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American Morning

Parishioners Try To Understand Priest's Suicide

Aired April 08, 2002 - 07:32   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: There have been some new developments over the weekend in the sex abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church. And here in New York, the archdiocese says it told six priests to immediately stop ministering to the parishioners because of allegations of misconduct. While outside of Cleveland, parishioners there are trying to make sense of the suicide of a widely admired priest who was caught up in the scandal.

CNN's Brian Cabell has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bright, chilly Sunday morning at St. Anthony of Padua church. The first Sunday for parishioners since the suicide of their associate pastor, Father Donald Rooney; a suicide that grieves and baffles them.

Was he a child sex abuser or a loving or caring priest or both? Two young couples remember him for the good he did. Matt (ph) and Laura Gray (ph) will tell you that when they learned their unborn daughter would have a fatal birth defect, Father Rooney, from outside their parish, took it upon himself to counsel and console them day after day, week after week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a time of great despair, and yet there was a sense of peace. And I think that was brought about by Father Don being there.

CABELL: When their daughter Megan (ph) was born, she lived only two days. Father Rooney was there to hold her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was compassionate, he felt our pain, he wanted to help us in any way he could. That was just who he was.

CABELL: Eileen and Jim Albert tell a similar story of a daughter also named Megan (ph). She's fine now, happy and healthy. But just months ago she was gravely ill with liver disease.

A risky liver transplant from Eileen was the only way to save her. Father Rooney joined 250 miles to join the mother and daughter in the hospital.

EILEEN ALBERT, PARISHIONER: He just reassured me and I just had so much strength from him. CABELL: Now Jim can't reconcile the good man they knew with the horrible allegations.

JIM ALBERT, PARISHIONER: I don't. I can't. I mean he was -- what we knew of him was a truly compassionate and dedicated priest.

CABELL: That's a common view in Parma, a heavily Catholic middle class town, 10 miles south of Cleveland.

(on camera): And the archdiocese will tell you there was nothing in Father Rooney's files to indicate a problem with child sex abuse, until a woman called the church last week to say that she had been abused by him back in 1980 when she was a child. Father Rooney was called in for a meeting with the bishop. He never showed up. On Thursday, he shot himself to death.

ROBERT TAYEK, CLEVELAND CATHOLIC DIOCESE: Since Father Rooney's death was reported, we have had other allegations reported to us, and those have been turned over to the proper authorities for investigation.

CABELL (voice-over): Those are heartbreaking words for those who knew him. How do you make sense of a contradiction?

E. ALBERT: I just have to think about the wonderful things that he's done for us. And nobody can take that away from us. It's just -- that's how I'm going to remember him.

CABELL: Brian Cabell, CNN, Parma, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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