Challenges to the New York Times piece on the abuse scandal in Milwaukee keep on coming, and they damage is piling up. The latest comes from a priest who directly oversaw the case against Father Lawrence Murphy, though he was never contacted by the Times for comment. Now, he says, he wants to set the record straight.
Father Thomas Brundage was the judicial vicar of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from 1995-2002 — meaning he personally presided over Father Murphy’s case. After laying out the history of how that case unfolded, Father Brundage turns to Pope Benedict’s connection (or lack thereof) to the affair. The following is worth quoting in full:
[I]n the documentation in a letter from Archbishop Weakland to then-secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone on August 19, 1998, Archbishop Weakland stated that he had instructed me to abate the proceedings against Father Murphy. Father Murphy, however, died two days later and the fact is that on the day that Father Murphy died, he was still the defendant in a church criminal trial. No one seems to be aware of this. Had I been asked to abate this trial, I most certainly would have insisted that an appeal be made to the supreme court of the church, or Pope John Paul II if necessary. That process would have taken months if not longer.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Second, with regard to the role of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), in this matter, I have no reason to believe that he was involved at all. Placing this matter at his doorstep is a huge leap of logic and information.
Third, the competency to hear cases of sexual abuse of minors shifted from the Roman Rota to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith headed by Cardinal Ratzinger in 2001. Until that time, most appeal cases went to the Rota and it was our experience that cases could languish for years in this court. When the competency was changed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in my observation as well as many of my canonical colleagues, sexual abuse cases were handled expeditiously, fairly, and with due regard to the rights of all the parties involved. I have no doubt that this was the work of then Cardinal Ratzinger.
The entire piece is an enlightening read. Whatever case the Times thought they had against the pope, it is rapidly falling apart.
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