Forgive me if someone already posted this. Last night after the Larry King show, there was a NEWSNIGHT program on CNN about the priests who are child molesters and how the Catholic Church is trying to deal with them. It was a good listen, and much of it will be familiar because of the JW issues on the same situation. I found the transcript for that segment on the CNN website and this is it. (BROWN is Aaron Brown, the host) Enjoy.
BROWN: We revisit tonight charges of sex abuse by priests in the Boston area because of the mounting pressure on the Archbishop there to resign. A poll by one of the Boston papers there show that the Catholic community is about evenly split on the question. Cardinal Law has no such uncertainty. He says he's staying.
The question, of course, is did the church, the cardinal, behave properly when confronted with allegations of sex abuse by the priests, and if not, is an apology enough? Here's CNN's Bill Delaney.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELANEY (voice over): A man of faith, Boston's Bernard Cardinal Law, faithful to the position he's not held since 1984.
BERNARD CARDINAL LAW, ARCHBISHOP BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE: I have the ability to do something as Bishop to make things better for the future, and I think that it would not serve that cause of protecting children if I were at this point to submit my resignation to the Holy Father.
DELANEY: In recent weeks, the Archbishop has repeatedly expressed anguish over the allegations of priests molesting children on his watch. Still Catholics, even many loyal to the liturgy, only seem to get more litigious.
According to court records made public in recent weeks, the Boston Archdiocese in the last decade settled cases involving at least 70 pedophile priests, paying out $10 million to settle 50 suits against former priest John Geoghan alone, who's already convicted of indecent assault and battery and faces Rape charges next week.
Cardinal Law transferred Geoghan to St. Julia's, a church outside Boston in 1984, despite years of allegations already then of pedophillia.
LAW: I apologize once again to all those who have been sexually abused as minors by priests. Today that apology is made in a special way with heartfelt sorrow.
DELANEY: Apologies not enough for lawyer Roderick MacLeish, now representing a 26-year-old who is suing the Cardinal for negligence, saying he was molested by Geoghan in 1989 at St. Julia's.
RODERICK MACLEISH, ATTORNEY: Those like Cardinal Law, that actively made the assignment, reassignment in this case, of a known pedophile, the person who made the decision to do that has to be held personally accountable for it. The problem of pedophillia could be dealt with so much more effectively if those who were in a position of power, like the Cardinal in this state, erred on the side of protecting children, as opposed to protecting the inner circle.
DELANEY: Though when now turning over to area district attorneys, names of dozens of priests accused of pedophillia, the church says the inner circles no longer closed.
DELANEY (on camera): Part of what the Cardinal is calling a zero tolerance policy toward priestly sexual misconduct, all church personnel must now report any allegations of sexual misconduct directly to state authorities, and a blue ribbon panel of medical specialists will advise the archdiocese on detecting sexual abusers.
DELANEY (voice over): The right thing too late say former practicing Catholics Patricia and Kathleen O'Sullivan, who say a relative, a priest sexually molested Patricia's sons, Kathleen's brothers, Sean Sullivan and T. J. Sullivan back in the 1970s. They say cries for help to the church, dating back a quarter century, were ignored including calls to Cardinal Law.
KATHLEEN O'SULLIVAN, SISTER OF ALLEGED PEDOPHILE VICTIMS: His hands are just as dirty as everybody else who's been involved in this mess, and it's going to last for a long time because a lot more people are going to come forward, and well they should.
DELANEY: After being sentenced to probation in 1984 for sexual assault on an altar boy, the priest was transferred to New Jersey. The Boston Archdiocese says that priest is now retired. It would make no further comment. As for the two brothers, T.J. O'Sullivan died of a heroin overdose in 1989. Sean O'Sullivan died of AIDS in 1995.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DELANEY (on camera): Over the weekend, Cardinal Law said no more active priests in his archdiocese have any history of pedophillia. What makes some Catholics here uneasy though is that the Cardinal said the same thing January 25th. Between then and now, eight more priests serving actively in the Catholic Archdiocese had to be removed from their posts for alleged histories of pedophillia -- Aaron.
BROWN: Any explanation for that?
DELANEY: An explanation for removal?
BROWN: For the fact that -- no that he said on the 25th there were no priests who had a history of allegations, and the fact that eight were removed subsequent to that statement, do they explain that at all?
DELANEY: No and he hasn't explained it.
BROWN: OK.
DELANEY: When he was asked that question, Aaron, at the airport returning from a trip from Rome on Friday, he sort of didn't answer the question by saying, we are so involved now in searching through our own documentation to determine who may have had a background, who allegedly had a background in pedophillia that well, despite the fact that I said that on January 25, we found eight more. And in fact, he took some credit for that, that they had found eight more rather than, as some wished he had here, apologizing for saying on January 25 that the diocese was free of alleged pedophiles and then having to remove eight more.
BROWN: Bill, thank you. Bill Delaney in our Boston bureau tonight. Cardinal Law said one other intriguing yesterday, we thought, he said -- quote -- "a bishop is not a corporate executive." That comment, in a way, goes to the heart of the controversy, of course, in Boston. And other cases like it around the world. This isn't just Boston, of course. The Catholic Church and its leadership; is it accountable? And if so, to whom?
Joining us from New Orleans tonight, Jason Barry, the author of a book "Lead us not Into Temptation," about priests and sexual abuse. Mr. Barry, nice to see you.
JASON BARRY, "LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION": Thank you.
BROWN: Do we have any idea how much the church, the American Catholic Church -- the American branch of the Roman Catholic Church has paid out to settle these cases over the years?
BARRY: Yes, over the last 15 years in the range of $1 billion. And I would imagine that that number is going to increase significantly in the coming years.
BROWN: Why would you imagine that?
BARRY: Because there are so many of these cases that have not gotten the media scrutiny, as has been the case in Boston, in recent weeks. The diocese of Camden, New Jersey, alone has -- it's my understanding -- 34 priests who against whom various civil and criminal charges have been filed. Tucson, just the other day, according to news reports, settled cases involving 11 priests. I don't think the American bishops have at all been forthcoming in dealing with this crisis. And until there is a concerted effort on the part of the hierarchy to give a complete accounting, both of the number of priests and the financial losses, I imagine it's going to be reported incrementally, as has been the case for a number of years now.
BROWN: We have been -- we have been reporting these stories now for, feels like a decade, is there a clear, discernable change in the way the church's hierarchy handles those cases now, compared to 10 years ago?
BARRY: To an extent, yes. Some of the dioceses, I think, have become more vigilant in not recycling men who have these backgrounds. But there is no uniform policy that applies across the board, from one end of the country to another.
I think the chances of an active pedophile being reassigned today are rather remote, although I must say, you know, in the next breath, the personnel decisions that Cardinal Law has made in recent days do make one wonder whether the men -- the eight men, I believe, who've just been removed -- would be considered active pedophiles or people who had treatment and perhaps had gotten into some sort of recovery.
I would add only one thing, Mr. Brown. The term "child sexual abuse" -- behind that term lies a range of behaviors, not just pedophillia. And while not in any way meaning to minimize the damage that is done to young people, there are some people who, because, say, of alcohol or drug abuse, act out in inappropriate ways. If they get into sobriety, they may not act out against children.
So pedophillia itself is a sort of blanket term that's being used. What I'm more curious about is whether any of the bishops have really begun to explore the underlying causes of why so many priests have shown this proclivity.
BROWN: Well, let me ask you about that, because I got a couple of e-mails today, who I assume came from Catholics who are pretty upset that we're taking a look at this again, and their argument is, You people in the media only look at Catholics and Catholic priests and their behavior, and the same things go on amongst Protestants and Jews and Muslims and what-have-you.
And so that's the question. Is there in fact any evidence that the same things are going on to the same degree in other churches but just not getting reported?
BARRY: Well, I think there are cases in other churches, absolutely. What is so painful -- and I say this as a Catholic -- about the crisis in our church is that the bishops have had adequate information about this problem for a long time and yet have mishandled it so consistently over quite a long period of time.
Yes, there are pedophiles in other walks of life, in other churches, in other professions. But based on everything I learned during the years that I researched and wrote about this, I would say that the church has a rather striking problem, and at least according to the available data, it does appear as though the incidence of this kind of behavior is higher in the priesthood than in the general population of men.
BROWN: Mr. Barry, it's nice to talk to you. Jason Barry in New Orleans tonight. Appreciate your time.
Marilyn (aka Mulan)
"No one can take advantage of you, without your permission." Ann Landers