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American Morning

Cardinal Discusses Dallas Meeting, Sex Scandal

Aired June 14, 2002 - 09:08   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: We're going to go to Dallas now, where America's Roman Catholic bishops today are set to vote on new policies to prevent future sexual abuse in the church. Yesterday, conference President Wilton Gregory of Illinois, offered an apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILTON GREGORY, PRESIDENT, BISHOPS' CONFERENCE: In my own name and in the name of all of the bishops I express a profound apology to each of you who have children or family members who have suffered sexual abuse by a priest or another representative of the Church. I am deeply and will be forever sorry for the harm that you have suffered as a parent or loved one of a victim-survivor. We ask your forgiveness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And while victims of sexual abuse say they do welcome those apologies, they say those apologies must be matched by action.

Joining us now with an exclusive interview, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. He joins us from Dallas this morning.

Thank you very much for being with us this morning, Cardinal George.

CARDINAL FRANCIS GEORGE, CHICAGO DIOCESE: You're welcome, Paula. Thank you.

ZAHN: So in the end, do you think bishops will be leaving Dallas with a policy that expresses zero tolerance for sexual abuse by priests in the past, the present, and the future?

GEORGE: The bishops are going to leave united in their resolve to act together to be sure that every child is protected and that victims are cared for. In order to do that, we have to look at ourselves and our own priests and our behavior. And I think that what we are going towards now is a policy that is problematic in as much as it imposes retroactive penalties, which even the civil law doesn't do, but which will show our resolve to be sure that this possibility even is no longer present in the church.

ZAHN: You say this would be a unified front, and the bishops seem to be moving in the direction. Are you pretty certain, based on your conversations with other bishops, that priests who have abused in the past will end up having to be thrown out of the priesthood?

GEORGE: The question of ministry, of public ministry, is what we discussed last night. And I think we're moving towards a resolution on that, yes.

ZAHN: And yes, means -- I just want to make sure I'm not misinterpreting anything you're saying here, cardinal. But once again, that there was a lot of debate about one-strike-you're-out and whether that ultimately was going to fly. But what you are telling me is you think what you're going to walk out of here with is no acceptance of sexual abuse in the past by priests?

GEORGE: Yes. "One strike" is not good language, because it means in a sense here we ignore any instance. And there's no intention of doing that. The safety of children -- the debate was over if somebody is monitored and restricted, are children still safe? And I think that they're moving away from that possibility, because it is a safety of children that's our primary concern.

ZAHN: Who is opposed, do you think, to backing this policy that would basically punish priests who did abuse in the past?

GEORGE: Well, in the end, we'll all back the policy that is voted on today, I believe. And so I think we have to wait and see for the end of the discussion, but I believe that's the way it is going in the light of what was said last night. No one is opposed to anything that protects children. The question is how do you impose retroactive penalties in a way that is just? And that has caused some legal considerations from the point of view of our own canon law as well as civil law.

But I think that we'll take the chance and move towards removal from ministry of anyone who has ever been associated with this sort of abuse.

ZAHN: The draft policy didn't really address the issue of how bishops who don't follow the rules should be dealt with. What do you think should happen with bishops who knowingly allow a priest to move from parish to parish?

GEORGE: Yes, I believe it did, Paula, inasmuch as it set up a national review board to give a kind of an audit of how dioceses are implementing the policies that we will pass today. Beyond that, there's a sense of concern in Episcopal solidarity for eternal correction, for eternal charity, whatever you want to call it. And I think we'll address that this morning, of how we will kind of watch each other to be sure that every bishop is confirming his ministry to these policies.

ZAHN: What to you say to victims, though, who really don't think the bishops are addressing that issue? Because they believe that this review board could be set up in a way that a bishop could stack it with people who are quite friendly to him, and they don't think that would be a legitimate way to really look at the actions of a bishop. What do you say to those folks? GEORGE: Well, I was talking about a national review board that isn't controlled by any one bishop. The review boards in different dioceses have worked differently. But our experience in Chicago I think has shown that it's independent in as much as they receive the allegations, they give me the result of their conversations, which I'm not present. I'm not even sure who is on it.

So it all depends how it is done. But I think you have to take it case by case and see what the experience is. The experience is sometimes misrepresented depending upon what information people have. The "Dallas Morning News" misrepresented the four cases they reported on in Chicago factually.

So I think that there's a certain amount of misinformation, and given the fact that these people have been severely hurt, then naturally they are skeptical. And that's the kind of situation in which we live right now.

ZAHN: Cardinal George, I want you to know that we faded to black there for a moment -- nothing intentional. The television gods were not with us there for about 20 seconds. But Cardinal Francis George, we very much appreciate your coming in and talking to us today in advance of that very important vote that you're going to have later today -- thank you.

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