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American Morning

Palm Beach Bishop Resigns Over Sexual Misconduct

Aired March 12, 2002 - 08:09   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: We are getting word this morning that the Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to settle the civil lawsuit brought by scores of people who say they were molested by former priest, John Geoghan. The "Boston Globe" reports the settlement is expected to be somewhere between $15 and $30 million.

And in Florida, another case of sexual misconduct also has the Catholic Church reeling. The head of the Palm Beach Diocese, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, resigned on Friday after acknowledging the charges against him were true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BISHOP ANTHONY O'CONNELL, DIOCESE OF PALM BEACH: It always hung over me. I don't think I have ever preached without being conscious of it, and especially in these recent times. I certainly have been powerfully motivated in my preaching and in my spirituality for having been so stupid and so foolish at the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: O'Connell admitted that as a priest, he sexually abused a teenage boy at a Catholic seminary in Missouri in the 1970s, and the victim, Christopher Dixon, says he went to O'Connell for help after he had been abused by two other priests, but he says O'Connell betrayed that trust.

Christopher Dixon is now breaking his silence some 25 years later. He joins us this morning from St. Louis. Thank you very much for being with us.

CHRISTOPHER DIXON, ACCUSER: You are welcome, Paula -- good morning.

ZAHN: Good morning. So, Christopher, what is your reaction to the resignation of Bishop O'Connell?

Well, the reaction is rather bittersweet. I felt -- on the sweet side of bittersweet, I felt like I was vindicated that after these years of dealing with these issues and dealing with abuse and then confronting the diocese with the facts, which they denied. Then on Friday, when Bishop O'Connell resigned, he did admit that what in fact I said was true, and what in fact I said he did was true. The bitter side is that I know a lot of people are hurting. I know that there are thousands of Catholics and others who are hurting as a result of all of this. I have been hurting for a number of years. And if my coming out and telling this story is putting a face to what people have read helps anyone else who has been abused to come forward, then this is all worth it. And of course, it does help me in my own continued healing process.

ZAHN: Take us back to the time when you consulted then priest O'Connell, Father O'Connell for help when you had already been abused by two other priests.

DIXON: Well, this is what's rather tragic for me, and I went to Father O'Connell, because I had been abused by my parish pastor in Hannibal. I had also been abused by the dean of students at the same seminary that I was attending where O'Connell was also. And I went to him for help, because I was a kid trying to sort through all of these things. I was an adolescent going through puberty, and not understanding what was going on with my body, not understanding how this fits in with our own beliefs that the church teaches us with regard to sexuality.

I went to him for help to help me sort through these things, and under the guise of wanting to help me come to terms with my body, to become comfortable with my sexuality, ultimately we know what happened. He took me to bed with him, and again a betrayal of the greatest trust that we place in these people.

ZAHN: At the time that your trust was betrayed, could you turn to anyone within the seminary to alert them to what had happened?

DIXON: I went...

ZAHN: So did you live with this secret for a long time?

DIXON: I lived with the secret for a long time. I turned to the man that I thought would help me the most, because he was the most liked. He seemed to be the man to engender the most trust from all of us as students. And he was the man that I thought would help. And he said he was helping me. We talked about being confused as a child, as an adolescent. I didn't know where else to go.

ZAHN: In spite of this abuse that you say you suffered, you still made the decision to go on and proceed with your studies to become a priest. Why?

DIXON: I did, and that's a very good question. And I could talk about what I think now that I look back. But at the time, I talked about all of the difficulties that I was experiencing in terms of my own growing up in terms of the abuse that I had suffered. I talked with the appropriate people, the spiritual directors. They all encouraged me to continue. They saw gifts in me, and O'Connell even refers to the many gifts that he saw in me as I was growing up.

And so I did believe that, yes, God is calling me to be a priest. Yes, I can help people in that capacity. Unfortunately, I was also at the same time masterfully able to bury the emotions associated with what happened to me, and I never got in touch with the anger and the rage and was really never able to identify the abuse for what it was truly was. And once I got in tough with that through the help of some great therapists and a great therapy program, I was enraged, and I didn't know that one person could contain the serious rage that I had sufficiently buried. And that's when I decided I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I don't want this.

ZAHN: All right, Christopher, we just have 20 seconds left on the satellite here. I know you settled your case for $125,000 back in 1996. Will you be entitled to any more money in any of these settlements that are being reached? I know this last one in Boston is related to a different priest.

DIXON: Right.

ZAHN: But do you have any expectations...

DIXON: Absolutely...

ZAHN: ... that down the road that you will receive any other monetary compensation?

DIXON: Absolutely not. I am certain that there is no remuneration coming to me for anything, and that's not why I did this. I did this to help other people as well as to maybe call the church to deal with these issues and interact in an appropriate way, which I don't think they have done on the past.

ZAHN: Well, Christopher Dixon, we really appreciate your joining us this morning. I know it is very difficult for you to relive the pain that goes back so many years.

DIXON: It is.

ZAHN: Thank you again for your time this morning.

DIXON: Thank you, Paula.

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