Pope 'failed to act' on US sex abuse claims
Anne Barrowclough
- 55
Comments<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7075237.ece#comment-have-your-say>
Recommend? (22)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7075237.ece#none>
[image: Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Paul VI hall for his weekly
general audience at the Vatican]
(Alessandra Tarantino/AP)
Pope Benedict XVI
The sex abuse scandal enveloping the Catholic Church moved closer to Pope
Benedict XVI today with revelations that in the 1990s the then Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger failed to defrock an American priest who molested hundreds
of deaf boys, despite receiving letters from a number of American bishops
pleading with him to act.
Internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal
Ratzinger, warning him and other top Vatican officials that failure to act
could embarrass the church, have been unearthed as part of a lawsuit,
according to *The New York Times*.
The case, against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, involves the Reverend
Lawrence Murphy, who worked at the St John's School for the Deaf in St
Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1974, starting as a teacher and rising to
director.
He allegedly molested up to 200 pupils, preying on his victims in their
dormitories, on class excursions and even at his mother's country house.
Related Links
- Irish bishop resigns over sex abuse scandal
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7074059.ece>
- Focus: Our little secret
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7069703.ece>
- Vatican investigating 14 sex abuse cases in Spain
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7072639.ece>
According to *The New York Times*, in 1996 the case was forwarded to the
the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office which
decides on canonical trials, which Cardinal Ratzinger led at the time.
The cardinal apparently failed to reply to two letters about Father Murphy
from Rembert Weakland, then Archbishop of Milwaukee.
Although Cardinal Ratzinger's second-in-command, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
now the Vatican's secretary of state, went on to instruct Wisconsin bishops
to begin a canonical trial for Father Murphy with the intention of having
him defrocked if found guilty, that trial was stopped after the priest wrote
to Cardinal Ratzinger begging for leniency on the grounds that he had
already repented and was in poor health.
"I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my
priesthood," Father Murphy wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger. "I ask your kind
assistance in this matter."
The documents emerged as Pope Benedict faces other accusations that, as the
Vatican's doctrinal enforcer and previously as an archbishop in Germany, he
did not discipline priests accused of sexual abuse, or alert the relevant
civilian authorities.
In a case in his native Germany, the Munich and Freising diocese said
recently that, while archbishop there in 1980, Pope Benedict agreed to
church housing for a priest suspected of child sex abuse while he received
"therapy".
Yesterday, the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee of Cloyne
over his handling of clerical sex abuse allegations. Bishop Magee, from
Newry, Co Down, faced criticism after the Church’s watchdog found that he
took minimal action over accusations against two priests. It branded his
child protection as dangerous, focusing on the needs of the accused rather
than the victims.
The Milwaukee documents, which include letters between bishops and the
Vatican, and victims' affidavits, are to form part of four lawsuits against
the Archdiocese.
*The New York Times *says that the documents reveal that three successive
archibshops in Wisconsin failed to report sexual abuse claims against Father
Murphy to the police.
One of Father Murphy's alleged victims, Arthur Budzinski, who was first
molested at the age of 12, said he spent more than 30 years, with other
former students of the school, trying to raise the alarm about Father
Murphy. At one point they distributed leaflets outside Milwaukee cathedral.
Father Murphy was never disciplined by the church. Instead, in 1974 he was
quietly moved from the school to northern Wisconsin where he continued to
work in schools and, according to one lawsuit, a juvenile detention centre.
In 1993, with scores of complaints about F
Pope 'failed to act' on US sex abuse claims
Anne Barrowclough
- 55
Comments<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7075237.ece#comment-have-your-say>
Recommend? (22)
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7075237.ece#none>
[image: Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Paul VI hall for his weekly
general audience at the Vatican]
(Alessandra Tarantino/AP)
Pope Benedict XVI
The sex abuse scandal enveloping the Catholic Church moved closer to Pope
Benedict XVI today with revelations that in the 1990s the then Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger failed to defrock an American priest who molested hundreds
of deaf boys, despite receiving letters from a number of American bishops
pleading with him to act.
Internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal
Ratzinger, warning him and other top Vatican officials that failure to act
could embarrass the church, have been unearthed as part of a lawsuit,
according to *The New York Times*.
The case, against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, involves the Reverend
Lawrence Murphy, who worked at the St John's School for the Deaf in St
Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1974, starting as a teacher and rising to
director.
He allegedly molested up to 200 pupils, preying on his victims in their
dormitories, on class excursions and even at his mother's country house.
Related Links
- Irish bishop resigns over sex abuse scandal
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7074059.ece>
- Focus: Our little secret
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7069703.ece>
- Vatican investigating 14 sex abuse cases in Spain
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7072639.ece>
According to *The New York Times*, in 1996 the case was forwarded to the
the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office which
decides on canonical trials, which Cardinal Ratzinger led at the time.
The cardinal apparently failed to reply to two letters about Father Murphy
from Rembert Weakland, then Archbishop of Milwaukee.
Although Cardinal Ratzinger's second-in-command, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
now the Vatican's secretary of state, went on to instruct Wisconsin bishops
to begin a canonical trial for Father Murphy with the intention of having
him defrocked if found guilty, that trial was stopped after the priest wrote
to Cardinal Ratzinger begging for leniency on the grounds that he had
already repented and was in poor health.
"I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my
priesthood," Father Murphy wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger. "I ask your kind
assistance in this matter."
The documents emerged as Pope Benedict faces other accusations that, as the
Vatican's doctrinal enforcer and previously as an archbishop in Germany, he
did not discipline priests accused of sexual abuse, or alert the relevant
civilian authorities.
In a case in his native Germany, the Munich and Freising diocese said
recently that, while archbishop there in 1980, Pope Benedict agreed to
church housing for a priest suspected of child sex abuse while he received
"therapy".
Yesterday, the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee of Cloyne
over his handling of clerical sex abuse allegations. Bishop Magee, from
Newry, Co Down, faced criticism after the Church’s watchdog found that he
took minimal action over accusations against two priests. It branded his
child protection as dangerous, focusing on the needs of the accused rather
than the victims.
The Milwaukee documents, which include letters between bishops and the
Vatican, and victims' affidavits, are to form part of four lawsuits against
the Archdiocese.
*The New York Times *says that the documents reveal that three successive
archibshops in Wisconsin failed to report sexual abuse claims against Father
Murphy to the police.
One of Father Murphy's alleged victims, Arthur Budzinski, who was first
molested at the age of 12, said he spent more than 30 years, with other
former students of the school, trying to raise the alarm about Father
Murphy. At one point they distributed leaflets outside Milwaukee cathedral.
Father Murphy was never disciplined by the church. Instead, in 1974 he was
quietly moved from the school to northern Wisconsin where he continued to
work in schools and, according to one lawsuit, a juvenile detention centre.
In 1993, with scores of complaints about Father Murphy in front of him,
Archbishop Weakland asked a social worker who specialised in sexual abuse to
evaluate the priest. The social worker came back to say that Father Murphy
had admitted abusing about 200 boys but felt no remorse.
The Archbishop appealed to Cardinal Ratzinger and, when his letters received
no answer, to a different Vatican office warning them that a failure to act
could lead to "true scandal".
His appeals to the Vatican to defrock Father Murphy came to nothing after
the priest wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger.
Father Murphy died in 1998, still a priest. ather Murphy in front of him,
Archbishop Weakland asked a social worker who specialised in sexual abuse to
evaluate the priest. The social worker came back to say that Father Murphy
had admitted abusing about 200 boys but felt no remorse.
The Archbishop appealed to Cardinal Ratzinger and, when his letters received
no answer, to a different Vatican office warning them that a failure to act
could lead to "true scandal".
His appeals to the Vatican to defrock Father Murphy came to nothing after
the priest wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger.
Father Murphy died in 1998, still a priest.
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