Setting the Record Straight: an interview with Murphy trial judge Fr. Thomas Brundage
(31 Mar 10 - RV) The judge who presided over the Church Court that was trying Fr.
Lawrence Murphy on charges he abused deaf boys in the confessional, Fr. Thomas Brundage,
has written an article in the archdiocesan newspaper of Anchorage, Alaska, where he
is currently stationed. The article is critical of the New York Times’ reporting of
the Fr Murphy case, and seeks to set the record straight. Chris Altieri reached Fr.
Brundage by phone this (Wednesday) morning and asked him about the trial, which began
in the mid 1990’s on the explicit authorization of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, of which the man who would become Pope Benedict XVI was head at the
time.
Fr. Brundage: From 1996 until 1998, the trial lasted about eighteen (18)
months, and concluded with Fr. Murphy’s death.
Chris Altieri: - And at
any time during that trial, did you have any pressure whatsoever from Rome to abey
the proceedings, to suspend them, to push this under the rug - anything like that?
Fr.
Brundage: No, never. If anything it was just the opposite. Rome waived the statute
of limitations in this case. We were dealing with extremely complex canonical issues,
because during that time, canon law was going through a lot of evolutions, [and so]
I had to make private and public discussions with Roman officials trying to figure
out how to try a case like this – and as I say, you know, I had meetings with Church
officials in Rome, meetings with Church officials in Washington, DC, and I had complete
assistance, and never once was I told to – to stop the case or to do anything less
than to proceed to its conclusion. Unfortunately, Fr. Murphy’s death concluded the
case.
Chris Altieri: We had a period of crisis, a period of soul searching,
or reflection, and now, we’re in the period of reform. Where along that spectrum,
along that timeline, where and what, in your opinion is the role of then-Cardinal
Ratzinger and [now] Pope Benedict? To say it simply: is he [Pope Benedict XVI] part
of the problem, or part of the solution?
Fr. Brundage: He was part of the
solution. He has probably been the most pro-active major religious figure with regard
to trying to deal with the sexual abuse of children, in terms of preventing it, in
terms of repairing as much as you can after the fact, and finding justice for the
victims. There’s a very noticeable change after 2001. Prior to that date, most cases
of sexual abuse on appeal went to the Roman Rota, and the cases tended just to stay
there a long period of time, and often did not seem to get resolved. After 2001, the
cases were sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) – and it was
almost an immediate, night-and-day difference. The cases were handled fast[ly] and
fair[ly], with the rights of everybody respected. And, as Pope – no pope has done
as much as Benedict has done in terms of publicly talking about the shame that has
come to the Church because of this, the filth of the whole issue of abusing a child,
especially by a priest, and I think, historically, he will go down as being an extraordinarily
powerful figure helping the Church to recover from this.
Chris Altieri:
What do you think of the reporting that has been done on this by the Times that broke
the story and by the other outlets that picked it up?
Fr Brundage: I have
to admit to being a little bit outraged, particularly by the New York Times and the
Associated Press. In the online version of the NYT, they felt free to quote me from
a document that they got off the internet – and I finally found the document, and
I looked at the document and the quotes that were supposedly from me, and the handwriting
was beautiful. My handwriting is awful. In fact, it’s hard to even read my handwriting
– and so I was a bit outraged that they would not have had the journalistic sense
to at least try to contact the source of a quote like that. They also are well aware,
having the case file in hand, of my role in the case, and it was just unbelievable
to me, given the role that I had, that nobody had even attempted to contact me.