeping abusive priests away from minors, and they are doing it by reporting them to the police and removing them from ministry, they really don't want to put their dirty laundry out in public.
COLBY: Last year each diocese committed to develop a written policy on abuse, provide assistance to abused claimants, establish an independent review board, formulate removal procedures once allegations are proven, and prohibit reassignments or transfers once allegations are proven. Local churches are still in the process of implementing these. Parishioner, Maureen Doyle believe these measures will work in time.
MAUREEN DOYLE, PARISHIONER: I think we need to have transparency, and we need to have accountability, and we need to have healing, and we're in the process of trying to get to that point.
COLBY (on camera): Parishioners like Maureen Doyle say so long as the issue of sexual misconduct among priests is discussed, it has a chance of being rectified and perhaps prevented from happening again.
Jamie Colby, 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