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American Morning

Palm Sunday Sermons Overshadowed by Scandal That's Haunting Catholic Church

Aired March 25, 2002 - 07:20   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: As Holy Week begins, Catholic church leaders across the United States are being forced to address a most unholy issue: the growing scandal over the sexual abuse of children by priests. Yesterday, Palm Sunday sermons were overshadowed by a scandal that's haunting the Catholic Church. Here's a report from CNN's Brian Palmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Standing room only on Palm Sunday at the country's most famous Catholic cathedral.

CARDINAL EDWARD EGAN, NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE: A letter is available for everyone as you leave the cathedral concerning a matter that is on the minds of all of us: the violation of young people by the clergy.

PALMER: New York's Cardinal Edward Egan touched on the issue of abuse several times during mass.

EGAN: I've taken steps to see that there is no more of this. This evil will be stamped out with all the fervor of the lord and the lord's people.

PALMER: The cardinal did not delve deeper or detail those steps. Gabe Stano (ph) read Cardinal Edward Egan's letter after mass.

GABE STANO: I think that everybody's running for cover right now, and I think certainly the cardinal and Catholic Church are running for cover.

PALMER: Not everyone was critical of the cardinal. Leticia Vanderpute (ph) and Paul Alessando (ph) are visiting New York from Texas.

LETICIA VANDERPUTE: The cardinal in his opening remarks faced it head on and said something about it. I was surprised that I heard it right at the beginning.

PALMER: In Washington D.C., Father Charles Green mentioned sexual abuse. This, after Archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (ph) issued a short statement referring to a specific allegation against a monsignor, whom some parishioners continue to support. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a good pastor the whole time he was here, and a lot of people support him and just want to make sure he's OK.

PALMER: But some still have questions. Across the country, the same topic, but different tones. In a letter to his parishioners, a tough tone from Philadelphia's Archbishop Bevilacqua, offering an accused priest his compassion, but saying, "Nevertheless, the action of which he is accused is grave and demands our immediate attention in conformity with the practice of the archdiocese, since the protection of youth is paramount."

Boston Cardinal Bernard Law got praised for actions he took in the wake of the case that started it all, that of convicted abuser John Geghan.

PHIL SAVIANO, SURVIVORS' NETWORK: It's taken him a while to get up to speed, but the provisions that he is supporting these days, which is to turn over the names of all the molesters that have been reported to him -- going back, say, 30 years -- also turn overt he names of the victims so that police investigators can do a proper investigation, those are very important.

PALMER: Many Catholics would like to see Cardinal Law's colleagues follow suit.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: So the question remains: Are church leaders doing enough to address the issue of priest sexual abuse of children, and is their message getting through to parishioners?

Joining us now to talk about this is Bishop Joseph Galante of Dallas, Texas -- Bishop Gallante, welcome. It's nice to have you with us.

JOSEPH GALANTE, BISHOP OF DALLAS: Good morning. Thank you.

CAFFERTY: That seems to be the overriding question. Is the leadership of the Catholic Church responding quickly enough and in the right way to what is a growing scandal that shows no signs of going away anytime soon?

GALANTE: I think in most dioceses and archdioceses there are responses that are coming on. I can speak very much for Dallas, which over the past five years has had a very strong, safe environment procedure in place headed by a full-time person in the diocese and offices who happens to not be a Catholic. And, also, there is a company that is doing an audit of our safe environment program. There is a constant updating and reminder to pastors. And one of the key notes of our program is there is immediate reporting to the authorities.

CAFFERTY: Now that's the subject of a poll that was done by the New York "Daily News" and a local cable news channel, New York One, where 53 percent of the Roman Catholics who were interviewed for this poll say they want all allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy turned over to police, period. Whether the victim agrees or not, whether the church agrees or not. If these allegations exist, it allegedly could be possibly a crime. Give it to the police, let them investigate it and take the appropriate steps. Is that the right way to go here?

GALANTE: Well that's certainly the practice that we have here in Texas in the dioceses here. I think I have said on other occasions, as a church, we've dealt with sin. But crime is something that the police really should investigate and in their proper competence. So I have no problems with making those reports immediately as an allegation is presented, and letting the police whose job it is to investigate those things, let them do their work. And I saw that in Cardinal Egan's letter. He had said that, you know, nobody in the archdiocese was to interfere in any way with police investigations.

CAFFERTY: What about the perception of the crime of not addressing this within the church in a forthright way? I'm talking about the perception of the crime of reassigning a priest like John Geghan, who is accused of molesting 130 children over the course of many years. Simply reassigning him, putting him into treatment, taking him out, putting him back in contact with children, entering into secret agreements to pay victims of sexual abuse or pedophilia. In some cases, millions of dollars in return for a confidentiality agreement so that the church would not be exposed to some of the things that apparently were going on. Isn't that a crime too, Bishop Galante?

GALANTE: Well, I think to contextualize what's happening, so many of the cases that have come forward are cases that go back 50 years. I think what we have learned -- particularly from the middle 80s on -- both within the church and also in society, certainly casts a different light on the whole situation. Prior to the middle 80s, as I have said, and most people have said, it kept -- it was looked upon as a moral lapse.

We have seen it far beyond that, tragically. And I think that certainly now I would be shocked and surprised at anybody that would in any way continue to reassign priests who have this kind of a history. I just don't believe in any way, shape or form that that's going to happen.

CAFFERTY: What about the apparent unwillingness to address these sins of the past? What is it going to take for the church to get its house in order and be able to go forward with a fresh start? What are the steps that have to be taken here?

GALANTE: Well I think very much as we have grappled and wrestled with all of this, I -- the whole question of rebuilding trust becomes of paramount importance for us. I think the number one priority, I would say, for all the dioceses in the country, at this point, is the safety of our children...

CAFFERTY: Well, my apologies. That little tone and the color bars means we've lost the satellite to Dallas, Texas. Let me thank Bishop Joseph Galante for his time here on AMERICAN MORNING this morning. My apologies to the viewers, although we were nearing the end of the segment anyway. But we will attempt to continue the dialog with Bishop Galante and other members of the Catholic Church as this story continues to unfold -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It's interesting that the bishop brought up that whole issue of trying to restore the faith of the public in these bishops and priests, Jack, that are running the church. Because in -- I'm not sure if it's the poll that you just referenced, but another poll that shows about -- if you were to look at the faith that people have, it's not shaken their faith in their belief in God or Jesus, but simply in the men that are running the church.

CAFFERTY: Yeah, two different -- two different quantities there. The administration of the church, which is done by human beings who are fallible, and the faith and the religion itself, which is something entirely different. It's more spiritual, I guess, and based, like you say, on faith. So the church has a lot of work to do on this issue, and it feels like they're beginning, but they've got a ways to go, I think.

ZAHN: All right -- thanks, Jack.

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