Man claims fraud, cover-up by Milwaukee diocese
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A 50-year-old Phoenix man has filed a civil lawsuit in Milwaukee County claiming fraud against the Milwaukee archdiocese and a Catholic school for deaf children.
He claims Father Lawrence Murphy sexually abused him at the former St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis from 1970 to 1972.
Murphy worked there from about 1950 to 1975. He died in 1998.
Attached to the lawsuit are archdiocese evaluations that his lawyer, Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., says show Murphy assaulted 200 children and the archdiocese covered it up.
The lawsuit filed Thursday seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
In a statement, archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said the archdiocese has acknowledged for many years that Murphy had substantiated abuse allegations. She says it now has procedures to prevent future abuse.
Aug 15, 2009 at 8:43 a.m.
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JustAskMe, while the plant wasn't supposed to be safe haven for corruption, it's main purpose was to employ people and produce vehicles.
Not so with the catholic church. The church's claimed purpose and stock in trade is to serve, by its own admission, as the moral highground for humanity -after all, it is much closer to god than the laity is. Based on its stance of having the moral highground the church should be the least likely place for the organized crime of the institutionalized rape of children. Yes, institutionalized rape of children: rapists are knowingly transferred to other parishes where unknowing parents and unknowing children newly serve the perverted needs of pedophile priests.
You can better understand the above description if you ask yourself these questions:
What is it about the church that would attract males at the height of their sexual interest to an milieu where sex with women was prohibited? What venue would better serve a "man" who had no healthy sexual interest in woman and at the same time gave him power over other males in the form of powerless boys?
Bad apples? No. But we are indeed talking about an institution that is rotten to the core.
Aug 14, 2009 at 4:28 p.m.
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It's true gazettefan that a few bad apples have been employed by the church in the past - and, undoubtedly, a few more will get hired in the future. But I'm not aware of any program to attract these people. The nature of humans makes the hiring process very uncertain in any industry - for instance, GM wasn't accused of attracting drug dealers when pot pushers were busted at the local plant.
Aug 14, 2009 at 4:10 p.m.
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The church is supposed to be the bulwark against things like pedophilia. Instead, the church attracts pedophiles. Why?!
Aug 14, 2009 at 4:07 p.m.
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It's not that simple misterlippy. Catholicism is a RELIGION and shows no signs of unraveling. But the Catholic CHURCH (employees, assets, etc.) has had it's problems. Just like other entities, your employees can't always be trusted.
Aug 14, 2009 at 4:06 p.m.
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Didn't local author, Den Adler, attend St. Francis during the time of Murphy's "reign?"
Aug 14, 2009 at 2:25 p.m.
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And so goes the moral unraveling of Catholicism, or at least of those who lead proclamations of the "truth" from "God" but cannot proclaim the truth in their own lives. Sad...very sad.
Aug 14, 2009 at 11:57 a.m.
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Once again proof that morals come from god.
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