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American Morning

Interview With Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly

Aired July 24, 2003 - 07:17   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The numbers are staggering. More than 1,000 children have been sexually abused in Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese during the last six decades -- that is the disturbing conclusion of a report from the attorney general of Massachusetts, Tom Reilly. He says the scope of the scandal borders on the unbelievable, but legally he says his hands are tied, preventing him from prosecuting church leaders who turned a blind eye to the abuse.
Tom Reilly joins us this morning from Watertown, Massachusetts.

Good morning to you, Mr. Reilly. Thanks for joining us.

TOM REILLY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: As you say, the scandal borders on the unbelievable. You received complaints from 789 alleged victims, but you put the numbers at more like 1,000 children abused. Explain how you got that 1,000 number. Give me a true sense of the abuse.

REILLY: Well, actually, the number 789 came directly from the church's files. There were 789 people who have complained and made accusations directly to the church. We know it and we believe that the number is far greater than that. There may -- the abuse is so horrible, and if anybody can imagine, a teenage boy that's victimized by a religious authority and a person of that stature, it is unbelievable that children were treated that way. It is very difficult for people. They are now adults. Many of them cannot come forward.

Very often, I'm stopped by somebody that they're at a stage of their life, they've moved beyond this, they don't want the publicity, they don't want to come forward, but they have been victimized. So, the number -- the church's own number is 789. We believe it's much higher.

O'BRIEN: You blame Cardinal Law, who you say has the ultimate authority, as well as other church hierarchy -- officials in the hierarchy rather. So, why not then charge these church leaders?

REILLY: Well, first of all, there is a -- it is not just one person. It is far beyond one person. There was an institutional acceptance of the abuse of children that went on for decades before he got here. So, there are many, many people involved. The reason that we could not charge is that the laws that were in existence at the time did not allow us to bring criminal charges. The most important defect was they were not mandated reporters. They were not obligated legally to report cases of child abuse to law enforcement. They are now, within the past year.

And I think if there is anything that comes out of this, any state that does not include members of the clergy as mandated reporters should put that law in the books immediately. If that law had been on the books, much of this could have been avoided. They would have reported to law enforcement. We would have dealt with the molesters. We would have dealt with these very dangerous people, and the children would have been better for it and the church would have been better for it. Because, bear in mind, this is a very small group of upper management that kept this a secret. There was a culture of secrecy and they kept this away from pastors, kept it away from parishioners and members of the church. In the end, secrecy served no one.

O'BRIEN: If child endangerment laws -- and I know that there are some that have been introduced in Boston this past December -- if they were in place, are you saying that you would have gone out and arrested and charged Cardinal Law?

REILLY: If the conduct had taken place, the conduct that has occurred over the last 50 years had taken place within the past year it would be a far different story. They would have been mandated reporters. I do have say this: These were intentional, deliberate acts. They knew their legal -- or they were not legally responsible to report, and they didn't report. That's why that law is so important. They did seek out legal advice. If they were certainly aware that they had a legal responsibility within the past year to do that, they would have done that.

So, they knew exactly, you know, what they were doing here, and they went up to the line of the law and no further, and they were protected and they knew that. But if that conduct -- if the conduct, the failure to report or the actions had taken place within the past year, it certainly would be a far different story.

O'BRIEN: Does your investigation show that abuse of children occurs to this day within the Boston archdiocese?

REILLY: We found no cases or no reports of any recent abuse or any ongoing abuse. But we concluded it's far too early to conclude that the abuse is not taking place, or more importantly, will not take place in the future.

There was an institutional acceptance of this. It was going on for a long time. The culture of secrecy needs to change, there needs to be more openness, there needs to be more involvement certainly with others, more communication, and more of a commitment to the protection of children. Once that basic commitment and that basic principle is established, it will flow from there. Time after time, the decision -- when they were faced with the decision over protecting children or over protecting the reputation of the church and the abuser priest, they chose to protect the church, and that's wrong.

O'BRIEN: Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your time.

REILLY: 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 July 24, 2003 - 07:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The numbers are staggering. More than 1,000 children have been sexually abused in Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese during the last six decades -- that is the disturbing conclusion of a report from the attorney general of Massachusetts, Tom Reilly. He says the scope of the scandal borders on the unbelievable, but legally he says his hands are tied, preventing him from prosecuting church leaders who turned a blind eye to the abuse.
Tom Reilly joins us this morning from Watertown, Massachusetts.

Good morning to you, Mr. Reilly. Thanks for joining us.

TOM REILLY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: As you say, the scandal borders on the unbelievable. You received complaints from 789 alleged victims, but you put the numbers at more like 1,000 children abused. Explain how you got that 1,000 number. Give me a true sense of the abuse.

REILLY: Well, actually, the number 789 came directly from the church's files. There were 789 people who have complained and made accusations directly to the church. We know it and we believe that the number is far greater than that. There may -- the abuse is so horrible, and if anybody can imagine, a teenage boy that's victimized by a religious authority and a person of that stature, it is unbelievable that children were treated that way. It is very difficult for people. They are now adults. Many of them cannot come forward.

Very often, I'm stopped by somebody that they're at a stage of their life, they've moved beyond this, they don't want the publicity, they don't want to come forward, but they have been victimized. So, the number -- the church's own number is 789. We believe it's much higher.

O'BRIEN: You blame Cardinal Law, who you say has the ultimate authority, as well as other church hierarchy -- officials in the hierarchy rather. So, why not then charge these church leaders?

REILLY: Well, first of all, there is a -- it is not just one person. It is far beyond one person. There was an institutional acceptance of the abuse of children that went on for decades before he got here. So, there are many, many people involved. The reason that we could not charge is that the laws that were in existence at the time did not allow us to bring criminal charges. The most important defect was they were not mandated reporters. They were not obligated legally to report cases of child abuse to law enforcement. They are now, within the past year.

And I think if there is anything that comes out of this, any state that does not include members of the clergy as mandated reporters should put that law in the books immediately. If that law had been on the books, much of this could have been avoided. They would have reported to law enforcement. We would have dealt with the molesters. We would have dealt with these very dangerous people, and the children would have been better for it and the church would have been better for it. Because, bear in mind, this is a very small group of upper management that kept this a secret. There was a culture of secrecy and they kept this away from pastors, kept it away from parishioners and members of the church. In the end, secrecy served no one.

O'BRIEN: If child endangerment laws -- and I know that there are some that have been introduced in Boston this past December -- if they were in place, are you saying that you would have gone out and arrested and charged Cardinal Law?

REILLY: If the conduct had taken place, the conduct that has occurred over the last 50 years had taken place within the past year it would be a far different story. They would have been mandated reporters. I do have say this: These were intentional, deliberate acts. They knew their legal -- or they were not legally responsible to report, and they didn't report. That's why that law is so important. They did seek out legal advice. If they were certainly aware that they had a legal responsibility within the past year to do that, they would have done that.

So, they knew exactly, you know, what they were doing here, and they went up to the line of the law and no further, and they were protected and they knew that. But if that conduct -- if the conduct, the failure to report or the actions had taken place within the past year, it certainly would be a far different story.

O'BRIEN: Does your investigation show that abuse of children occurs to this day within the Boston archdiocese?

REILLY: We found no cases or no reports of any recent abuse or any ongoing abuse. But we concluded it's far too early to conclude that the abuse is not taking place, or more importantly, will not take place in the future.

There was an institutional acceptance of this. It was going on for a long time. The culture of secrecy needs to change, there needs to be more openness, there needs to be more involvement certainly with others, more communication, and more of a commitment to the protection of children. Once that basic commitment and that basic principle is established, it will flow from there. Time after time, the decision -- when they were faced with the decision over protecting children or over protecting the reputation of the church and the abuser priest, they chose to protect the church, and that's wrong.

O'BRIEN: Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your time.

REILLY: 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.