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American Morning

Clergy Debate Abuse Allegations

Aired March 15, 2002 - 08:08   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 big question at this hour: Is the church doing enough to stop abuse? Sexual abuse scandals have forced the church to change the way it deals with priests accused of pedophilia. But is it enough?

Well, just yesterday, the New York Archdiocese announced it will report any future allegations of sexual misconduct directly to the authorities. But on the other side of the country, a superior court in California threw out 224 charges against a defrocked Catholic priest, because the statute of limitations had run out.

So what exactly should the church be doing, and is it doing enough? Joining us from New York, retired priest, Richard Sipe, and from Dallas, Texas this morning, Bishop Joseph Galante -- good morning, gentlemen.

RICHARD SIPE, RETIRED PRIEST: Good morning, Paula.

JOSEPH GALANTE, COADJUTOR BISHOP OF DALLAS: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So, Mr. Sipe, I wanted your reaction to the action that the New York Archdiocese took yesterday. Once again, we need to make it clear that these future sexual abuse charges will be reported directly to the authorities, but only if the victims agree, and only new cases. Is that enough?

SIPE: Well, certainly it's not enough. The past is catching up. The critical mass of victims from the past has kind of overwhelmed the church and caused three problems. First of all, it is a problem of priest sexuality, not priest celibacy. If priests were keeping their celibacy, this wouldn't be a problem. But people now realize that many priests are not keeping their celibacy and violating it in some very distasteful ways.

Secondly, it's a crisis of confidence. People no longer believe that the bishops and the church and the authority have really done enough. In fact, evidence is piling up that they have covered up, and continue to cover up in many ways.

And third, it's a crisis of money. People are very disturbed by the kinds of money and the amounts of money that have been spent in this system of secrecy. And this system of unnecessary and really harmful protection of the image of our church and supposedly its good name, which in fact, it's ruining by this secrecy. ZAHN: Bishop Galante, what is the Catholic Church's strategy for dealing with some of the things Mr. Sipe just pointed out? We warned just yesterday in Boston alone, a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of contributions to a $300 million fund-raising campaign have been withdrawn, because parishioners are very concerned that some of that money could potentially be used for pedophile insurance. That's not where they want their money to go. What does the Catholic Church have to do right now?

GALANTE: Well, we certainly have become much more acutely aware of the past problems and are trying very much to put the safety of children and the most vulnerable first. We have talked about that at length. We will continue to try to put into place, if they are not already there -- and I'd like to point out that in 1992, a set of five principles were adopted, which were followed in some places and apparently not followed in other places. And if those principles continue to be followed and perhaps even expanded, I think we do as much as possible to safeguard the most vulnerable people in our society. We have to continue to be vigilant.

ZAHN: All right. Let me ask Mr. Sipe about that, these principles. Is part of the problem that there has never been a standard set of rules governing how all archdiocese should behave?

SIPE: Well, part of it is the non-definition of principles, but the problem goes deeper than that. It's not just paper principles and it's not just new principles. What is absolutely necessary is the elimination of the system of secrecy. You cannot have secrecy and accountability at the same time. The problem actually goes very deep in the church, and I believe that it is in a process of profound reformation. It is not going to stop with just the acknowledgment that some priests, and only a number, that some priests have violated children.

But that has gone through the process where the church has covered this up and continues to cover it up, and what has happened is people are saying, well, what's behind the cover up? What's the cover up behind the cover up? And that's what is happening that this is all splitting open. That the secret system no longer stands.

ZAHN: Bishop Galante, a form of final word on these allegations that the Catholic Church has hidden these allegations for many years, and paid off people in secrecy.

GALANTE: I think certainly there are a number of reasons for that. In some instances, victims themselves wanted to be protected from the publicity, from the notoriety, also from the stigma sometimes that attaches unfortunately and erroneously to victims across the board. I think in our own society, for example, it's only with the advent I think of Megan's Law and other laws passed in different states that the whole question of sexual abuse, sexual molestation has become public, and now on web sites, we publish registered sex offenders.

We have policies in many of the dioceses where at the first credible allegation, that's turned over to the authorities. And it's up to the authorities to investigate and to follow through on that. The sense of secrecy I think for whatever reasons it existed will not exist anymore. There is not question about that.

ZAHN: All right.

GALANTE: But part of it was because of reputations of victims and others.

ZAHN: All right, gentlemen, that's all we have time for this morning. Bishop Joseph Galante in Dallas and Richard Sipe -- thank you both for joining us this morning.

SIPE: Thank you.

ZAHN: Appreciate your time.

GALANTE: Thank you.

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