Statement of the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi, S.I.,
concerning the “Murphy Case”
The following is the full text of the statement given to the New York Times on March
24, 2010:
The tragic case of Father Lawrence Murphy, a priest of the Archdiocese
of Milwaukee, involved particularly vulnerable victims who suffered terribly from
what he did. By sexually abusing children who were hearing-impaired, Father Murphy
violated the law and, more importantly, the sacred trust that his victims had placed
in him. During the mid-1970s, some of Father Murphy’s victims reported his abuse
to civil authorities, who investigated him at that time; however, according to
news reports, that investigation was dropped. The Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith was not informed of the matter until some twenty years later. It
has been suggested that a relationship exists between the application of Crimen sollicitationis
and the non-reporting of child abuse to civil authorities in this case. In fact, there is
no such relationship. Indeed, contrary to some statements that have circulated in
the press, neither Crimen nor the Code of Canon Law ever prohibited the reporting
of child abuse to law enforcement authorities. In the late 1990s, after over
two decades had passed since the abuse had been reported to diocesan officials
and the police, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was presented for
the first time with the question of how to treat the Murphy case canonically. The Congregation
was informed of the matter because it involved solicitation in the confessional, which
is a violation of the Sacrament of Penance. It is important to note that the canonical question
presented to the Congregation was unrelated to any potential civil or criminal proceedings
against Father Murphy. In such cases, the Code of Canon Law does not envision automatic
penalties, but recommends that a judgment be made not excluding even the greatest
ecclesiastical penalty of dismissal from the clerical state (cf. Canon 1395, no.
2). In light of the facts that Father Murphy was elderly and in very poor health,
and that he was living in seclusion and no allegations of abuse had been reported
in over 20 years, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith suggested that
the Archbishop of Milwaukee give consideration to addressing the situation by, for
example, restricting Father Murphy’s public ministry and requiring that Father Murphy accept
full responsibility for the gravity of his acts. Father Murphy died approximately
four months later, without further incident.