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American Morning
Church Settles
Aired September 20, 2002 - 08:31 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, a $10 million settlement was reached yesterday after months of negotiations between the Boston archdiocese and 86 people claiming they were sexually assaulted by former priest John Geoghan. The plaintiffs' attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, joins us now from Boston, along with Patrick McSorley, who says Father Geoghan abused him. And as we begin, we note that we asked the archdiocese to send us a representative or give us a statement, but they did not respond to our requests.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Patrick, I'd love to start with you this morning. What's your reaction to the settlement?
PATRICK MCSORLEY, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: Well, the settlement, you know, it's good that we have finally come to an agreement, even though the original settlement should have gone through, the $15 to 30 million. But the main thing myself and most of the other plaintiffs want out of this, is closure. I mean, this has gone on long enough. We've had to live with it most of our lives. It's time to try to put it to rest. It's not going to be easy. The money is not going to make the pain go away, but, you know, we need closure and, you know, and that is the main thing here, and that's the reason why we all agreed to settle.
ZAHN: Patrick, would it be easier for you to close this chapter of your life had the archdiocese apologized in any form, or allowed you the opportunity in court to express whatever you wanted to say?
MCSORLEY: Yes, to a degree. You know, they have apologized time and time again, but all of those apologies that they have given were conditional apologies. Any apology from them now would be meaningless to me. They've already shown their true sense of feeling about the whole thing. It's, obvious, that they don't care and they just wanted to get us off their backs.
ZAHN: Mitchell, were you disappointed that no formal apology came with the settlement?
MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, ATTORNEY: I've been dealing with these Father Geoghan cases since 1994, and the archdiocese really has given apologies that only ring hollow. They're always blaming someone else. If any apology came forward, I don't believe it would be coming from their hearts, from their souls, and I think it wouldn't be meaningful to my clients. My clients, in a -- they are very brave. They made the world aware of the problems involving clergy sexual abuse, especially in the Father Geoghan cases. And they understood, it was just time to put this past them. Money means much more to the archdiocese, ironically, than it does to my clients.
ZAHN: How do you plan to divide this money among 86 plaintiffs?
GARABEDIAN: Well, 50 individuals who are touched, or molested or raped are going to divide $9.3 million, 20 individuals who saw Father Geoghan expose himself to them, are going to divide $540,000, and 16 parents are going to receive $10,000 each for loss of society or companionship.
ZAHN: Patrick, as we continue to discuss where future legal action might lead, tell us the toll this has taken on you to even go public with these allegations.
MCSORLEY: At first, it was really, really tough. I almost didn't do it at first, but, finally, after coming out, I realized that there are actually a lot of people out there who do care, and people who are compassionate. I've also ran into a few problems along the way, some personal problems. I mean, my home life is not going all that great. My relationship has been tarnished. You know, there has been a few negative effects I've gotten from it, but for the most part, people have been supportive.
And this isn't something that is going to take days or months to get over, probably even years. This is going to take a long time, and each day that goes by, I just hope that there is a God up there watching, and that this doesn't happen to anyone else ever again.
ZAHN: I know, Patrick, when we spoke in June, you talked about -- you weren't sure at that time whether you wanted to accept a settlement, and you said, "Sticking me in a can with all of these other sardines. I'm not going to let them shortchange me for my childhood." In the end, why did you decide to accept this settlement this time around?
MCSORLEY: Because we want closure. I want closure. This has been dragged out long enough. We've seen the true colors of these people that we're dealing with here. And, you know, it's not a pretty sight. You know, these people just don't care, and to drag it out any further would just cause more pain.
ZAHN: Mitchell, 10 seconds left. This isn't the end of legal problems for the archdiocese, is it?
GARABEDIAN: Oh, not at all. I mean, the Geoghan victims, these 86 victims, have made the world aware of these problems and they uncovered a horrible situation, and they should be very proud of themselves, and I'll continue fighting on their behalf. I have more Geoghan victims. I intend to file suit with in the near future. I tend to file suit with regard to many other priests.
ZAHN: Even though the Catholic Church says that may make them bankrupt and the Boston archdiocese, you still think there is money there?
GARABEDIAN: There is an awful lot of money there. But we're dealing with an institution that just really doesn't care about the hearts and souls of these victims, and I'm not proud to say that at all.
ZAHN: Gentlemen, we are going to have to leave it there this morning. Mitchell Garabedian, Patrick McSorley, good of you to join us and share your story with us this morning. Appreciate it.
GARABEDIAN: Thank you.
MCSORLEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 20, 2002 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: In Boston, a $10 million settlement was reached yesterday after months of negotiations between the Boston archdiocese and 86 people claiming they were sexually assaulted by former priest John Geoghan. The plaintiffs' attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, joins us now from Boston, along with Patrick McSorley, who says Father Geoghan abused him. And as we begin, we note that we asked the archdiocese to send us a representative or give us a statement, but they did not respond to our requests.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Patrick, I'd love to start with you this morning. What's your reaction to the settlement?
PATRICK MCSORLEY, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: Well, the settlement, you know, it's good that we have finally come to an agreement, even though the original settlement should have gone through, the $15 to 30 million. But the main thing myself and most of the other plaintiffs want out of this, is closure. I mean, this has gone on long enough. We've had to live with it most of our lives. It's time to try to put it to rest. It's not going to be easy. The money is not going to make the pain go away, but, you know, we need closure and, you know, and that is the main thing here, and that's the reason why we all agreed to settle.
ZAHN: Patrick, would it be easier for you to close this chapter of your life had the archdiocese apologized in any form, or allowed you the opportunity in court to express whatever you wanted to say?
MCSORLEY: Yes, to a degree. You know, they have apologized time and time again, but all of those apologies that they have given were conditional apologies. Any apology from them now would be meaningless to me. They've already shown their true sense of feeling about the whole thing. It's, obvious, that they don't care and they just wanted to get us off their backs.
ZAHN: Mitchell, were you disappointed that no formal apology came with the settlement?
MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, ATTORNEY: I've been dealing with these Father Geoghan cases since 1994, and the archdiocese really has given apologies that only ring hollow. They're always blaming someone else. If any apology came forward, I don't believe it would be coming from their hearts, from their souls, and I think it wouldn't be meaningful to my clients. My clients, in a -- they are very brave. They made the world aware of the problems involving clergy sexual abuse, especially in the Father Geoghan cases. And they understood, it was just time to put this past them. Money means much more to the archdiocese, ironically, than it does to my clients.
ZAHN: How do you plan to divide this money among 86 plaintiffs?
GARABEDIAN: Well, 50 individuals who are touched, or molested or raped are going to divide $9.3 million, 20 individuals who saw Father Geoghan expose himself to them, are going to divide $540,000, and 16 parents are going to receive $10,000 each for loss of society or companionship.
ZAHN: Patrick, as we continue to discuss where future legal action might lead, tell us the toll this has taken on you to even go public with these allegations.
MCSORLEY: At first, it was really, really tough. I almost didn't do it at first, but, finally, after coming out, I realized that there are actually a lot of people out there who do care, and people who are compassionate. I've also ran into a few problems along the way, some personal problems. I mean, my home life is not going all that great. My relationship has been tarnished. You know, there has been a few negative effects I've gotten from it, but for the most part, people have been supportive.
And this isn't something that is going to take days or months to get over, probably even years. This is going to take a long time, and each day that goes by, I just hope that there is a God up there watching, and that this doesn't happen to anyone else ever again.
ZAHN: I know, Patrick, when we spoke in June, you talked about -- you weren't sure at that time whether you wanted to accept a settlement, and you said, "Sticking me in a can with all of these other sardines. I'm not going to let them shortchange me for my childhood." In the end, why did you decide to accept this settlement this time around?
MCSORLEY: Because we want closure. I want closure. This has been dragged out long enough. We've seen the true colors of these people that we're dealing with here. And, you know, it's not a pretty sight. You know, these people just don't care, and to drag it out any further would just cause more pain.
ZAHN: Mitchell, 10 seconds left. This isn't the end of legal problems for the archdiocese, is it?
GARABEDIAN: Oh, not at all. I mean, the Geoghan victims, these 86 victims, have made the world aware of these problems and they uncovered a horrible situation, and they should be very proud of themselves, and I'll continue fighting on their behalf. I have more Geoghan victims. I intend to file suit with in the near future. I tend to file suit with regard to many other priests.
ZAHN: Even though the Catholic Church says that may make them bankrupt and the Boston archdiocese, you still think there is money there?
GARABEDIAN: There is an awful lot of money there. But we're dealing with an institution that just really doesn't care about the hearts and souls of these victims, and I'm not proud to say that at all.
ZAHN: Gentlemen, we are going to have to leave it there this morning. Mitchell Garabedian, Patrick McSorley, good of you to join us and share your story with us this morning. Appreciate it.
GARABEDIAN: Thank you.
MCSORLEY: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
