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American Morning

Catholic Nuns Respond to Sexual Abuse in Church

Aired April 08, 2002 - 08:15   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 priest sex abuse scandal that's torn through the Catholic Church is of particular interest to a group of Carmelite nuns in Indiana. These sisters don't teach, nor do they minister to the sick in hospitals. They are cut from a different cloth.

They spend their time reading books and magazines, watching the news on television and praying. Then they kind of put those prayers on paper, on their Web site then, called praythenews.com.

The sisters feel as if they could have made a difference if their role in the church was broader. And in this week's "Time" magazine, Margaret Carlson writes, "Nuns recall being lesser members of the church in the most male dominated institution in the Western world. What a shame. If nuns had had a higher status, they might have prevented the cover-up."

And Sisters Teresa Boersig and Sister Ruth Boyle, both Carmelite nuns, join us from Indianapolis this morning. Good morning. Thank you very much for being with us.

SISTER TERESE BOERSIG, CARMELITE NUN: Good morning.

SISTER RUTH BOYLE, CARMELITE NUN: Good morning.

ZAHN: Sister Terese, how -- maybe bitter is the wrong word -- but how upset are you that perhaps nuns didn't have a bigger role that might have stopped this abuse from taking place?

BOERSIG: Well, to be honest, I don't think that our role would have had much to do the stopping of the case of pedophilia. Pedophilia has probably gone on for millennia. And I don't think that our role would have made a difference. It may have if we knew about it. I think it would have been spoken out. But in terms of stopping the disease, I don't think our role really would have made that much difference.

ZAHN: And Sister Boyle, I know it's hard for you to speak of nuns all across the country, but what is your general sense, that nuns mostly were kept in the dark about any of these scandals going on?

BOYLE: Well, I don't think it's just nuns. I think it's everyone, really. I mean the lay people, all lay people, I think, were all shocked by this. But I don't think it's, I would, it would just be nuns that would be shocked by this, by the cover-up.

ZAHN: Sister Terese, do you see this priest sex scandal as ever making it possible for women to enter the priesthood?

BOERSIG: Well, I don't, I think women will enter the priesthood, but maybe not in my lifetime and maybe not in this century. Eventually I think nuns will enter the priesthood. But I don't think that that has much to do with the scandal as such. My feeling is is that the secrecy was the hard part, not -- I mean there has, this has been going on for, as I said, for centuries, and it's in every walk of life. So it's not just with the priests.

And what I'm hoping is that it won't become a McCarthy witch hunt hunting for a pedophile under every cassock because there are wonderful priests out there. But there are also some that have really hurt people and it's been tragic. And it should have been taken care of and it should go to the civil authorities. I mean a felony is a felony.

ZAHN: And in the meantime, Sister Boyle, we've heard a number of Catholics questioning whether they want to give any more money to a church unless they can be convinced that money won't go in any way to a sexual abuse scandal. Are you concerned about support for the church eroding because of this scandal?

BOYLE: Well, not really. But I do believe that, that collection boxes or collection baskets should not be used for this type of thing. Maybe the church should think about selling some of its property, which is an alternative to that. But as far as withholding support from the church, I do think that people recognize that this is, you know, a scandal. It's a horrendous scandal but the church will go on. And the church has been going on for 2,000 years and it's been undergoing, it has undergone throughout history some major, major scandals and it has survived them and the church will survive this.

ZAHN: Sister Terese, we mentioned at the top of this that you're one of 15 Carmelite nuns who have a Web site that is very much a part of your daily life. It is called praythenews.com. What's it all about?

BOERSIG: Well, we, it has a lot on there, not just that. We can, we talk about how to pray. We talk about books that we're reading, how to help people enrich their spiritual life. But we have always prayed the news. We listen to the news. I think the news is so important. It's what, god is in this world. God is in the happenings of the world. And so it's so important to be involved in what is going on, to know what's going on.

And therefore we've always brought this into our prayer. And so when we did the Web site, mentioned to our persons that are helping us that that's what we do, we pray the news, they took that up and made it the name of our Web site. And we, six of us do a reflection every week. We try to take a very pertinent topic, something that's in the headlines, and we reflect on that. And that's changed every week.

And it's been good for us and from the response we've gotten it's been good for our readers and those who watch our Web site.

ZAHN: And Sister Boyle, I know you're involved with that, as well, and you've both talked quite candidly about the cancer that's affecting the church right now. Any final words of advice, Sister Ruth, to Catholics who feel they can't trust their priests anymore?

BOYLE: Well, just to remember that we are all the church and that our faith is in god. Our faith, that god is the mean -- god is the end. The church is the means, but god is the end, and just to keep the faith.

ZAHN: And Sister Terese, just a final thought this morning on where you think the scandal is taking the Catholic Church.

BOERSIG: Well, I hope it's purifying it. You know, I don't want us to be a superpower. I don't want us to be very rich. I think we need to be humble and honest. And I think god is in this process and maybe god is doing this to enable the church to renew itself, to revive and to be a blessing to people. And people fail and some priests have failed. But that's not to put everybody in the same basket. Take care of the ones who are sick, but help those and support those who are really out there serving us.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you continued good luck with your Web site and Sisters Terese and Ruth, we very much appreciate your joining us this morning.

BOERSIG: It was a pleasure to be here.

BOYLE: Yes. Thank you.

BOERSIG: We appreciate it.

ZAHN: Our pleasure, as well.

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