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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

Aired November 10, 2002 - 08:40   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: America's Roman Catholic bishops meet in Washington this week hoping to put nagging sex scandals behind them.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The bishops are expected to approve a revised policy to deal with those accused of sexual abuse in the clergy. Joining us now is Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington. Thank you for joining us this morning.

CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON: Thank you. It's good to be with you.

SAN MIGUEL: Before we get started on some of the poll results that we would ask you to comment on, we're wondering, I'm curious about negotiations that you expect will be going on in the decision making behind the scenes regarding what the bishops have agreed to in June, in Dallas, and what came down from the Vatican here recently regarding the policy. What are we going to be talking about here in terms of what could be in the final document?

MCCARRICK: Well, I think really, most of us feel that there's nothing really new in what the bishops came back with from Rome. Basically, they've nuanced it a little, they've dotted the T's and crossed the I's. They have continued the same policy, the protection of children, which was the focus of the Dallas meeting and is a focus of the whole thrust of the church now, following the holy father's very clear decision that there will be no place ever in the Catholic priesthood for someone who hurts children.

So I think what they came back from Rome with is basically the same program that we had. So I don't feel that there's going to be a great deal of problem with it. It's something which we've all looked at. And I think most of us feel it's just a rather clarification of what we had done.

SAN MIGUEL: But didn't the Vatican come back with a little bit more attention wanted to be paid on the due process of those accused in the clergy of sexual abuse?

MCCARRICK: Well, they have spelled out what was already in German (ph), the document itself. They have put all the canonical points in there that were basically understood in the document itself. But what they've done, because there are a lot of canons over there, they have spelled it out. They have put out the names of the canons and the numbers, and have really made it clear exactly what the procedure's going to be. I think the procedure was there, but they've spelled it out for us.

COLLINS: Cardinal McCarrick, according to the Associated Press, one in five devout Catholics since this scandal has started anyway, have stopped donating money to the Catholic Church. And there's a new poll out, I want to talk to you a little bit about. It's a nationwide survey of Catholic parishioners on financial accountability and support attitudes toward financial accountability. Now, the first one that we have here says 79 bishops should give a full accounting of settlement costs, and that is the settlements arising from the priest sex abuse scandals, of course. Tell us what you think of that. That's a high number.

MCCARRICK: Well, I think most of us have done this already. I think we've -- most of the -- most of what we have done in response to the difficulties of sex abuse by clergy has been public. I think in the archdiocese of Washington, it's basically been public. Any settlement that we've made has basically been public.

It's not our practice to pay for so that people would be silent. As a matter of fact, our position has been since certainly since I have been here that we will not -- we will pay for counseling, that we'll take care of the people who have been hurt, and we don't get into the whole question of settlements.

So I think there's no problem in our saying what we do. And I think most of the dioceses will probably feel the same way. Sometimes, however, there are, I guess, settlements you might call them, but that are made because the people don't want this -- the victims don't want to talk about it. And I think we have to recognize that when it comes. We have not had that here in this archdiocese, in my time anyway.

COLLINS: All right. There's another statistic to talk about: 55 percent fear settlement costs will negatively impact the church's mission, and in particular that would be providing programs that assist the disadvantaged members of society.

MCCARRICK: Well, we can't let that happen. We cannot let that happen. We have to take care of people. We have to make sure that anyone who has been hurt has the counseling they need, the therapy they need to put their life together again. That's essential. We've got to do that.

But I think we also have to continue our ministry. I think our people recognize that. We have to take care of the poor, we have to take care of the homeless. We have to educate children. We have to continue to bring people -- to call ourselves to holiness and to call people to holiness.

So we have to make sure, and I think this is one of the important things of this meeting now, that this meeting cannot be another Dallas. We went through that. We've gone through, we've said all the things that we had to say about how terrible we feel, how much we apologize to people who have been hurt. But now -- and we have in place now the protection of children. So now let us continue to do that, and let's continue to do what we're supposed to do to take care of God's people.

SAN MIGUEL: And the idea of the mission programs that would help you to do that and the money that come from that, I wanted to talk about a couple of poll questions dealing with that specific topic, the attitude toward individuals giving to the church when the basket comes through the pews there on Sunday mornings. This Gallup poll says about 25 percent would reduce giving if contributions used to pay -- if the contributions were used to pay for lawsuits, and 2 percent to 3 percent would actually increase their contributions and have actually increased their contributions in the wake of the scandal.

The idea that this is affecting the money you get from the parishioners. How will you deal with this when the meetings start tomorrow?

MCCARRICK: Well, I think we'll just say to our people. Here we are. You know, we're going to help people who are hurt by these terrible actions of clergy. We're going to make sure that they have the counseling, that they have the therapy, that they have what they need to put their lives together.

And at the same time, here we are. You know what you want us to be as church. You want us to reach out to the poor. You want us to educate the people. You want us to educate priests, who will be good and holy and balanced and great shepherds of your people. So you've got to help us.

In this archdiocese, we've been very, very blessed. Our people have been wonderful. We have not seen a depreciation in what the people have offered of their generosity, because I think they know that we're going to try to do the best we can. We're going to be faithful to the protection of children; at the same time we're going to try to continue to do all the things that the church has to do.

COLLINS: All right. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, of the Archdiocese of Washington, we do appreciate your time this morning and we'll wait to hear what happens this week at that conference.

MCCARRICK: Thank you very much. God bless you.

COLLINS: Thank you, sir.

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 November 10, 2002 - 08:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: America's Roman Catholic bishops meet in Washington this week hoping to put nagging sex scandals behind them.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The bishops are expected to approve a revised policy to deal with those accused of sexual abuse in the clergy. Joining us now is Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington. Thank you for joining us this morning.

CARDINAL THEODORE MCCARRICK, ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON: Thank you. It's good to be with you.

SAN MIGUEL: Before we get started on some of the poll results that we would ask you to comment on, we're wondering, I'm curious about negotiations that you expect will be going on in the decision making behind the scenes regarding what the bishops have agreed to in June, in Dallas, and what came down from the Vatican here recently regarding the policy. What are we going to be talking about here in terms of what could be in the final document?

MCCARRICK: Well, I think really, most of us feel that there's nothing really new in what the bishops came back with from Rome. Basically, they've nuanced it a little, they've dotted the T's and crossed the I's. They have continued the same policy, the protection of children, which was the focus of the Dallas meeting and is a focus of the whole thrust of the church now, following the holy father's very clear decision that there will be no place ever in the Catholic priesthood for someone who hurts children.

So I think what they came back from Rome with is basically the same program that we had. So I don't feel that there's going to be a great deal of problem with it. It's something which we've all looked at. And I think most of us feel it's just a rather clarification of what we had done.

SAN MIGUEL: But didn't the Vatican come back with a little bit more attention wanted to be paid on the due process of those accused in the clergy of sexual abuse?

MCCARRICK: Well, they have spelled out what was already in German (ph), the document itself. They have put all the canonical points in there that were basically understood in the document itself. But what they've done, because there are a lot of canons over there, they have spelled it out. They have put out the names of the canons and the numbers, and have really made it clear exactly what the procedure's going to be. I think the procedure was there, but they've spelled it out for us.

COLLINS: Cardinal McCarrick, according to the Associated Press, one in five devout Catholics since this scandal has started anyway, have stopped donating money to the Catholic Church. And there's a new poll out, I want to talk to you a little bit about. It's a nationwide survey of Catholic parishioners on financial accountability and support attitudes toward financial accountability. Now, the first one that we have here says 79 bishops should give a full accounting of settlement costs, and that is the settlements arising from the priest sex abuse scandals, of course. Tell us what you think of that. That's a high number.

MCCARRICK: Well, I think most of us have done this already. I think we've -- most of the -- most of what we have done in response to the difficulties of sex abuse by clergy has been public. I think in the archdiocese of Washington, it's basically been public. Any settlement that we've made has basically been public.

It's not our practice to pay for so that people would be silent. As a matter of fact, our position has been since certainly since I have been here that we will not -- we will pay for counseling, that we'll take care of the people who have been hurt, and we don't get into the whole question of settlements.

So I think there's no problem in our saying what we do. And I think most of the dioceses will probably feel the same way. Sometimes, however, there are, I guess, settlements you might call them, but that are made because the people don't want this -- the victims don't want to talk about it. And I think we have to recognize that when it comes. We have not had that here in this archdiocese, in my time anyway.

COLLINS: All right. There's another statistic to talk about: 55 percent fear settlement costs will negatively impact the church's mission, and in particular that would be providing programs that assist the disadvantaged members of society.

MCCARRICK: Well, we can't let that happen. We cannot let that happen. We have to take care of people. We have to make sure that anyone who has been hurt has the counseling they need, the therapy they need to put their life together again. That's essential. We've got to do that.

But I think we also have to continue our ministry. I think our people recognize that. We have to take care of the poor, we have to take care of the homeless. We have to educate children. We have to continue to bring people -- to call ourselves to holiness and to call people to holiness.

So we have to make sure, and I think this is one of the important things of this meeting now, that this meeting cannot be another Dallas. We went through that. We've gone through, we've said all the things that we had to say about how terrible we feel, how much we apologize to people who have been hurt. But now -- and we have in place now the protection of children. So now let us continue to do that, and let's continue to do what we're supposed to do to take care of God's people.

SAN MIGUEL: And the idea of the mission programs that would help you to do that and the money that come from that, I wanted to talk about a couple of poll questions dealing with that specific topic, the attitude toward individuals giving to the church when the basket comes through the pews there on Sunday mornings. This Gallup poll says about 25 percent would reduce giving if contributions used to pay -- if the contributions were used to pay for lawsuits, and 2 percent to 3 percent would actually increase their contributions and have actually increased their contributions in the wake of the scandal.

The idea that this is affecting the money you get from the parishioners. How will you deal with this when the meetings start tomorrow?

MCCARRICK: Well, I think we'll just say to our people. Here we are. You know, we're going to help people who are hurt by these terrible actions of clergy. We're going to make sure that they have the counseling, that they have the therapy, that they have what they need to put their lives together.

And at the same time, here we are. You know what you want us to be as church. You want us to reach out to the poor. You want us to educate the people. You want us to educate priests, who will be good and holy and balanced and great shepherds of your people. So you've got to help us.

In this archdiocese, we've been very, very blessed. Our people have been wonderful. We have not seen a depreciation in what the people have offered of their generosity, because I think they know that we're going to try to do the best we can. We're going to be faithful to the protection of children; at the same time we're going to try to continue to do all the things that the church has to do.

COLLINS: All right. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, of the Archdiocese of Washington, we do appreciate your time this morning and we'll wait to hear what happens this week at that conference.

MCCARRICK: Thank you very much. God bless you.

COLLINS: Thank you, sir.

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