Lawrence C. Murphy

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Lawrence C. Murphy (born November 21, 1925 - August 21, 1998 ) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States who caused a sensation for the sexual abuse of children .

Life

Murphy served from 1950 to 1974 at St. John's School in St. Francis , an institution for deaf children in Wisconsin . Although allegations were made against him as early as the 1950s, he became head of the school in 1963. State law enforcement agencies did not pursue allegations of a deaf boy in 1973 . Murphy was transferred to Superior in May 1974 by the Archbishop of Milwaukee , William Edward Cousins , where he worked in parishes, schools and a juvenile detention center for an additional 24 years . Three bishops of Wisconsin did not respond further to the evidence.

The prison administration of the juvenile detention center apparently also did not react.

It was only Archbishop Rembert Weakland who started looking into the case in 1993 and commissioned a social worker to investigate it. Murphy told the officer that he had molested 200 children and felt no remorse. In 1996 the Archbishop initiated an internal church case against Murphy and reported the case in writing to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , Cardinal Ratzinger . Weakland even traveled to Rome himself in 1998 and met the then secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Tarcisio Bertone . In a letter to Archbishop Bertone dated August 19 of that year, Archbishop Weakland informed him that he had ordered the formal termination of the case against Murphy. Murphy died a few days later.

After the funeral, the Archbishop of Milwaukee wrote on September 2, 1998 in a letter to Tarcisio Bertone , then secretary of the Papal Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome: We thought (Murphy's) family would have agreed (...) But they did exactly the opposite, contrary to ours Agreement, invited representatives of the deaf and dumb community, had the coffin open and the father in full regalia. Highest authorities in the Catholic world church had arranged a private funeral service for the 72-year-old, the coffin lid was to be kept closed, the group of mourners was to be restricted to the relatives and any ceremonies to be avoided. So they knew in Rome that Murphy was a serious sinner.

In March 2010 it was announced that some victims were suing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The diocese accuses them of a " dirt campaign ".

See also

Web links

  • Correspondence on the Lawrence C. Murphy case. Facsimile: zeit.de (PDF; 1.33 MB) These letters come from the files of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; she was legally forced by American victim attorneys to hand over the letters and other files.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lawrence Murphy Chronology . ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Archdiocese of Milwaukee @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.archmil.org
  2. ↑ Vatican defends decision not to defrock priest accused of molesting deaf boys in Wisconsin. In: Syracuse Online March 24, 2010, syracuse.com
  3. ↑ Vatican Declines to Defrock US Priest Who Abused Boys. In: New York Times , March 25, 2010
  4. ^ Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy BishopAccountability.org
  5. ↑ The Cardinal Question. Faithful helper or dark man? In the Vatican, criticism of the role of the second man, Tarcisio Bertone, is growing . In: Die Zeit , No. 15/2010. Quotation: “In 2009, eleven years after Murphy's death, Donald Marshall, now 45, from West Allis, Wisconsin, turned to a lawyer and brought charges against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He claims he was molested by Murphy when he was 13 or 14 years old in a juvenile detention center. Marshall, attorney Jeff Anderson said, was serving a burglary sentence in the late 1970s.
    Marshall resisted the assault, which took place in a solitary cell in 1977 or 1978, and reported the priest to the prison administration. There he was told that this was not the first complaint against Murphy. "
  6. ↑ 200 children abused - and the Vatican remained inactive. In: tt.com, March 25, 2010, tt.com ( Memento of October 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Update: Milwaukee church judge clarifies case of abusive priest Father Murphy. In: Catholic Anchor online, March 29, 2010 catholicanchor.org
  8. ^ A b The Document Trail: The Predator Priest Who Got Away. In: New York Times , March 24, 2010
  9. ^ Correction: Milwaukee church judge was aware of order to halt trial against abusive priest. In: Catholic Anchor online, April 3, 2010, catholicanchor.org
  10. ↑ Martin Klingst, Patrik Schwarz: The Bertone Files . In: Die Zeit , No. 14/2010
  11. ↑ Catholic Church accuses abuse victims of smear campaign. In: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , March 25, 2010, jsonline.com
personal data
SURNAME Murphy, Lawrence C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American priest of the Roman Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1925
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1998