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Church Sex Abuse

Aired February 16, 2004 - 16:05   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: The group called the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests -- SNAP is the acronym -- is skeptical the truth is coming out, even now. Barbara Blaine is SNAP's founder. She joins us this hour from New Orleans.
Barbara, thanks very much for being with us.

BARBARA BLAINE, FOUNDER, SNAP: Hello. Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: From your perspective, as I survivor of all of this, when you see this report, do you see it half empty or half full? In other words, half of the church is moving in the direction of acknowledging all of this. Is that the good news, or is this not enough?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we have to be skeptical, and prudence would tell us that I think we really need to question whether these numbers are complete or accurate. I mean, the reality is that these same bishops who have covered up for decades and swept this under the carpet are now doing 180-degree turn, and now saying, OK, we're going to tell all? It just seems -- it seems difficult to believe from our perspective.

O'BRIEN: So you're accusing the Catholic Church, the hierarchy at least, of being disingenuous about this?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we have to acknowledge what this is. It's not really a study. It's not an investigation. It's merely a self survey, and it's what the bishops themselves chose to report.

And please notice that they did not release the names of the perpetrators, so we as victims have no way of knowing whether or not our perpetrators are on their list.

O'BRIEN: All right, is the church lying then?

BLAINE: Oh, I don't know whether they're lying. I just find -- I just think that we should question it, and I believe that the fact that they claim that 50 percent of these perpetrators only abused one victim certainly has to raise everyone's eyebrows. That's almost like saying that an alcoholic only got drunk one time.

O'BRIEN: All right. Barbara, why are these numbers so important? Isn't it enough to say it was widespread and it was a terrible thing and those who are victims and who wish to be compensated should be afforded that compensation?

Above and beyond that, what is your group looking for?

BLAINE: Well, I think that what we believe is necessary is real reform within the church. We don't believe that there has been any genuine transformation, and we believe that the same type of environment continues today that allowed hundreds, if not thousands of us, to be molested.

O'BRIEN: How do you go about changing that?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we should start by naming the perpetrators, and then every bishop who transferred a child molester knowingly should remove himself, should step down, and the other thing that the survey doesn't show is how many of these perpetrators were transferred after the bishops knew that they were child molesters. And

I think that it's really naive to suggest that we will all believe, that Americans today would believe that back in the 1970s, or during the 1980s or during the 1990s that the bishops didn't know that molesting a child was a crime, and that it shouldn't -- I mean, that they shouldn't have reported it to police. I mean, these excuses of claiming well, we thought that -- like we sent them to retreatment centers that weren't good, or we thought that they should be forgiven, those are really flimsy excuses. We're talking about felony criminal behavior, and bishops covered that up and supported it by neglecting to turn information over to prosecutors and police. And I think that that's what American people want to see. That's where they want to see accountability.

O'BRIEN: Barbara Blaine is the founder of SNAP. She's a survivor of all of this. Thanks very much for being with us, joining us from New Orleans today. We appreciate your insights.

BLAINE: 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 February 16, 2004 - 16:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The group called the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests -- SNAP is the acronym -- is skeptical the truth is coming out, even now. Barbara Blaine is SNAP's founder. She joins us this hour from New Orleans.
Barbara, thanks very much for being with us.

BARBARA BLAINE, FOUNDER, SNAP: Hello. Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: From your perspective, as I survivor of all of this, when you see this report, do you see it half empty or half full? In other words, half of the church is moving in the direction of acknowledging all of this. Is that the good news, or is this not enough?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we have to be skeptical, and prudence would tell us that I think we really need to question whether these numbers are complete or accurate. I mean, the reality is that these same bishops who have covered up for decades and swept this under the carpet are now doing 180-degree turn, and now saying, OK, we're going to tell all? It just seems -- it seems difficult to believe from our perspective.

O'BRIEN: So you're accusing the Catholic Church, the hierarchy at least, of being disingenuous about this?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we have to acknowledge what this is. It's not really a study. It's not an investigation. It's merely a self survey, and it's what the bishops themselves chose to report.

And please notice that they did not release the names of the perpetrators, so we as victims have no way of knowing whether or not our perpetrators are on their list.

O'BRIEN: All right, is the church lying then?

BLAINE: Oh, I don't know whether they're lying. I just find -- I just think that we should question it, and I believe that the fact that they claim that 50 percent of these perpetrators only abused one victim certainly has to raise everyone's eyebrows. That's almost like saying that an alcoholic only got drunk one time.

O'BRIEN: All right. Barbara, why are these numbers so important? Isn't it enough to say it was widespread and it was a terrible thing and those who are victims and who wish to be compensated should be afforded that compensation?

Above and beyond that, what is your group looking for?

BLAINE: Well, I think that what we believe is necessary is real reform within the church. We don't believe that there has been any genuine transformation, and we believe that the same type of environment continues today that allowed hundreds, if not thousands of us, to be molested.

O'BRIEN: How do you go about changing that?

BLAINE: Well, I think that we should start by naming the perpetrators, and then every bishop who transferred a child molester knowingly should remove himself, should step down, and the other thing that the survey doesn't show is how many of these perpetrators were transferred after the bishops knew that they were child molesters. And

I think that it's really naive to suggest that we will all believe, that Americans today would believe that back in the 1970s, or during the 1980s or during the 1990s that the bishops didn't know that molesting a child was a crime, and that it shouldn't -- I mean, that they shouldn't have reported it to police. I mean, these excuses of claiming well, we thought that -- like we sent them to retreatment centers that weren't good, or we thought that they should be forgiven, those are really flimsy excuses. We're talking about felony criminal behavior, and bishops covered that up and supported it by neglecting to turn information over to prosecutors and police. And I think that that's what American people want to see. That's where they want to see accountability.

O'BRIEN: Barbara Blaine is the founder of SNAP. She's a survivor of all of this. Thanks very much for being with us, joining us from New Orleans today. We appreciate your insights.

BLAINE: 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