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CNN Live Sunday

Catholic Church Under Pressure to Take Action Against Pedophile Priests

Aired March 03, 2002 - 18:10   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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: In recent weeks, the Catholic church has been under intense pressure to take action about priests accused of sexually abusing children. Just as Boston Cardinal Bernard Law began a morning mass in Boston today, a man identified as Steven Lynch began berating Law. Lynch claims he was molested by a priest when he was a child. Two police officers led Lynch out of the church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE LYNCH, CONFRONTED CARDINAL LAW: If he really cares about the victims, why is he surrounding himself with civic leaders? Why doesn't he surround himself with therapists and victims and people who are affected by this, families?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The Archdiocese of St. Louis has adopted stricter standards when it comes to dealing with sexual abuse allegations. Two of the priests there have been forced to resign.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Albany, New York announced today it had settled several abuse cases, paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars. CNN's Hillary Lane takes a look at the broader picture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY LANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The strong facade of the Catholic church, again battered from inside its own walls, this time in St. Louis, the archdiocese removing two priests accused of sexually abusing minors. The bishop who oversees these claims had this message for more than 800 priests.

BISHOP TIMOTHY DOLAN, ST. LOUIS: The church is on the cross. You people are on the cross and the priesthood is on the cross. It's under tremendous scrutiny and suffering.

LANE: The dismissals, another blot on the U.S. priesthood's already stained image. Charges of sexual abuse against at least 80 Boston area priests hushed for years. Over four decades, an estimated 130 children affected. The church protected its own, reassigning them, settling quietly out of court.

DAVID CLOHESSY, SURVIVOR'S NETWORK FOR THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS: If history has shown us anything, history has shown us that bishops are like any institutional leaders. Bishops are incapable of policing their own scandals.

LANE: There are plenty of examples. In 1984, public attention first focused on the problem when a Louisiana priest pled guilty to abusing 11 boys. Nearly two dozen other local priests eventually faced similar accusations. A rash of charges surfaced in the early '90s in Camden, New Jersey; Altoona, Pennsylvania; Santa Barbara, California; and even against Joseph, Cardinal Bernadine in Chicago. In 1996, the Diocese of Dallas was ordered to pay $120 million in damages to the victims of sexual abuse by priests.

(on camera): U.S. church leaders repeatedly have appealed to the Vatican to make it easier for parishes to remove priests believed to have sexually abused children. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocates immediately suspending accused priests. But that is a recommendation, not a requirement.

(voice over): David Clohessy, abused as a boy by his parish priest, now helps others deal with their pain. He says if the church is slow to take actions, others should.

CLOHESSY: While we have not been able to make a lot of headway in terms of changing the behavior of bishops, we think that some of the secular authorities can step up to the plate and really play a good role to protect kids.

LANE: Of the nation's 40,000 priests, only a tiny fraction have been accused of wrongdoing, but in the church's own words, the damage is immeasurable. Hillary Lane for CNN, New York.

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