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American Morning

Retired Priest, Parishioner Discuss Boston Child Molestation Scandal

Aired February 05, 2002 - 09:10   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Catholic community in Boston is in turmoil, torn by the continuing story of even more priests accused of molesting children. Just this past weekend, two more priests were removed for sexually abusing children. Local Catholics there are beginning to talk about withholding donations to the church and are actually calling for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

This just after the archdiocese, in an effort to clean house, recently turned over to local prosecutors the names of 38 priests accused of molesting children. But is the effort by the church proving too painful or just too late?

Joining me now from Boston, lifelong Catholic, Joseph Sliwkowski, and Richard Sipe, a retired priest and now a psychotherapist.

Welcome, gentlemen, good to have you with us this morning.

JOSEPH SLIWKOWSKI, PARISHIONER: Good morning.

RICHARD SIPE, RETIRED PRIEST: Good morning.

ZAHN: Mr. Sliwkowski, I'm going to start with you this morning. You actually took the step of writing a letter to demand the resignation of Cardinal Law.

SLIWKOWSKI: Yes.

ZAHN: How hard of a thing for you to do as life-long practicing Catholic?

SLIWKOWSKI: Very hard. Very hard. I grew up, the clergy was right or wrong. Right or wrong you never criticized them. Very hard.

ZAHN: What was the final straw for you?

SLIWKOWSKI: The reading of the letter from the cardinal. It built up with a disclosure -- this was through "The Boston Globe." But there were two parts in the letter, which just the damn burst. To say -- I can only paraphrase it -- now I realize how important children are. My goodness. Where were you? And the second is I have now instituted policies and procedures to prevent this. Leaders don't need policies and procedures. As I said in my letter, anyone can call 911 when they see the fire; it's the leader who sees the telltale smoke and says, Oops, I think there's something wrong, and I am going to look into it.

It was built up also on the basis of the stonewalling it was reported the church did in disclosing the documents as well as, and not that I even knew that the clergy was protected from disclosure laws that a teacher or a doctor or a social worker were required to provide, and only now only that has been accepted. The cardinal fought that. He has shown that he has lost my confidence as a leader, and as a result, should be replaced.

ZAHN: Mr. Sipe, you come to us this morning with the unusual perspective of having been a retired priest. Is there any defense of how long it took for the archdiocese to react to this mushrooming problem?

SIPE: No, there isn't. This problem has been publicized. This problem has been before the bishops in a very public way since 1985. They've known this. This is the largest crisis that the Catholic church has ever faced in the United States. And what's being revealed here in Boston is no different than what is underneath in Philadelphia, in New York, and Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

And what is happening here is a groundswell of really a revolution of insistence on reform. And so what's going to happen here is going to be the direction that the Catholics in the country take. And the bishops the cardinals are going to have to now respond. Unfortunately, the leadership is not come from moral conviction within the church -- I mean from the leadership in the church -- but rather been forced on them by the law and by the media.

ZAHN: Before you go any further, sir, I would love to share with you the apology that Cardinal Law has offered. He says, "Our hearts go out to the victims. This is a very tough time, and we are trying to do the best we can to provide support to the communities and to make sure that there is no one in the ministry who has an allegation of misconduct against them."

You're telling us this morning you're not convinced this kind of behavior will ever stop. Is that what you are saying?

SIPE: I am not saying that. I'm saying that this is statement that should have been made in '85. The revelation of all of this abuse and all of the abusers, this has been there. It is there. It's there in the archdiocese of Chicago, in Los Angeles, but what has brought it out? What has brought somebody to say no more? It has been the press. It has been the courts. And now what's happening here is a groundswell of ordinary people who are saying I am not going to support this with my money, and a very prominent priest in 1992, right here in Boston, said to six of the victims of Father Porter, a man who admitted abusing 200 children, he said that the church is not going to change it's faced with bankruptcy.

And I think that what Joseph represents here is a groundswell of people who say that if it will take that, that then it will take that, but I'm not going to support a leadership that will tolerate, will cover-up, child abusers among our ministry. ZAHN: All right. Unfortunately, we are going to have to leave it there this morning. Richard Sipe and Joseph Sliwkowski, very much appreciate your joining us this morning. We are look forward someday to having someone on from the Boston Archdiocese to give us their take on this story.

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