Bishop Murphy Finds No Sexual Misconduct

By John Rather
New York Times
March 17, 2002

Publicly addressing sexual abuse of children by priests for the first time since becoming head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre six months ago, Bishop William F. Murphy said last week that there were no credible allegations of sexual misconduct against any priest now serving in the diocese.

In a statement published in The Long Island Catholic, the diocesan newspaper, Bishop Murphy said that while he would cooperate with authorities in any investigation of past abuse, he would not make public the names or the number of priests who had been accused since the diocese was founded in 1957.

"While their number in this diocese is very few, even one is one too many," he said. "We are acting properly and prudently to protect children in those few cases here in which a priest may have placed them at risk. I appeal to anyone who has been abused in the past and has not come forward to contact my office."

Rick Henshaw, a spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney, Denis A. Dillon, said Bishop Murphy had agreed to show Mr. Dillon sexual abuse complaints dating to 1957. Bob Clifford, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas Spota, said no records had been turned over to Mr. Spota.

A diocesan priest, Michael Hands, pleaded guilty in Nassau County last week to sexually abusing a teenage boy over a one-year period beginning in 1999. Under a plea bargain arrangement, Father Hands faces a six-month jail sentence and five years' probation when he is sentenced on April 23. He faces additional charges in Suffolk County.

Before coming to the Rockville Centre diocese, Bishop Murphy was the second-ranking official in the Boston archdiocese, which has been battered by the revelation that a priest known to be a pedophile was shifted from parish to parish with the knowledge of senior officials, including Bishop Murphy.

Correction to March 17 Article

By John Rather
New York Times
May 5, 2002

A brief article on March 17 reported a declaration by Bishop William Murphy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre that there were no credible allegations of sexual misconduct against any priest then serving in the diocese. The article concluded, "Before coming to the Rockville Centre diocese, Bishop Murphy was the second-ranking official in the Boston archdiocese, which has been battered by the revelation that a priest known to be a pedophile was shifted from parish to parish with the knowledge of senior officials, including Bishop Murphy."

Church documents made public this year show that shortly after becoming vicar general of the Boston archdiocese in 1993, Bishop Murphy was involved in the removal of the pedophile priest, John Geoghan. But Bishop Murphy says he had no knowledge of the transfers of Father Geoghan during the period when they were taking place, and none of the public documents contradict the bishop. The last three words of the article should not have appeared.