There have been some questions about Catholic Church law and the sexual abuse crimes. Church law applies to functions within the church, and does not supersede civil law - they are in different arenas. A priest cannot be removed from the priesthood by a civil law procedure - that's a matter for church courts. A Catholic cannot be excommunicated in a civil law procedure, and a civil court cannot withdraw a theologian's license to teach.

A bishop can remove a priest's "faculties" to that the priest is not allowed to function as a priest - but only Rome can "laicize" a priest and declare that he is no longer a priest.

I've had some interest in the case of Lawrence C. Murphy, who served at St. John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee from 1950 to 1974. The Archbishop of Milwaukee forced Murphy to resign in 1974, because of allegations of sexual abuse of children at the school. After that, Murphy lived in a home his family owned in far northern Wisconsin. He was never given an official assignment as a priest after his removal in 1974, but he served occasionally as a vacation substitute, celebrating Mass at various churches in his area. There were no incidents of sexual misconduct reported after 1974.

In 1995, Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland received complaints about the fact that Murphy had not been removed from the priesthood, and Weakland initiated church court proceedings against Murphy in 1996. Murphy was terminally ill, and appealed to Rome on the grounds of ill health. Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith honored the appeal and cancelled the court trial. Murphy died in 1998.
As to why Father Murphy was never defrocked, a Vatican spokesman said that "the Code of Canon Law does not envision automatic penalties." He said that Father Murphy's poor health and the lack of more recent accusations against him were factors in the decision.

I have particular interest in this case because I attended St. Francis Seminary from 1961-70, right next door to St. John's School for the Deaf. The brother of a friend of mine attended St. John's, and my friend worked for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I didn't know Fr. Murphy or anyone at the School for the Deaf, and I think I met my friend's brother only once. Still, this was happening right next door to where I was living.

One NewYork Times Article says:

Instead of being disciplined, Father Murphy was quietly moved by Archbishop William E. Cousins of Milwaukee to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes, schools and, as one lawsuit charges, a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998, still a priest.

As far as I can determine, Murphy celebrated Mass as a substitute in parishes near his home, but never again was employed as a priest in a regular assignment.

Should Cousins have taken stricter action against Murphy in 1974? Probably, but there were no precedents at the time, and nobody knew how such cases should be handled. Cousins was archbishop during the years I was in the seminary, and I liked him very much. In general, his policies were very humane - and he was disliked by the right-wing Catholic forces in Milwaukee.

A chronology from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee seems to indicate that after Murphy was removed from the School for the Deaf and moved to Superior in 1974, the restrictions placed upon Murphy were gradually forgotten - Weakland replaced Cousins as Archbishop in the late 1970s, and apparently Weakland did not become aware of Murphy's situation until 1995.

At the time I attended the seminary next door, I thought it unusual that there was a Catholic school for the deaf right there, and we had not knowledge of what went on there. Nobody spoke of it, and nobody knew any of the faculty and staff there. It seemed to me that we as seminarians should be doing volunteer work there and learning about serving deaf people. Now I wonder if Murphy intentionally kept his school separated from the rest of us, for his own protection. The problems at the school did not become public knowledge until 1974, four years after I left Milwaukee. Apparently, the Milwaukee press gave a lot of coverage to Murphy's story at that time - so what happened was not done in secret.

So, I dunno.

-Joe-