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American Morning

Response to Church's $85 Million Settlement Offer

Aired September 10, 2003 - 08:15   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the plaintiffs' lawyers says it is not the ideal result, but it's the right result. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and lawyers for people who say they were sexually abused by clergy have struck a tentative $85 million deal, 542 plaintiffs involved. Under the settlement, each would receive between $80,000 and $300,000, depending on how severe each case is to be judged.
Gary Bergeron and Olan Horne are two of the plaintiffs.

They're with us today live in Watertown, Massachusetts to talk about this case.

Good morning to both of you gentlemen.

Thanks for your time today.

GARY BERGERON, SEX ABUSE PLAINTIFF: Good morning.

OLAN HORNE, SEX ABUSE PLAINTIFF: Good morning.

HEMMER: I know there's about a 37 day period right now where you have to either sign on for the financial settlement or not. To both of you, are you going to agree to take that settlement at this point?

BERGERON: For me, I'm going to do something that I wasn't able to do a year and a half ago when I first talked about this. I didn't speak to my family. I actually told them in a letter. And I'm actually going to sit down with my family and make that decision over the next several days.

HEMMER: So you have not decided at this point, is that right, Gary?

BERGERON: I have not decided. I really need to look at these documents and read them.

HEMMER: Olan, how about yourself?

HORNE: The same situation. I mean we've been on a whirlwind since the last couple of weeks trying to pull everything together. In order to make an intelligence, you know, response to all of this, we really need to take a look at all of the components of the settlement agreement.

But there's a part of this that I'd like to say is that, you know, this is a moratorium of understanding. A little bit different language about what this document really is more than just a settlement.

HEMMER: Why is that?

HORNE: It means, to me, that a part of this has not -- you know, we continually go back and forth with is this is about money. And, you know, unfortunately, this agreement or settlement that we're talking about really, how does it compensate us correctly? And it doesn't. But there were covenants and there were issues regarding non-monetary points that were so important that they're happening in this because of the plaintiffs' involvement and the importance to all of us.

HEMMER: You're raising an interesting prospect here. I'll go to Gary on this one. If you do not decide to go along with this financial settlement, if the vast majority of the people involved do not do it, what happens then on this case?

BERGERON: Well, this is an individual choice. It's as important an individual choice as coming forward is. Everybody has to make a tough decision. They made a hard decision when they decided to come forward and they need to make a tough decision now. To a lot of men, this is just a symbolic gesture and it's an opportunity for men like me to be able to say I'm not an alleged victim anymore. The church is recognizing what happened to me.

It's strictly a symbolic gesture. Is it a perfect resolution? Absolutely not. In a perfect world, they would be giving me back my childhood. That's not possible. This is strictly a symbolic gesture and each individual needs to make up their own mind on this.

HEMMER: Gary, you're taking me back to the original point right here. I don't mean to emphasize this money situation as much as it seems right now, but does the cash matter, then? Why not go ahead and say OK, I'll go forward with this, you've acknowledged that I've been abused, that's what I wanted in the beginning and that's what I have now? BERGERON: Why not? Because for some men this is not the answer. For some men and for some women out there, they want to have their story heard by a jury of their peers. And they're entitled to that. The judge made it perfectly clear yesterday that if people decide not to go this route, that the court doors are open and she is willing to listen. And I think that's important. This is an individual decision.

HEMMER: I'm going to ask both of you on this, do you still go to church?

HORNE: We've been to church not so much for our spirituality. I have a large disconnect with my Catholicism, no doubt about it. But I have a great understanding of my spirituality, and they're two separate issues. We've been to church. We've been to church many times in the last year, more to demonstrate a presence or as a reminder in the front row to many of the bishops involved here in Boston.

HEMMER: Let me ask you a difficult question here. Do you forgive the church? Do you forgive the priests who abused you? HORNE: You know, we have an interesting story here because between my father and between Gary's sister, the pedophile priest that abused both of us is buried. When you talk about forgiveness, anger will rot you from the inside out. What we have had to do is live with this. It's not about forgiveness. This is about responsibility. It's about standing up and righting a wrong on our own responsibility, to ourselves, to our families and to society.

HEMMER: Good luck to you.

HORNE: Thank you.

BERGERON: Thanks.

HEMMER: And thanks for talking with us.

Gary Bergeron, Olan Horne, in Watertown, Massachusetts.

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 10, 2003 - 08:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the plaintiffs' lawyers says it is not the ideal result, but it's the right result. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and lawyers for people who say they were sexually abused by clergy have struck a tentative $85 million deal, 542 plaintiffs involved. Under the settlement, each would receive between $80,000 and $300,000, depending on how severe each case is to be judged.
Gary Bergeron and Olan Horne are two of the plaintiffs.

They're with us today live in Watertown, Massachusetts to talk about this case.

Good morning to both of you gentlemen.

Thanks for your time today.

GARY BERGERON, SEX ABUSE PLAINTIFF: Good morning.

OLAN HORNE, SEX ABUSE PLAINTIFF: Good morning.

HEMMER: I know there's about a 37 day period right now where you have to either sign on for the financial settlement or not. To both of you, are you going to agree to take that settlement at this point?

BERGERON: For me, I'm going to do something that I wasn't able to do a year and a half ago when I first talked about this. I didn't speak to my family. I actually told them in a letter. And I'm actually going to sit down with my family and make that decision over the next several days.

HEMMER: So you have not decided at this point, is that right, Gary?

BERGERON: I have not decided. I really need to look at these documents and read them.

HEMMER: Olan, how about yourself?

HORNE: The same situation. I mean we've been on a whirlwind since the last couple of weeks trying to pull everything together. In order to make an intelligence, you know, response to all of this, we really need to take a look at all of the components of the settlement agreement.

But there's a part of this that I'd like to say is that, you know, this is a moratorium of understanding. A little bit different language about what this document really is more than just a settlement.

HEMMER: Why is that?

HORNE: It means, to me, that a part of this has not -- you know, we continually go back and forth with is this is about money. And, you know, unfortunately, this agreement or settlement that we're talking about really, how does it compensate us correctly? And it doesn't. But there were covenants and there were issues regarding non-monetary points that were so important that they're happening in this because of the plaintiffs' involvement and the importance to all of us.

HEMMER: You're raising an interesting prospect here. I'll go to Gary on this one. If you do not decide to go along with this financial settlement, if the vast majority of the people involved do not do it, what happens then on this case?

BERGERON: Well, this is an individual choice. It's as important an individual choice as coming forward is. Everybody has to make a tough decision. They made a hard decision when they decided to come forward and they need to make a tough decision now. To a lot of men, this is just a symbolic gesture and it's an opportunity for men like me to be able to say I'm not an alleged victim anymore. The church is recognizing what happened to me.

It's strictly a symbolic gesture. Is it a perfect resolution? Absolutely not. In a perfect world, they would be giving me back my childhood. That's not possible. This is strictly a symbolic gesture and each individual needs to make up their own mind on this.

HEMMER: Gary, you're taking me back to the original point right here. I don't mean to emphasize this money situation as much as it seems right now, but does the cash matter, then? Why not go ahead and say OK, I'll go forward with this, you've acknowledged that I've been abused, that's what I wanted in the beginning and that's what I have now? BERGERON: Why not? Because for some men this is not the answer. For some men and for some women out there, they want to have their story heard by a jury of their peers. And they're entitled to that. The judge made it perfectly clear yesterday that if people decide not to go this route, that the court doors are open and she is willing to listen. And I think that's important. This is an individual decision.

HEMMER: I'm going to ask both of you on this, do you still go to church?

HORNE: We've been to church not so much for our spirituality. I have a large disconnect with my Catholicism, no doubt about it. But I have a great understanding of my spirituality, and they're two separate issues. We've been to church. We've been to church many times in the last year, more to demonstrate a presence or as a reminder in the front row to many of the bishops involved here in Boston.

HEMMER: Let me ask you a difficult question here. Do you forgive the church? Do you forgive the priests who abused you? HORNE: You know, we have an interesting story here because between my father and between Gary's sister, the pedophile priest that abused both of us is buried. When you talk about forgiveness, anger will rot you from the inside out. What we have had to do is live with this. It's not about forgiveness. This is about responsibility. It's about standing up and righting a wrong on our own responsibility, to ourselves, to our families and to society.

HEMMER: Good luck to you.

HORNE: Thank you.

BERGERON: Thanks.

HEMMER: And thanks for talking with us.

Gary Bergeron, Olan Horne, in Watertown, Massachusetts.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com