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American Morning

Interview with Rodney Ford, Bob Sherman

Aired August 14, 2002 - 07:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: On to the Catholic Church and the debate going on around some of the stuff going on in Boston. The archdiocese and U.S. bishops today are observing a day of prayer and fasting because of the church sex abuse scandal. In Boston, where the problem has been most prominent, Cardinal Bernard Law faces more questioning today. In previous deposition testimony, some of which was made public yesterday, the church leader admits promoting former priest Paul Shanley without reviewing his records.
And Law expresses regret over how complaints about Shanley were handled in 1993.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL BERNARD LAW, ARCHBISHOP OF BOSTON: I wish to god it were possible, as I have said on other occasions, to go back in time. But it isn't. I'm not able to go back in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: From Boston, Rodney Ford, whose son Greg was allegedly molested by Shanley and Attorney Bob Sherman, who represents the Ford family and others who say they were abused by priests.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Good to see both of you.

RODNEY FORD, FATHER OF ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: Good morning.

BOB SHERMAN, ATTORNEY: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: So Mr. Ford, I know this wasn't the first time you heard parts of that deposition. What do you want the audience to know about your reaction to just the little bit of what we've heard Cardinal Law just say?

FORD: It's very difficult at times to sit there and try to get to the truth. And when you finally do hear the truth, it's very heartbreaking to know that the truth is coming from within the church. These crimes were committed under the leadership of Cardinal Law and he has to take accountability for what he did. And what he's doing is blaming all of his subordinates and he's not taking responsibility for anything that he's done himself.

ZAHN: He essentially acknowledged that the church policy didn't require him to do so, right?

FORD: Well, you know, there's such a thing as morality within the church, and also common sense. Even once Father Shanley was removed from our church, he could have came back and told us the real reason why he was removed. But yet that didn't happen. And my son had to endure 17 in-house hospitalizations because of that.

ZAHN: Well, there was also another case involving an admitted sex offender, Daniel Graham, and we're going to share a small part of that deposition now with our audience, when Cardinal Law talked about him returning to parish work in 1988.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODERICK MACLEISH, ATTORNEY: And were the parishioners of the church in Quincy informed when Father Graham was their pastor that he had admitted to molesting a child?

LAW: Mr. MacLeish, the answer to that is no based on my prior response, which I have already given you, that our present policy is to inform parishes. It was not the policy in '88, '89, '90, '91, '84, '85, '86, '87.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So Mr. Sherman, based on that testimony, how does this affect your strategy?

SHERMAN: Well, I think our strategy has been all along to make sure that the American people see the actual facts, to see exactly what happened in Boston where the archdiocese had information regarding not only Paul Shanley, but loads of other priests who were engaged in sexual molestations, yet didn't take appropriate action to protect the children and protect the future of the church, which is the children, from acts of molestation.

ZAHN: Mr. Ford, the one twist in all this that I don't think anybody could anticipate is now the archdiocese is deposing your wife. Why?

FORD: I think that's a good question. I've been told that that's just the way the system works and to anticipate this. And we're not going to be intimidated by the church or their attorneys. If that's what they want to do, we'll all be there and we will be deposed and we will finally go to a jury trial and let the jury and the public see what has happened to our family and many, many other families across this country.

ZAHN: What is it you think they expect your wife to say?

FORD: You know, I really don't know. All I can say is that we tried to be great parents and she tried to be a great mother, and she is a great mother. I don't know what they're expecting. All she did was drop her son off in the early mornings on Sunday mornings at CCD and that's where the abuse took place. Other than that, my wife was always under -- had the supervision of our children. ZAHN: Mr. Sherman, are you fearful in some way that the archdiocese is going to try to make it look in some way like Mrs. Ford was a negligent parent in some way and that led to the abuse the Fords claim their son suffered?

SHERMAN: Well, good luck to them if they try to do that. There's no question that Paula Ford is a wonderful mother and a wonderful human being. And I think what they're going to get out of the deposition is to find out the number of years that Greg Ford suffered and that this family suffered. Because officials at the archdiocese did not take appropriate steps to protect children from Paul Shanley.

I think that this deposition is going to be one that's going to help our case immensely because it's going to show exactly the extent of the suffering of families like the Fords when this abuse takes place.

ZAHN: You, Mr. Sherman, have sought the personnel files of 80 more Boston area priests and you've scheduled depositions with two more bishops. What's the end game here?

SHERMAN: Well, certainly the end game should be a resolution of these matters. For the church to go on and to carry on its important ministries helping the poor and the homeless and the like, they need to resolve these claims. For the victims, they need closure. These wounds have been open and festering sometimes for 30 or 40 years. It's time for there to be a recognition that what was done was wrong and the ability to move on.

So we're still hopeful that ultimately cooler heads will prevail and everybody will realize it's in all parties' interests to resolve these matters and allow everybody to move ahead.

ZAHN: Mr. Ford, we have just 10 seconds left. What do you want the bishops to be thinking about today as they observe a day of prayer and fasting for what role they might have played in this whole scandal?

FORD: Well, I want them to look deep into their own hearts and know what they did to these families and victims out there and know to continue to fight us is not the right path to take.

ZAHN: Gentlemen, we're going to have to leave it there this morning.

Rodney Ford and Bob Sherman, as always, good to have you with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

FORD: Thank you.

SHERMAN: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Appreciate your joining us.

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