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American Morning

Interview with Father Gary Hayes

Aired June 14, 2002 - 08:13   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: On to another extremely controversial story now, to Dallas, where Catholic bishops today are expected to approve a zero tolerance policy, or something close to it, on sexual abuse by priests. Yesterday, at the opening of the conference, the bishops apologized profusely, as witness after witness told stories from their childhood of being sexually abused by priests.

Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the conference said, by our count, the word "sorry" four times, "apology" three times, "forgiveness" nine times.

One of those who told his own story of abuse was Father Gary Hayes, who was molested when he was 15.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATHER GARY HAYES, ABUSE VICTIM: Today, in the meetings with the bishops and with the cardinals, they offered very heartfelt, sincere apologies to all of us, and I believe they meant them.

My father used to say, "Sorry doesn't cut it, kid," and it's actions that count. And I think that's what we expressed to them. We were grateful that they expressed their apologies, but we also challenged them to put that apology into action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So will all these apologies lead to substantial changes? Joining us again from Dallas this morning is Father Gary Hayes. Good to see you. Thank you very much for joining us.

HAYES: Thanks for having me.

ZAHN: It's a pretty quiet room when you told your story yesterday about how you had always dreamed about becoming a priest, and how two priests got you drunk when you were 15, sexually abused you, and then you remained silent. Why did you decide to go into the priesthood after that abuse that you suffered?

HAYES: Well, gosh, Paula, it was a very rocky road to the priesthood. I was angry at God for quite a long time. I just figured he had something to do with my abuse, because a priest abused me. But once I was able to separate God from my abuse, once I understood that God would never have allowed this, or caused this, or even wanted this for me, then he and I got on a much better relationship, and it's my relationship with him that kept me going towards priesthood.

ZAHN: And now you are very passionate about making sure other young girls and boys out there don't suffer the same kind of abuse, and I know you very much want these bishops to turn their talk into action.

Are you confident that coming out of this meeting will be some sort of plank that makes bishops accountable for the actions of the priests under them?

HAYES: I'm not real confidant on that plank. The bishops simply are not used to being held accountable to anyone. So the -- yes, the consideration of -- at least they are considering accountability, and that's on the table, and it's being thoroughly discussed. That's a major movement for the church. It's not for the victims, but it is for the church. But I'm not hopeful that they'll actually do anything about that today.

ZAHN: Father Hayes, I know there is some talk among bishops about setting up some kind of a review board, where the actions of bishops could be addressed, but the concern among victims is that the bishop would have complete control over who sits on that review board, and they don't think that really means or translates to accountability. Are they right?

HAYES: I think so. The bishops choose who are on their lay boards in their individual diocese right now, and some of them are just not very effective, and they've kind of created another layer of bureaucracy for the victims to go through. And we really need a simple process whereby we can get our voices heard, tell the stories of our abuse, and get some immediate response, compassionate response, pastoral response, from the bishops.

ZAHN: I know it's a little confusing to try to pinpoint exactly what's going to happen as the bishops leave Dallas, because some 107 amendments have been added to the original proposal they came to Dallas with, but in your judgment, do you think the bishops will leave Dallas with a policy that will basically translate to zero tolerance for abuse in the past, the present and the future?

HAYES: I'm certainly hoping so. The problem with even them having a policy that states that is, certainly we would be naive to think that every bishop and cardinal who opposes this idea will be happy about that circumstance. So some bishops will leave here not committed to the policy, but perhaps just agreeing to the policy because at this point in time, they feel forced to.

ZAHN: And I know you, in a personal sense, feel healed, but I'm just -- a final word this morning on any anger you might feel towards bishops who knowingly allowed sexually abusive priests to move from parish to parish.

HAYES: It's not anger, Paula. It's rage, really. That's the only word to describe it. I think they should simply resign. I think the body of bishops should challenge them to resign. I get really disappointed and disgusted that no bishop has really tackled that question, even in these circumstances.

ZAHN: Well, it will be interesting to see what kind of conclusions they arrive at later today. Father Gary Hayes, thank you very much for coming by to share your personal story with us this morning. We appreciate it.

HAYES: Thank you.

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