Milwaukee Archdiocese Apologetic For Priest
Priest At Center Of Church Sex Abuse Scandal
Updated: 2:19 pm CDT March 25,2010
Text Size A A A ST. FRANCIS, Wis. -- The Archdiocese of Milwaukee said it continues to reach out to those who have been harmed by a Catholic priest at the center of a scandal about the way the Vatican has handled reports of abuse by clergy.
The Rev. Lawrence Murphy, now deceased, is accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin decades ago. Documents from the church and Vatican show that in the mid-1990s, two Wisconsin bishops urged the Vatican office led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- now the pope -- to let them hold a church trial against Murphy, but the Vatican ordered the process halted.
A statement from the Milwaukee archdiocese Thursday said Murphy's actions were criminal and that it apologizes to those who have been harmed by Murphy.
A Wisconsin man said he lost all faith in the Catholic church after being abused by Murphy.
Donald Marshall said he was 13 or 14 when Murphy molested him in a cell at Lincoln Hills School, a juvenile detention center in Irma.
The 45-year-old Marshall says he blocked out the abuse until his adult years, then started having nightmares about the priest. Marshall said he wonders if anything priests told him while he attended church as a youth is true.
Former Student Tells Of Abuse At School For Deaf
A Wisconsin man who claims he was molested by Murphy said he's happy the church is finally being held accountable.
Arthur Budzinski, 61, said he was repeatedly molested at St. John's School for the Deaf in suburban Milwaukee from age 12 to 14 by Murphy. Speaking in sign language translated by his daughter, Budzinski said he told diocese officials about the abuse, but they did nothing. He said that as an adult, he went to police, who investigated his claims but made no arrest.
Murphy died in 1998.
Rome Police Detain US Abuse Victims
Four American victims of clergy sexual abuse said they were detained and questioned by police after showing photos of the pope during a news conference outside St. Peter's Square.
Barbara Blaine, one of the abuse survivors, said after emerging from a police station near the Vatican Thursday that officers told them that a judge will determine if there will be charges.
She said they were detained because they didn't have a permit for the outdoor news conference. Blaine added police seemed most concerned because they displayed photos of Pope Benedict XVI and his top aide, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Blaine said police took their posters with slogans like "stop the secrecy." Victims said the Vatican ordered a stop to a church trial of a priest who abused 200 deaf children in Wisconsin.
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