By Jana Hollingsworth
Duluth News Tribune
April 7, 2010
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/165108/
Retired Bishop Raphael Fliss of Superior said Tuesday that dealing with a priest in the 1990s who is alleged to have sexually assaulted more than 200 deaf boys was a "sad moment; a sad time."
From his home near Superior, Fliss spoke briefly about the latter part of the 24-year period in which the Rev. Lawrence Murphy lived in the Superior Diocese, a sort of exile by the church after at least some of the accusations of sexual assault against him had been confirmed by the church.
Though the Superior Diocese last month distanced itself from Murphy, saying that he was the responsibility of the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee while living in northern Wisconsin, Fliss confirmed Tuesday that Murphy helped out at parishes in the Superior Diocese. Church documents show he said Mass, heard confessions and taught confirmation classes to young people.
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| Verne Wagner, a victim of abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Duluth and a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, pauses Tuesday during a news conference outside the offices of the Superior Diocese. The group renewed its call for the Vatican to release documents pertaining to the case of a priest transferred from Milwaukee to the Superior Diocese after allegedly sexually assaulting more than 200 boys. Photo by Jed Carlson |
Fliss, 79, who retired from the Superior Diocese in 2007, told the News Tribune he remembered little from that time and had nothing more to add than what was shown in the documents.
"Who is proud of another's error?" he asked, after a few moments of reflection.
Murphy died in 1998, amid efforts to have him declared "irregular for ministry" and given assessments by psychological experts, according to church documents.
By then, top Vatican officials had discouraged Milwaukee Archdiocese plans for an internal church trial and defrocking.
Victims of sexual abuse by priests spoke out again Tuesday, demanding that the bishops — including Fliss — who met with Vatican officials about Murphy in 1998 release documents saying who knew what, when.
"We're asking for accountability," said Verne Wagner, a victim of abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Duluth and a member of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "These bishops knew about this. Meetings happened. If there is blame that goes to the highest level, so be it. That is the transparency we need."
Murphy is believed to have sexually assaulted 200 boys at a school for the deaf in St. Francis, Wis., between 1950 and 1974 and at least two more say they were assaulted by him after he had moved to Boulder Junction in the eastern end of the Superior Diocese.
Fliss went to Rome in 1998 with Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard Sklba for a regular report bishops make to the Vatican on their diocese every five years or so.
Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican's Secretary of State, was present at the meeting where Murphy's case was discussed, according to church documents. The Wisconsin church officials were attempting to have Murphy defrocked for accusations of "solicitation in the confessional."
At the end of the Vatican meeting, the minutes show, it was clear that Murphy would not be defrocked. Weakland said that decision would be difficult to explain to the deaf community.
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