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American Morning

Cardinal Law Facing Even More Calls to Resign

Aired April 11, 2002 - 09:10   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: In Boston this morning Cardinal Law is facing even more calls to resign. Stacks of church documents that reveal he allowed a known pedophile priest to continue working with children have led many to question the cardinals' credibility and whether he even has the moral authority to continue to lead.

While Cardinal Law and other catholic leaders have been accused of sending abusive priests back into the parishes, Father Steve Rossetti, a catholic priest and a psychologist who has treated priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, believes that priests who molest children can be successfully treated and return to work. That brings us to our big question this morning. Can priests who molest children actually be successfully treated? Father Rossetti has served as a consultant to the U.S. conference of catholic bishops on the subject of child sexual abuse and he joins us now from Washington. Welcome, Father Rossetti.

FATHER STEPHEN ROSSETTI, PSYCHOLOGIST AND PRIEST: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Good morning. Let's talk a little bit about the work you've done. You were a priest. You are a psychologist and you have treated hundreds of other priest who have had problems of this kind. How common are sexual problems among priests?

ROSSETTI: The numbers we have right now suggest that about 1.6 to 2 percent of priests are sexually involved with minor sometime during their career. So what we see is this number is probably the same or maybe even less than in society. So it's not really a priest problem. It's a societal problem. And sad to say that there a significant percentage of adults in our society who sexually molest minors.

ZAHN: Despite the outcry we're seeing about what has gone on and then what the cardinals have been accused of obfuscating and hiding in all this. Do you think the church is any more sensitive today to these problems than they were five years ago?

ROSSETTI: Paula, I've worked with scores of cases, and perhaps even hundreds, and the bishops are concerned. I think one of the mistakes we've made is we haven't really communicated our sincere horror and anger and frustration with priests who sexually molest minors. I think that's why people say the church doesn't get it. Because somehow we haven't been transparent enough and shown what we are doing. The fact is that the American bishops are responding to these cases. And I've worked with them the last 13 years and most of the time they do a good job responding. But there are exceptions and those exceptions make the headlines and when they happen, they're just a terrible tragedy.

ZAHN: Well walk us through what you would describe as the usual course of action if a bishop or cardinal hears accusations about a priest doing something inappropriate with a child. Where do they start?

ROSSETTI: Well the first thing the bishop - the first thing the bishop must do is file the reporting laws. Sad to say though that most of the cases are not adjudicated because the statute of limitations has run out or the victims don't want to report it or they - or there's not enough evidence. So the result is that the bishop, sad to say, has to become judge and jury of whether or not the allegations are founded.

So what he does is if the civil courts and the criminal courts are not adjudicated, then he has to decide whether or not the man is guilty. So he'll take him out of ministry. He'll try to respond to the victims in a pastoral and sensitive way. And then try to determine what's best to do with that priest. He'll often send him for an evaluation. Will look at the priest and find out if he (ph) thinks there's some credibility to the allegations and send him through treatment.

ZAHN: But isn't it the case that some of these priests who have been accused of doing horrible things to children have certainly just been reshuffled in the system without going through any of those steps you just described this morning.

ROSSETTI: That's not been my experience. Now, I have been reading the papers, of course, like everyone and the case of Geoghan (ph) and Shanley (ph) those are terrible situations. There are these awful situations, classic pedophiles we call them, who are treatment resistance and should be thrown out of priesthood. Many of the other molesters, though, do respond well to treatment. And the suggestion we have right now is the numbers suggested about 2.6 to 2.9 percent of those who go through treatment do relapse. So most offenders respond well to treatment and can live chase lives.

ZAHN: So you brought up the issue of Father Shanley and Father Geoghan. You know these were men that were treated over and over again at numerous centers. And I know you said there's just a small percentage of folks who relapse or who treatment doesn't help at all. What is the problem with them?

ROSSETTI: Well there are many different kinds of child molesters. You know, if you have a father, for example, who molests his 14-year-old daughter, he's a child molester. If you have a man like John Geoghan who molests scores of young people, he's a child molester. They're both criminals. They both have committed a serious crime and sin. But clinically speaking, they're very different.

The father who molests his 14-year-old daughter will respond to treatment much better than someone like John Geoghan. And somehow we, as church and society, need to begin to differentiate these groups and respond to them differently. People like John Geoghan I believe need to be in jail perhaps for a very long time and if they do get out at all, they need to be seriously monitored for the rest of their lives.

The father who molests his 15-year-old daughter may respond better to treatment and may be returned to society in a way, which is safe for minors.

ZAHN: And how many of the cases would you say where you had success if the law enforcement agencies had got involved, would the priests have been convicted of a crime?

ROSSETTI: Very sad to say, very few of the child molesters, whether they're priest or not, whether there's people in society are adjudicated. We just - they are hard to criminally adjudicate these cases. And one of the problems we have in the church is that when the victims come forward they're almost always adults and the statute of limitations is almost always run out. I think we, as a society, need to rethink the statute of limitations for child abuse cases and perhaps extend it.

ZAHN: Before we let you go, we want you to share perhaps a success story with us because I think you got some members of the audience scratching their head. They don't deny your success rate but they probably wonder how wise it would be to reintroduce that priest into an environment again were there might be a temptation.

ROSSETTI: That's an excellent question. I never encourage a priest who has molested minors to be returned to a parish or any ministry that involves minors. But the big question comes where do we send them? If the church simply releases them all into society, they go out unsupervised and they're more likely to be at risk and more likely to offend against minors. You know what's the safest thing for children? The safest thing is to send through treatment, breaking the cycle of abuse and then putting them into limited (ph) ministry with no direct contact with minors where they're supervised. That's what I think is safest for the children and best for society.

ZAHN: Final question for you this morning, and you know I don't want you put you on the spot here, but there are some people and these are lifelong Catholics who suggest that if you let's say force the resignation of Cardinal Law or other bishops who might have swept some of these - or alleged to have swept some of these problems under the rug, were forced to resign that that, in and of itself, might slowdown this cycle of abuse. Do you buy that?

ROSSETTI: Well I think the big thing I see as a psychologist people are saying there must be something basically wrong with the church, basically wrong with the priesthood or formation or celibacy or something. But if you look at it from a broader perspective, this is not simply a church problem or a priest problem. This is a societal problem.

And priest are no more - no likely to be involved. So what we're looking at really is a broader issue. How can we stop adults from sexually molesting minors wherever they are, whether they're priest or whatever? We found that two thirds of priests who sexually molest minors, themselves were sexually molested at a minor. So what we're seeing is a cycle of abuse. It's not specifically a church problem, I believe, but rather a societal problem. We need to break the cycle of abuse and make the world and the church safer for children.

ZAHN: Father Rossetti, thank you very much for your perspective this morning. We really appreciate your time. Good luck.

ROSSETTI: You're welcome.

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