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American Morning

Church in Crisis

Aired June 19, 2003 - 09:17   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is one year after taking some steps to address the problem. Sex abuse by priests is still the major problem facing the nation's Roman Catholic bishops as they gather today in St. Louis for their spring meeting. Even the national review board that was formed to deal with the issue had caused controversy.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke with Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, and we asked if any progress had been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: I am very, very proud of the work the bishops have done across this country. Unprecedented implementation in one year. Yes, we have some more steps to take, but we've got to keep our eye on the goal. The goal is protecting children and youth, and everyone in our church and every other public organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: With us now from Knoxville, Tennessee, a member of the review board. Jane Chiles.

Miss Chiles, good morning, thanks for being with us.

JANE CHILES, REVIEW BOARD MEMBER: Good morning, thank you.

I want to start with something we heard from Archbishop Mahony during Bill's interview, and that was, that he said during the time that former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating was on the board, he never even met or talked with Archbishop Mahony. Do you find that strange?

CHILES: No, I don't. I think it was very important for the board to assert its independence in this first year, and as such, we have certainly met with Bishop Gregory on numerous occasions. We have interviewed a number of bishops, and the cardinal of Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony, was interviewed by our subcommittee that is doing research into the context and causes of the problem.

But a meeting between the chair and the cardinal would have been simply perfunctory, and they're both too busy for that.

KAGAN: This has been a difficult week leading into these meetings in St. Louis. You have Bishop Thomas O'Brien resigning for a number of reasons in Phoenix, Arizona. Also you have Frank Keating, as we were just talking about him, stepping down, not just stepping down, but stepping down with some very harsh words, making analogies of some of these bishops, saying it's like the Mafia, because they're so closed in, because they're just about protecting each other and not about getting the information and solving the problem. Have you shared in some of those same frustrations in trying to did the work you're doing?

CHILES: Clearly, what the charter calls for is a huge cultural shift in the Catholic Church here in the United States, and that kind of shift never will come easily.

We are very pleased, as the cardinal said, with much of the progress that has been made, but just as we know in so many difficult matters, we meet with pockets of resistance. However, those pockets of resistance will be held to accountability, and no bishop wants to be on the kinds of lists that we will be issuing.

KAGAN: You say that you are -- this is an independent board, but in fact the board is financed by the bishops. So don't you serve at their pleasure?

CHILES: We serve at the pleasure of Bishop Gregory, and I can't imagine a more committed bishop to this cause than Bishop Gregory. So we certainly don't feel at all at risk in doing the hard work we're doing, and we feel quite positive that the bishop should be picking up the tab for this. We need to keep in mind that they wrote the charter. They created the review board through the charter and as such and saying hold us accountable, they knew there would be a price tag with that.

KAGAN: The question that is causing the controversy over how much the bishops want to reveal. It's meant to look at the extent and pattern of sex abuse by church officials. Is there anything you can tell us about what you've been able to discover so far?

CHILES: Well, the exciting thing and the good news in all of this is, first of all, that the kind of research that we're doing is going to make, we think, a significant contribution to what has been a very lacking body of knowledge around the issue of child sexual abuse. Striking to us is that in this broad, broad range of interviews that we are doing in a lead-up to our major research project on the causes and context. We have interviewed people from every point along this spectrum from liberal to conservative, people with one agenda or another, but all having something to contribute with regard to why we're in this mess, and we are finding that there is incredible consistency. People will come in and say, now, I won't agree with anything that so and so they know have interviewed has said. And while we hold these interviews at this point to be confidential, we're amazed at how these people are coming in, and their observations are, almost to a point, remarkably similar.

KAGAN: We will have to see what comes out of St. Louis this week. Jane Chiles, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your time.

CHILES: You're Welcome. 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 June 19, 2003 - 09:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is one year after taking some steps to address the problem. Sex abuse by priests is still the major problem facing the nation's Roman Catholic bishops as they gather today in St. Louis for their spring meeting. Even the national review board that was formed to deal with the issue had caused controversy.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke with Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, and we asked if any progress had been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: I am very, very proud of the work the bishops have done across this country. Unprecedented implementation in one year. Yes, we have some more steps to take, but we've got to keep our eye on the goal. The goal is protecting children and youth, and everyone in our church and every other public organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: With us now from Knoxville, Tennessee, a member of the review board. Jane Chiles.

Miss Chiles, good morning, thanks for being with us.

JANE CHILES, REVIEW BOARD MEMBER: Good morning, thank you.

I want to start with something we heard from Archbishop Mahony during Bill's interview, and that was, that he said during the time that former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating was on the board, he never even met or talked with Archbishop Mahony. Do you find that strange?

CHILES: No, I don't. I think it was very important for the board to assert its independence in this first year, and as such, we have certainly met with Bishop Gregory on numerous occasions. We have interviewed a number of bishops, and the cardinal of Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony, was interviewed by our subcommittee that is doing research into the context and causes of the problem.

But a meeting between the chair and the cardinal would have been simply perfunctory, and they're both too busy for that.

KAGAN: This has been a difficult week leading into these meetings in St. Louis. You have Bishop Thomas O'Brien resigning for a number of reasons in Phoenix, Arizona. Also you have Frank Keating, as we were just talking about him, stepping down, not just stepping down, but stepping down with some very harsh words, making analogies of some of these bishops, saying it's like the Mafia, because they're so closed in, because they're just about protecting each other and not about getting the information and solving the problem. Have you shared in some of those same frustrations in trying to did the work you're doing?

CHILES: Clearly, what the charter calls for is a huge cultural shift in the Catholic Church here in the United States, and that kind of shift never will come easily.

We are very pleased, as the cardinal said, with much of the progress that has been made, but just as we know in so many difficult matters, we meet with pockets of resistance. However, those pockets of resistance will be held to accountability, and no bishop wants to be on the kinds of lists that we will be issuing.

KAGAN: You say that you are -- this is an independent board, but in fact the board is financed by the bishops. So don't you serve at their pleasure?

CHILES: We serve at the pleasure of Bishop Gregory, and I can't imagine a more committed bishop to this cause than Bishop Gregory. So we certainly don't feel at all at risk in doing the hard work we're doing, and we feel quite positive that the bishop should be picking up the tab for this. We need to keep in mind that they wrote the charter. They created the review board through the charter and as such and saying hold us accountable, they knew there would be a price tag with that.

KAGAN: The question that is causing the controversy over how much the bishops want to reveal. It's meant to look at the extent and pattern of sex abuse by church officials. Is there anything you can tell us about what you've been able to discover so far?

CHILES: Well, the exciting thing and the good news in all of this is, first of all, that the kind of research that we're doing is going to make, we think, a significant contribution to what has been a very lacking body of knowledge around the issue of child sexual abuse. Striking to us is that in this broad, broad range of interviews that we are doing in a lead-up to our major research project on the causes and context. We have interviewed people from every point along this spectrum from liberal to conservative, people with one agenda or another, but all having something to contribute with regard to why we're in this mess, and we are finding that there is incredible consistency. People will come in and say, now, I won't agree with anything that so and so they know have interviewed has said. And while we hold these interviews at this point to be confidential, we're amazed at how these people are coming in, and their observations are, almost to a point, remarkably similar.

KAGAN: We will have to see what comes out of St. Louis this week. Jane Chiles, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your time.

CHILES: You're Welcome. 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