Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
ALLEGED VICTIMS REACT TO CARDINAL'S RESIGNATION
Aired December 14, 2002 - 07:37 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.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled Cardinal of Boston Bernard Law is coming back to the United States today. He is no longer the head of the Boston Archdiocese.
He is still the focus of the many lawsuits involving the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal. Law is due to be questioned by lawyers on Tuesday over the Church's handling of pedophile priests.
CNN's Jason Carroll has more on reaction of alleged victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Standing before a group of reporters and members of the Catholic community stood two generations of alleged abuse. Thomas Fulchino and his son Chris. Both say they were abused when they were children by different priests in Boston, and they say Cardinal Bernard Law's resignation is a move that will help them heal.
CHRIS FULCHINO, ALLEGED VICTIM: And I'm glad that the Cardinal did resign and I'm glad that this day has finally come.
CARROLL: It's a day only Chris' mother seemed to know would eventually come.
SUSAN FULCHINO, ALLEGED VICTIM'S MOTHER: I think Mom's have this intuition this -- just this -- sense and I quite honestly felt that he would resign and it would be accepted.
CARROLL: The Fulchino's live with the pain of what happened every day. Thomas says when he was 12 he was abused by Father James Porter (ph) who was later convicted and defrocked for abusing children. Fulchino's faith shaken again many years later after learning his son Chris at the age of 13 says he was abused by defrocked priest John Geoghan. Geoghan is now serving a ten-year sentence for molesting other children.
CHRIS FULCHINO: Every day, I relive the torment that happened that day. The memories just keep running right through my head and it just doesn't stop. And there's no way of stopping it and I hope that today will help that.
THOMAS FULCHINO: I'm still having problems with that, that maybe I could of done something or been there. But that's -- you know -- that's something that I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. CARROLL: Cardinal Law moved Geoghan to the Fulchino's Parrish even though there were previous allegations of abuse. The archdiocese says Geoghan was reassigned only after receiving counseling. But to the Fulchino's what Law did was not only a sin but a crime.
SUSAN FULCHINO: Cardinal Law knowingly put a pedophile in my church and didn't give me a chance to know about it and took this little boy's happiness.
CARROLL: The Fulchino's say Law's resignation isn't the end but hopefully the beginning of true reform and reconciliation.
CHRIS FULCHINO: This is just the stepping-stone and there's many more steps that we have to take for healing. It just can't stop here.
CARROLL: There is concern among victims and some parishioners as well concern that now that Cardinal Law has resigned, public scrutiny on the crisis will begin to fade. They say public scrutiny is the only thing that will leave the church to reform itself.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 December 14, 2002 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled Cardinal of Boston Bernard Law is coming back to the United States today. He is no longer the head of the Boston Archdiocese.
He is still the focus of the many lawsuits involving the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal. Law is due to be questioned by lawyers on Tuesday over the Church's handling of pedophile priests.
CNN's Jason Carroll has more on reaction of alleged victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Standing before a group of reporters and members of the Catholic community stood two generations of alleged abuse. Thomas Fulchino and his son Chris. Both say they were abused when they were children by different priests in Boston, and they say Cardinal Bernard Law's resignation is a move that will help them heal.
CHRIS FULCHINO, ALLEGED VICTIM: And I'm glad that the Cardinal did resign and I'm glad that this day has finally come.
CARROLL: It's a day only Chris' mother seemed to know would eventually come.
SUSAN FULCHINO, ALLEGED VICTIM'S MOTHER: I think Mom's have this intuition this -- just this -- sense and I quite honestly felt that he would resign and it would be accepted.
CARROLL: The Fulchino's live with the pain of what happened every day. Thomas says when he was 12 he was abused by Father James Porter (ph) who was later convicted and defrocked for abusing children. Fulchino's faith shaken again many years later after learning his son Chris at the age of 13 says he was abused by defrocked priest John Geoghan. Geoghan is now serving a ten-year sentence for molesting other children.
CHRIS FULCHINO: Every day, I relive the torment that happened that day. The memories just keep running right through my head and it just doesn't stop. And there's no way of stopping it and I hope that today will help that.
THOMAS FULCHINO: I'm still having problems with that, that maybe I could of done something or been there. But that's -- you know -- that's something that I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. CARROLL: Cardinal Law moved Geoghan to the Fulchino's Parrish even though there were previous allegations of abuse. The archdiocese says Geoghan was reassigned only after receiving counseling. But to the Fulchino's what Law did was not only a sin but a crime.
SUSAN FULCHINO: Cardinal Law knowingly put a pedophile in my church and didn't give me a chance to know about it and took this little boy's happiness.
CARROLL: The Fulchino's say Law's resignation isn't the end but hopefully the beginning of true reform and reconciliation.
CHRIS FULCHINO: This is just the stepping-stone and there's many more steps that we have to take for healing. It just can't stop here.
CARROLL: There is concern among victims and some parishioners as well concern that now that Cardinal Law has resigned, public scrutiny on the crisis will begin to fade. They say public scrutiny is the only thing that will leave the church to reform itself.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
