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American Morning

New Developments in Sexual Abuse Scandal in Catholic Church

Aired April 09, 2002 - 09:15   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: Some new developments this morning in the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. In Cleveland, the archdiocese there says it has suspended now nine priests from their duties while they investigate sex abuse charges, some dating back decades. In Boston, it took court action to force the church to give up documents, which protected one priest there. That story now from our own Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED: And this is the pile right here. There was one document that stood out.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The archdiocese of Boston didn't want to release internal documents about Father Paul Shanley (ph) but an attorney representing a man who says he was raped by Shanley as a child successfully fought the civil suit to get the church to turnover hundreds of documents about Shanley, which it seemed to show the Boston Archdiocese allegedly ignored claims of abuse and failed to warn other parishes about those claims.

GREG FORD, ALLEGED VICTIM: I am very upset that a lot of people knew about him and what he was doing. In my belief, I think he molested hundreds over his 30-year reign of terror and I hope he rots in Hell?

CARROLL: The documents date back to 1967. That's when the archdiocese under the Cardinal Medarus (ph) who is now deceased received its first complaint about Shanley for "allegedly masturbating a young boy".

More explicit complaints followed years later when a woman claimed in a letter to the archdiocese that Shanley had given a speech about pedophiles in which he allegedly said the adult is not the seducer. The kid is the seducer.

After being transferred from parish to parish within the Boston archdiocese during the 60's, 70's and 80's, Shanley finally moved to St. Anne's (ph) Church in San Bernardino, California where records show the Boston Archdiocese under Cardinal Bernard law said Shanley was a priest in good standing. A spokesman for St. Anne's said they never would have accepted Shanley if they had known about his past.

In 1995, Shanley spent time working at the Leo House (ph) in New York City, a place for troubled teens. While there, the nuns expressed concerns about allegations of sexual abuse. Cardinal law responded by vouching for his Shanley's credibility.

RODNEY FORD, ALLEGED VICTIMS FATHER: Cardinal law, with the knowledge, elevated him to past. I put the question out there to you people. If this was your child, what would you want done?

CARROLL: Another one of Shanley's alleged victims spoke out with an emotional message for cardinal law.

ARTHUR AUSTIN, ALLEGED VICTIM: You are a liar. Your own documents condemn you. You are a criminal, a murderer of children. You degrade the office you hold in the church. You are in a front to Jesus Christ.

CARROLL: The Archdiocese of Boston did released a statement, although it did not specifically refer to Shanley. I can read part of it to you. It says the Archdiocese has learned from the painful experience of the inadequate policies and procedures of the past. Whatever may have occurred in the past, there were no deliberate decisions to put children at risk.

Shanley could not be reached for comment. He disappeared from his last known address in Southern California. Jason Carroll, CNN Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: In his lawsuit, Greg Ford, one of Father Shanley's alleged victims, claims he was sexually abused from the time he was six until he was 11. And joining us now from Boston, Greg's father, Rodney Ford, and Greg's Attorney, Roderick Macleish, Jr. Welcome gentlemen. Thank you very for joining us this morning.

RODERICK MACLEISH, JR., ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIM: Good morning Paula.

FORD: Morning. Thank you.

ZAHN: Mr. Ford, I'd like to start out this morning by replaying a small portion of what you had to say at yesterday's news conference when you discovered that your son, you say, had been abused by Father Shanley. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORD: That's my son at six-years-old. Look how happy he was. Shanley took his innocence. How would you feel? How do the people feel that still support cardinal law? Look at him. That could be your child but it happens to be mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And the result of what you say went on, Mr. Ford, what's your son like today? FORD: My son is on an emotional roller coaster ride. He has good days. He has bad days. We first went into this thinking it was just about Greg. As it turns out, Greg is now speaking for a lot of other victims that can't speak because they don't have enough courage and also because a lot of them have passed away.

ZAHN: Mr. Ford, for those who aren't familiar with your son's story, walk us through what's he's been through. In addition to having trouble with drugs, he's also been in and out of psychiatric wards and you say as a result of this abuse he suffered. What else went wrong for him?

FORD: Well it's a horrifying story to tell in just a short period of time but he has been in and out of 17 institutions, halfway houses. I've have had to go in front of a judge to get a restraining from my son not to become - not to come home anymore because he wasn't safe. As us as parents to go in front of a judge and to request a restraining order against a child that you love has torn the heart out of me at times. It's been horrendous on the whole family. And to put it in such a little to put it into words, I can't really express it.

ZAHN: I know it's been hell for your family. When did you make the discovery that your son was abused by Father Shanley?

FORD: We only knew until recently, a couple of months ago, when we read an article in the Globe. And that was when Paula and I, my wife, saw the articles and thought that there may be something there since he was our pastor. We approached Greg with that that night. And a couple of times he denied knowing Father Shanley. But we again showed him a picture of him being at a catholic ceremony. And this is difficult. And Greg stood up, collapsed on the floor and crying. At that point in time, I knew I had the missing piece to Greg's puzzle.

ZAHN: And over these years, what did you think it was that had been destroying his life?

FORD: We were told by many, many people that they weren't sure what happened to Greg. They always thought that he was abused but we couldn't give him that missing piece of the puzzle.

ZAHN: And did you ever have any suspicions ...

FORD: None.

ZAHN: ... that perhaps someone within the church was hurting your son?

FORD: None. Why would we ever think taking my son and dropping him off at CCD class, why would we ever, ever think that my child was being raped? My son hated me throughout the years and I never knew why up until recently. Why? Because I was feeding him to the farcs (ph) every Sunday, that's why he hated me. And I can understand why and in a sense, I feel so bad about that.

ZAHN: So you feel tremendous guilt about what you say happened to your son? FORD: I wasn't able to protect my son. What family out there could not have the same feelings that I'm having right now? Dropping your son off to the man who took away his innocence, took away his young childhood, took away his teenage years and now is trying to cope with all of these revelations. He hid them deep in his mind and now they're all coming forward and it's such a heavy burden for him at age 24 to understand what's going on here.

ZAHN: And Mr. Ford, I know we've talked with a number of parents in the same situation, with different allegations against different men in the church, but they tell us that if they could go back and understand that this was a possibility that is going on, they might have seen some warning signs. As you look back, the early years of the abuse you say your son suffered, were there any obvious signs that he was being hurt at church?

FORD: There were no signs. I really wish there was signs so that we could have addressed this in the proper way but there were never any signs. He fooled us. He fooled all of the parishioners. He was very charismatic. He was very instrumental. People looked up to him. He was a man of the cloth. He didn't just take my child's innocence. He took the innocence of everyone out there.

ZAHN: Mr. Macleish, has anybody within the Boston Archdiocese either verified these charges are true or said they simply aren't true at this point?

MACLEISH: Well sexual abuse usually occurs without witnesses but in this case, I represent men, Paula and have I since 1993, involving Paul Shanley. I represent men who were molested in the 60s who are now in their 50s. I represent men who were molested in the 70s and the 80s and the early 1990s. And I'm sure that there are many people in San Bernardino where all Paul Shanley was sent with full knowledge of all of this. That there are children out there that I hope, I pray were not molested but I have the feeling they were because Mr. Shanley's, one of his chief activities out there was working as a youth minister doing youth retreats.

ZAHN: I know some documents that have surfaced that you think are quite damaging but once again Mr. Macleish, is anybody within the Archdiocese said that they have acknowledged that this in fact happened?

MACLEISH: No, no, but we had a press conference yesterday, Paula. The Arch - and we had the archdiocese in personnel file and there are multiple reports of other victims being abused. There is no one from the archdiocese who has said, yes, we acknowledge that this happened. They've just issued the same statement that they always issue, but again, we're talking about many, many allegations. And Father Shanley was a - was a street priest for many years and undoubtedly many homeless people, troubled teenagers, that was his specialty. He was the minister to the alienated youth for 10 years on the streets of Boston. I can't imagine the damage that he has done.

ZAHN: Mr. Ford, I'd like to read to you a small portion of an apology that the archdiocese of Boston has sent out and we're going to try to put a small part of that on the screen now.

It says whatever may have occurred in past, there were deliberate decisions to put children at risk. We are committed to report any allegation against a priest or any church worker to appropriate public authorities immediately upon receipt of that allegation. It is our hope that the present policy of the archdiocese provides some measure of comfort to those who have suffered abuse and to their families. Do you accent this apology in any form?

FORD: No. It rings very shallow and hallow to me. How are we to know, in another 10 years or 15 years or 20 years, that some of the people that were abused as of just of last week haven't suppressed these memories and in another 10 years, like my son, come out? And where is this epidemic going to stop? I don't think it's ever going to stop, not for quite a while. To say there's changes put forth ahead of us, well, that's good, but I don't see any real strong changes that I can see.

ZAHN: So essentially are you telling parents that it's not safe to allow their children to attend church activities without adult supervision?

FORD: No. No. No. There are a lot of good priests out there and I want to make that clear. There are a lot of good priests and they do a lot of good work. And I feel so bad for them. I'm only advocating for the people that did this to my son to be held responsible. That's what I'm looking for. But don't ever take down the good priests. We need our catholic religion to stand tall on this.

ZAHN: All right, Rodney Ford, Roderick Macleish, we appreciate both of you joining us this morning and sharing your son's, Greg, story with us. I know it's been a difficult 48 hours for you.

FORD: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thank you again for your time this morning.

MACLEISH: Thank you.

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