Bishop Murphy Asks for Forgiveness

WCBS 880.com
February 13, 2003

http://wcbs880.com/topstories/topstoriesny_story_044074155.html

In response to a scathing grand jury report that accused the Diocese of Rockville Centre of protecting sexually abusive priests, Bishop William F. Murphy pledged to "deal openly, honestly and responsibly" with the crisis.

"As Church leaders, we carry a tremendous burden of shared guilt and remorse over what has happened," Murphy said in a statement posted Wednesday on the diocese's Web site and published in The Long Island Catholic newspaper.

"I am deeply sorry for this failure, I ask forgiveness from every person affected by this horrific scandal and I pledge to do all I can to deal openly, honestly and responsibly in all these matters...," Murphy wrote.

On Monday, the Suffolk County district attorney's office released a 180-page report from a special grand jury that accused the diocese of ignoring dangerous priests, transferring abusive priests from parish to parish, hiding the truth about the extent of the sex abuse crisis and limiting damage payments.

Murphy was not subpoenaed but declined to voluntarily testify before the grand jury.

In his letter, Murphy said that he had responded to the crisis by instituting a policy that required all accusations of sexual abuse to be reported to the authorities, adopting a professional code of conduct for all church employees and pledging not to readmit to the ministry any priest unfit to be near children.

While Murphy said in his letter that "the work is not over," he noted that church officials were doing everything they could to repair the damage caused by the scandal.

"While I believe my colleagues and I have acted properly in every case we have handled in this diocese since September 2001, the church's failure to deal with this properly in the past will remain with us a long time," Murphy said.

The comment was an apparent attempt to distance himself from his predecessors, namely Bishop John R. McGann, who served from 1976 until 2000. Murphy took over at the Diocese of Rockville Centre in September 2001.

Previously, Murphy was the former second-highest ranking official in the Archdiocese of Boston, where he was involved in nearly one-third of that city's priest sex abuse cases while serving as top deputy to Cardinal Bernard Law.

Although Murphy has been named in lawsuits brought by victims of Boston priests, the bishop said in his letter that there was no evidence he had mishandled the cases.

Murphy testified Wednesday before a Massachusetts grand jury investigating whether he and other church officials can be prosecuted for allegedly protecting abusive priests.