Church Leaders Raked over Coals in Abuse Scandal

By Cheryl Fiandaca
New York-WABC
July 24, 2003

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_072403_church.html

No charges, but plenty of blame is being leveled against two local religious leaders in the Catholic Church. They are Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, and Bishop William Murphy of Long Island.

Both are accused of misguided loyalties -- by trying to protect abusive priests, instead of helping their victims. Cheryl Fiandaca has the story.

According to the scathing report, both bishops are to blame for failing to investigate claims of abuse, and of reassigning accused priests to other parishes, all to protect the reputation of the church.

But a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General goes beyond that. It says the abuse went on for more than 60 years and that abusive priests abused more than 1,000 children in the Boston area.

Thomas Riley, Massachusetts Attorney General: "There is simply no way to calculate the damage, other than to say that what has been done to innocent children has been horrible."

Bishop Thomas Daily and Bishop William Murphy were senior aides to Bernard Cardinal Law, and the report claims they put the reputation of the church above the welfare of abused children.

Law resigned amid scandal last December, and now according to the report, no criminal charges will be brought against any of the men.

Frank DeRosa, Brooklyn Diocese Spokesperson: "Bishop Daily followed procedures he thought appropriate, given the advice and counsel he sought from professionals."

No one from the Diocese of Rockville Centre would talk about the allegations, but late on Thursday they issued this statement:

"Bishop Murphy...is doing everything in his power to ensure protection of the children in the diocese. 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."

Some Catholics though say that's not enough, and that both bishops should resign.

Daily has already submitted his resignation, 10 months ago on his 75th birthday. Daily is now awaiting a response from the Pope and believes his replacement will be named within the next few months.