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CNN Live Sunday

Mideast, Catholic Church Raising Questions of Right, Wrong

Aired April 14, 2002 - 16:54   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The nation's attention focused on troubles both near and far. Troubles in the Middle East, scandal inside the Catholic church both raising questions about right and wrong. It's piqued the interest of CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Jerusalem where violence is visible in the street every day. Americans are following that story but they are also following another one, of secret violence, secret bad things done by priests to children.

It is especially anguishing for Roman Catholics, but it affects everyone, because pedophilia is not, of course, limited to priests. In fact, it is probably rarer among priests than among the rest of the population.

It is a special kind of tragedy. A child hit by a bomb somehow affects us more than an adult victim. And the child abused by someone he trusts -- priest, imam, philosophy teacher, football coach -- whomever, is more affecting than an adult, who is the victim of sexual abuse.

But if it is shocking, is, to use the word the President used, evil. Evil beyond most other kinds of crimes. The kids carry the effects of the abuse for years, so it is a crime which echoes down the generations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Archdiocese of Boston has failed to protect one of our most precious gifts, our children.

MORTON: And it is particularly awful when church leaders cover it up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even one case of this is a disaster for the church.

MORTON: It is fair to note, as Washington's archbishop, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick does, that more is known about pedophilia now than was 25 years ago. It is fair to note, as he also does, that priests are held to a higher standard than other people, but as the cardinal adds, "Of course, they should be."

But having said all that, it is hard to ignore the reports of cover-ups, of priests with histories of sexual abuse being shuttled from parish to parish with no one in the new place warned of what these sick priests were.

(on camera): It is tragic when a trust figure, a teacher, a priest, preys on a child. It is even more tragic when a religious leader conceals such sins, and that seems to have happened.

(voice-over): You can argue about blaming the Middle East, Israelis, Palestinians, there may be enough to go around. You can argue that pedophile priests are sick, not wicked. But covering up what they did? Hard not to say that's evil.

So a week of violence in Israel, of guilty secrets and muddled standards here, but also in London, the funeral of a small woman who lived in a time when many people seemed to know what the right thing to do was, and mostly did it. The greatest generation? Maybe.

I'm Bruce Morton.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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