Group Seeks Murphy Resignation in Wake of Boston Abuse Report

By Rita Ciolli
Long Island (NY) Newsday
July 25, 2003

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-libish25a3387778jul25,0,2529531.story?coll=ny-li-span-headlines

Leaders of the local Voice of the Faithful chapter yesterday overwhelming supported a proposal calling for the resignation of Bishop William Murphy and other bishops who once served in the Archdiocese of Boston.

A day after the Massachusetts attorney general released a highly critical report finding there was a "massive and pervasive failure of leadership," the Long Island lay group began asking its 1,300 members to support the proposal.

"It just saps the moral authority of the church to have these men in positions of power," said Patricia Zirkel, co-director of the group's executive board, who anticipates that the membership, in an e-mail canvass, will accept their recommendation.

"Bishop Murphy's office has not had any communication from the Long Island Voice of the Faithful asking for his resignation," the Diocese of Rockville Centre said in a statement Friday.

"Last month, Bishop Murphy held listening sessions across Long Island at which he heard a number of Voice of the Faithful members express their concerns," said the statement.

A second group, the Catholic League, announced Friday that it would begin its own petition drive in support of Murphy. "The decision by Voice of the Faithful, demanding that Bishop Murphy resign, has now ignited a battle with the Catholic League," it said in a statement.

Zirkel said calling upon Murphy to do the "honorable thing and step aside" starts a dialogue about whether the Catholic bishop can be an effective leader after having been steeped in the secretive clerical culture that allowed the Boston scandal to happen.

"They put children at risk and what was the upshot? They got promoted and rewarded with their own dioceses," Zirkel said. Murphy was installed as the head of the Long Island diocese in September 2001, after serving for eight years as deputy to Cardinal Bernard Law, former head of the Boston church.

In his current weekly column in the Long Island Catholic, the official newspaper of the diocese, Murphy acknowledges the criticisms directed at him by church members during three listening sessions he held in June.

"It was painful as well to have my own failures and shortcomings detailed for me," he wrote. "But that pain was all right in the sense that I knew it was coming from people who love the Lord and His Church and were trying to open up to me how my presence among you as bishop has been experienced and perceived. This gives me much to reflect upon and pray about."

Responding to the Boston report on Wednesday, the diocese said that Murphy had explained his role in Boston in a July 2 statement posted on its Web site. In his lengthy defense, Murphy said the media had confused him with another priest with the same name. "Many seeing the name 'William Murphy' on published letters and memos have assumed that he was I. That is not true," wrote Murphy.

However, in the Boston report as well as in response to specific questions, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly said there was no mix-up about Murphy's role and responsibility.

The diocesan statement also said it was more relevant for Catholics to examine the procedures the bishop put in place to prevent abuse on Long Island, where nearly 50 priests and brothers have been accused of abuse in criminal or civil cases.

That sentiment was echoed by Denis Dillon, the Nassau County district attorney and a staunch supporter of Murphy. In a written statement, Dillon lauded Murphy's handling of the sex abuse cases on Long Island. Dillon said Murphy has removed any priest with a credible allegation against him and has required diocesan personnel to promptly report to law enforcement any allegations it receives. Dillon declined to comment directly on the Boston report.

However, a victims group said it was "insulting" for Murphy to deflect attention from criticism of his role in Boston to an unnoteworthy record on Long Island. "Murphy has had ample time to move ahead of the pack on Long Island and he absolutely hasn't," said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Having had all this experience with abuse in Boston, what has he done that is dramatically different from what all the bishops are now required to do?"

He said Murphy should appoint an abuse victim to the diocesan board that reviews abuse complaints.

The local Faithful chapter emerged as an offshoot of the Boston organization about a year ago and Murphy banned them in August from meeting on church property. Since then, the group has grown from 100 to 1,300 members and has had some success in getting the diocese to release more financial data.

It is seeking greater financial accountability from the church and a greater role in church governance. It is hosting a "faith convention" Sept. 27 at the Huntington Hilton.

This story was supplemented by The Associated Press.