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American Morning

Explosive Story Published Yesterday in Connecticut Having to Do With Archbishop of New York Diocese

Aired March 18, 2002 - 07:11   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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: There was an explosive story in the "Hartford Courant" that was published yesterday up in Connecticut having to do with Bishop Eagan, who is currently the archbishop of the New York Diocese, Cardinal Eagan now. He ran the Bridgeport, Connecticut Archdiocese for a number of years, and the story in the "Hartford Courant" was an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse there by priests during the time that Cardinal Eagan was in charge.

The reporter, who uncovered the story and did the research on it, joins us now on AMERICAN MORNING. His name is Eric Rich, and he is with the "Hartford Courant" -- welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

ERIC RICH, "HARTFORD COURANT": Good morning, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Give us an overview of what your investigation uncovered. What are the main points?

RICH: Sure. Let me tell you first what we based our conclusions on, just so you have a sense of that. As you say, Cardinal Eagan was -- Edward Eagan was a bishop in the diocese of Bridgeport in southern Connecticut for 12 years before he was named archbishop in New York. During that time in the mid '90s, about two dozens lawsuits were brought against about a half dozen priests in the diocese alleging sexual abuse and sexual misconduct.

At the time, the lawsuits were sealed and the files were sealed. They were settled last year, and they were sealed after that and remain sealed to this day. We were able to get several thousand copies of documents that are part of those court files. They are psychiatric reports. They are church memoranda. They are depositions of a number of church officials and complainants, the victims.

Reviewing all of that, Beth Hamilton -- my colleague, Beth Hamilton and I were able to reconstruct kind of a fairly detailed picture of the way these allegations were handled in the diocese, both under Eagan and his predecessor.

CAFFERTY: And how would you characterize the way they were handled?

RICH: Well, what we were able to conclude is that Eagan allowed several priests who were accused of sexual misconduct to remain in ministry for years after accusations surfaced and... CAFFERTY: So there was a conscious effort to not only allow the priests, who were accused of these activities, to continue, but to in effect keep this information also out of the public view, right?

RICH: That's right. There was that. There was that, yes. We had three priests that we focused on. One was a priest who actually had bitten the penis of a teenager during a nonconsensual sex act. He was one of three that Edward Eagan allowed to remain in parish work.

CAFFERTY: Do you know off the top of your head how this kind of activity is codified in Connecticut? There is a scathing column in one of the New York papers by Pete Hamel (ph) this morning that points out that unconsensual or nonconsensual sex with a minor is statutory rape, and that's a felony under New York law...

RICH: Well, that's right.

CAFFERTY: ... and should be prosecuted as such. I just wondered whether the Connecticut statutes treat it the same way.

RICH: Sure. Yes, there is a statute like that. In Connecticut, as on a lot of states, there is statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions, and that, I believe, is five years. I am not certain if it's from the time of the incident or if it's from the time of the first report of the incident. The lawsuits that we are talking about, of course, that we got our information out of were civil, and those have a much longer statute -- much longer period after an incident during which a victim can bring a claim under those rules.

CAFFERTY: Did your investigation give you any sense of what the church's policy is regarding this issue, now that some of these horrific stories are beginning to come to light? Are they going to go back and address some of these past grievances? Are they going to perhaps try to start from scratch here and move forward with a different way of treating these things? What strategy do they have?

RICH: Well, I think that varies from diocese to diocese. And we now have a new bishop, of course, in Bridgeport. He has got kind of -- seems to be taking a much more aggressive stand on dealing with these allegations. He is going back and he has ordered a review of all of the deacons and priests in the diocese. He is also going back over -- oh, he has also created a commission to -- a committee that will hear complaints, that will investigate sex assaults complaints.

So -- but I think it's spotty. I mean, you know, some in certain Boston and New Hampshire, bishops are turning over files going back decades to police and prosecutors. Under Eagan in Connecticut, that didn't happen. Complaints were not -- my conclusion was that complaints were not referred to prosecutors and police, and in fact, that they weren't very thoroughly investigated in many cases.

CAFFERTY: Eric, I thank you for coming on and talking with us on AMERICAN MORNING, and more importantly, I thank you for a nice piece of journalistic work. It's the kind of thing that at some point down the road will contribute, perhaps, to a significant C (ph) change on an issue this big -- thanks a lot for being with us. RICH: Thanks, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Eric Rich, reporter for the "Hartford Courant."

Just a postscript, Cardinal Eagan said mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday in New York and made no mention at any time during the day about the story in the "Hartford Courant" concerning his behavior at the time that he was bishop in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

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