LI Bishop Blamed in Boston Sex Abuse Cases

1010wins.com
Garden City, NY
July 23, 2003

http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_204182809.html

Bishop William Murphy, the leader of Long Island's 2.5 million Roman Catholics, played a key role in many of the most notorious child sexual abuse cases in the Boston church from 1993-2001, the Massachusetts attorney general said Wednesday following a yearlong investigation.

"As second-in-command to Cardinal Law, Bishop Murphy was the Cardinal's chief adviser and was involved in managing daily operations at the Chancery and throughout the Archdiocese," Attorney General Thomas Reilly's grand jury report said.

Reilly's report said it is likely that more than 1,000 people were molested by priests and workers in the Boston Archdiocese over six decades.

"The mistreatment of children was so massive and so prolonged that it borders on the unbelievable," Reilly said.

The report ends a 16-month investigation by Reilly's office and a grand jury session that was convened last summer to consider charging church leaders.

The grand jury found that during his eight-year tenure as second-in-command in Boston, , "Murphy supervised the response to many sexual abuse cases. These included, among others, cases involving Fathers John Geoghan, Paul Mahan, Bernie Lane, Melvin Surrette and George Berthold."

The report said Murphy placed Surrette, who had accusations against him, in a job where he was supposed to supervise other accused priests. Murphy, according to the report, appeared to have "no appreciation of the inherent conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety in having a priest under investigation by the Delegate working as Assistant to the Delegate."

During Murphy's tenure, the Boston archdiocese took some positive steps, such as operating for one year a supervised residence for abusive priests. However, in handling sex abuse cases, "with only one exception, Bishop Murphy did not report to law enforcement any of the numerous allegations of clergy sexual abuse nor did he ever advise the Cardinal to do so."

The grand jury also noted that "even with undeniable information available to him on the risk of recidivism, Bishop Murphy continued to place a higher priority on preventing scandal and providing support to alleged abusers than on protecting children from sexual abuse."

Murphy, who left Boston for his Long Island post in September 2001, issued a statement through the Diocese of Rockville Centre press office in which he said he answered all questions honestly and to the best of his ability during his appearance before the grand jury.

"Bishop Murphy is determined that issues raised in the Massachusetts Grand Jury report never be repeated under his jurisdiction," the statement said. "He is determined that any charges of sexual abuse be handled quickly, openly and with a priority being placed on the safety and security of the victims."