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American Morning

William Bennett Discusses Church Abuse Cover-ups

Aired March 18, 2002 - 08:17   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As we heard in our last hour, New York's Cardinal Edward Eagen is the latest church leader accused of mishandling cases of sexual misconduct by priests when he ran the archdiocese in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Some Catholics have also called for the leader of Boston's Catholics, John Cardinal Law, to resignation because of his role in the scandals.

In an op-ed piece in this morning's "Wall Street Journal" Bill Bennett himself, a devout Catholic, writes, "We must hold the leaders of the church responsible for changing the culture that protects pedophiles. Priests, including Cardinal Law, who have been involved in these cover-ups, must be removed from the positions of authority no less than the priests whose acts were covered up. Both groups harm children and harm the children."

And Bill Bennett, CNN contributor and head of Empower America, joins us now from Washington.

Good morning.

WILLIAM BENNETT, EMPOWER AMERICA: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: Well, you've known Boston's Cardinal Law for years. As a devout Catholic, what would be your recommendation to him?

BENNETT: Well, I think he should step down. I do think that several of the actions he's taken lately are appropriate. But the church, Cardinal Law in particular and the church in the United States in general, has been slow to react and I don't think they appreciate just how angry and upset Catholics are about this.

Now, you know, in Washington we know about cover-ups and frankly this is a cover-up. And I won't say in this case the cover-up is worse than the offense, as is often the case in Washington. But the offense and the cover-up are both very serious.

But the church is now, I think, learning the lesson. It's beginning to come clean on these things. Justice Brandeis said once sunlight is the best disinfectant. We're getting some sunlight. The church is beginning to understand just how upset people are and is understanding the need to better police its own ranks.

WHITFIELD: This weekend, or Friday specifically, "The Pilot," a Catholic newspaper in Boston, we have a quote from that. It reads, "These questions are out there in the minds of Catholics. There have been -- they have been answered in the past but now these questions have taken on deeper intensity in more Catholic minds than prior to these sexual scandals. Even if our present woes in the archdiocese were suddenly to disappear, these questions have taken on an urgency and will not slip away quietly."

Apparently over the weekend they had yet their fourth printing of this newspaper of this column. Catholics in that area have been very forthright in saying they're incredibly embarrassed, yet at the same time some Catholics say that they are now feeling that the Catholic Church is offering some sort of apology, so to speak, by this kind of issuance. Do you agree with that?

BENNETT: Yes, I do think there is a sense of apology and a sense of wrong and a sense that the wrong wasn't acted on to be corrected. Some things need to be made clear, though. In my piece in the "Journal" this morning I focus on the charges of pedophilia. What people need to understand is that most of the offenses that have been brought to light in Chicago, in Boston, in Hartford, as I understand it, are cases of what's called ephebophilia. That's a difficult word. "Epheb" is a Greek word meaning a young soldier, a young man. Most of the cases of sexual abuse that I think we've seen are cases of abuse of young men, not of prepubescents, not of children.

The pedophilia cases are the ones getting the most attention. Father Geoghan, for example, was involved in pedophilia. But the cases with the young men are by far the largest number. And that may suggest a somewhat different strategy. I think the church has to address the question not just of the cover-up, which I think it is beginning to address, but how did we get into this situation in the first place? Are they screening people properly for the priesthood?

WHITFIELD: Now what...

BENNETT: What kind of...

WHITFIELD: What about the issue...

BENNETT: Yes?

WHITFIELD: What about the issue of celibacy? In "The Pilot" also it writes that, you know, celibacy is an expression of love for the lord, love for the kingdom.

BENNETT: Right.

WHITFIELD: Is it time now to change the policy? Is that, indeed, you know, part of the problem?

BENNETT: I don't think it is. My guess is that the church in Rome, the pope and the cardinals will not come out in favor of changing celibacy. It's an interesting question to ask. But consider this, if a man going into the priesthood is inclined sexually toward other men, is a law or a change in the law that, a change in the rules about celibacy going to change his orientation? Simply to say well, priests can marry or have sexual relations with women isn't going to do much, it seems to me, in the case of the man who is inclined the other way. So I'm not sure it addresses the issue at hand.

The issue at hand, it seems to me, has to be addressed by looking at who goes into the priesthood, why people go into the priesthood, training. There's a lot of talk about seminaries being places where a message it not made clear that celibacy is the rule. And the church has to consider the whole question as to whether it wants priests who are homosexual in orientation. That may be a larger issue, a more difficult issue for the church to take up.

But unfortunately in light of all these circumstances, all of these issues have to be joined and none of them are easy except...

WHITFIELD: All right...

BENNETT: ... the church has to police its ranks better.

WHITFIELD: We're running out of time.

William Bennett of Empower America and CNN contributor, thanks very much.

BENNETT: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And we'll all be reading or others can read more about your column in this morning's "Wall Street Journal."

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