No "News" is "Good News"

Check out Dan, from Gun Lovin' Alaskan Catholic Club's, take on how a few "bad apples" seem to gobble up all the attention in the media... regardless of the situation.

I think it is quite telling, and does a great job of showing that the media's problem is bigger than just the Church.

From Gun Lovin' Alaksan Club: A few bad apples... Red Meat to the Left

Fr. Thomas Brundage - Former Judicial Vicar of Milwaukee: Setting the record straight about Fr. Murphy

***UPDATE***:
Father Brundage issues clarifying statement

Editor’s note: Below is a statement by Father Thomas Brundage, correcting part of his column, which was published March 29 at CatholicAnchor.org, the official newspaper Web site of the Anchorage Archdiocese. Father Brundage was the ecclesial judge in the church trial against Father Lawrence Murphy, the priest accused of sexually abusing deaf students at St. John’s School of the Deaf in Milwaukee. The first paragraph below is the incorrect portion of the column by Father Brundage. His corrections, in italics, follow.


Original paragraph: “Additionally, in 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.”

Correction: In service to the truth, it is important for one to admit when they make a factual error as I did in the above paragraph. On Good Friday (April 2, 2010) I received an e-mail from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Annysa Johnson with some documents that clearly show I was aware of then-Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland’s intention to have the Father Lawrence Murphy case abated. Since I do not have access to the Father Murphy file, last week as I worked on my column, I downloaded the case files that were on the Journal-Sentinel’s website. Those were the documents I had to reconstruct the events of 12-14 years ago.

However, in the file e-mailed to me by reporter Johnson was a August 15, 1998 draft of a letter that I wrote and Archbishop Weakland slightly edited. This draft letter became the text of the August 19, 1998 letter from Archbishop Weakland to then-secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone in which Archbishop Weakland declared that he had instructed me to formally abate the case. This letter was not part of the file that I had access to and I had not seen that letter in nearly 12 years.

In all honesty, I do not remember this memo but I do admit to being wrong on this issue and I apologize for my mistake. Father Murphy’s death 2 days after Archbishop Weakland’s August 19, 1998 letter made the matter moot as de-facto death permanently abated the case.

I again, am sorry for my mistake and for making a very complicated and painful case even more complicated and painful.

Father Thomas Brundage wrote the following article for the CatholicAnchor.org. The Anchor is the Archdiocesan paper for Anchorage. The publisher is Archbishop Schwietz; Archbishop of Anchorage. I know that this article is already making the rounds in the Catholic Blog world, but since this blog is half Alaskan, and I am living in Alaska, it is more than relevant.

It is long, but it is worth the read. I chose not to cut it... in fear of my editorial skills assuming that one part is more important than another. I also am not commenting on this, because well, it is above my pay grade to do so on an article of this nature.

As a final note... Father Brundage has a stellar reputation in the diocese, especially amongst the more orthodox groups. He is one of two priests that says Mass in the usus antiquior. He is very well respected, and it is obvious by his article the amount of trust the Archbishop has in him. His words are worth reading and understanding.

Setting the record straight in the case of abusive Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy 

Then-presiding judge for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee gives first-person account of church trial

By Fr. THOMAS BRUNDAGE, JLC

For CatholicAnchor.org

To provide context to this article, I was the Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from 1995-2003. During those years, I presided over four canonical criminal cases, one of which involved Father Lawrence Murphy. Two of the four men died during the process. God alone will judge these men.


To put some parameters on the following remarks, I am writing this article with the express knowledge and consent of Archbishop Roger Schwietz, OMI, the Archbishop of Anchorage, where I currently serve. Archbishop Schwietz is also the publisher of the Catholic Anchor newspaper.


I will limit my comments, because of judicial oaths I have taken as a canon lawyer and as an ecclesiastical judge. However, since my name and comments in the matter of the Father Murphy case have been liberally and often inaccurately quoted in the New York Times and in more than 100 other newspapers and on-line periodicals, I feel a freedom to tell part of the story of Father Murphy’s trial from ground zero.


As I have found that the reporting on this issue has been inaccurate and poor in terms of the facts, I am also writing out of a sense of duty to the truth.


The fact that I presided over this trial and have never once been contacted by any news organization for comment speaks for itself.


My intent in the following paragraphs is to accomplish the following:


To tell the back-story of what actually happened in the Father Murphy case on the local level;


To outline the sloppy and inaccurate reporting on the Father Murphy case by the New York Times and other media outlets;


To assert that Pope Benedict XVI has done more than any other pope or bishop in history to rid the Catholic Church of the scourge of child sexual abuse and provide for those who have been injured;


To set the record straight with regards to the efforts made by the church to heal the wounds caused by clergy sexual misconduct. The Catholic Church is probably the safest place for children at this point in history.


Before proceeding, it is important to point out the scourge that child sexual abuse has been — not only for the church but for society as well. Few actions can distort a child’s life more than sexual abuse. It is a form of emotional and spiritual homicide and it starts a trajectory toward a skewed sense of sexuality. When committed by a person in authority, it creates a distrust of almost anyone, anywhere.


As a volunteer prison chaplain in Alaska, I have found a corollary between those who have been incarcerated for child sexual abuse and the priests who have committed such grievous actions. They tend to be very smart and manipulative. They tend to be well liked and charming. They tend to have one aim in life — to satisfy their hunger. Most are highly narcissistic and do not see the harm that they have caused. They view the children they have abused not as people but as objects. They rarely show remorse and moreover, sometimes portray themselves as the victims. They are, in short, dangerous people and should never be trusted again. Most will recommit their crimes if given a chance.


As for the numerous reports about the case of Father Murphy, the back-story has not been reported as of yet.


In 1996, I was introduced to the story of Father Murphy, formerly the principal of St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee. It had been common knowledge for decades that during Father Murphy’s tenure at the school (1950-1974) there had been a scandal at St. John’s involving him and some deaf children. The details, however, were sketchy at best.


Courageous advocacy on behalf of the victims (and often their wives), led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to revisit the matter in 1996. In internal discussions of the curia for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, it became obvious that we needed to take strong and swift action with regard to the wrongs of several decades ago. With the consent of then-Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, we began an investigation into the allegations of child sexual abuse as well as the violation of the crime of solicitation within the confessional by Father Murphy.


We proceeded to start a trial against Father Murphy. I was the presiding judge in this matter and informed Father Murphy that criminal charges were going to be levied against him with regard to child sexual abuse and solicitation in the confessional.


In my interactions with Father Murphy, I got the impression I was dealing with a man who simply did not get it. He was defensive and threatening.


Between 1996 and August, 1998, I interviewed, with the help of a qualified interpreter, about a dozen victims of Father Murphy. These were gut-wrenching interviews. In one instance the victim had become a perpetrator himself and had served time in prison for his crimes. I realized that this disease is virulent and was easily transmitted to others. I heard stories of distorted lives, sexualities diminished or expunged. These were the darkest days of my own priesthood, having been ordained less than 10 years at the time. Grace-filled spiritual direction has been a Godsend.


I also met with a community board of deaf Catholics. They insisted that Father Murphy should be removed from the priesthood and highly important to them was their request that he be buried not as a priest but as a layperson. I indicated that a judge, I could not guarantee the first request and could only make a recommendation to the latter request.


In the summer of 1998, I ordered Father Murphy to be present at a deposition at the chancery in Milwaukee. I received, soon after, a letter from his doctor that he was in frail health and could travel not more than 20 miles (Boulder Junction to Milwaukee would be about 276 miles). A week later, Father Murphy died of natural causes in a location about 100 miles from his home


With regard to the inaccurate reporting on behalf of the New York Times, the Associated Press, and those that utilized these resources, first of all, I was never contacted by any of these news agencies but they felt free to quote me. Almost all of my quotes are from a document that can be found online with the correspondence between the Holy See and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In an October 31, 1997 handwritten document, I am quoted as saying ‘odds are that this situation may very well be the most horrendous, number wise, and especially because these are physically challenged , vulnerable people. “ Also quoted is this: “Children were approached within the confessional where the question of circumcision began the solicitation.”


The problem with these statements attributed to me is that they were handwritten. The documents were not written by me and do not resemble my handwriting. The syntax is similar to what I might have said but I have no idea who wrote these statements, yet I am credited as stating them. As a college freshman at the Marquette University School of Journalism, we were told to check, recheck, and triple check our quotes if necessary. I was never contacted by anyone on this document, written by an unknown source to me. Discerning truth takes time and it is apparent that the New York Times, the Associated Press and others did not take the time to get the facts correct.


Additionally, in 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.


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.


Fourth, Pope Benedict has repeatedly apologized for the shame of the sexual abuse of children in various venues and to a worldwide audience. This has never happened before. He has met with victims. He has reigned in entire conferences of bishops on this matter, the Catholic Bishops of Ireland being the most recent. He has been most reactive and proactive of any international church official in history with regard to the scourge of clergy sexual abuse of minors. Instead of blaming him for inaction on these matters, he has truly been a strong and effective leader on these issues.


Finally, over the last 25 years, vigorous action has taken place within the church to avoid harm to children. Potential seminarians receive extensive sexual-psychological evaluation prior to admission. Virtually all seminaries concentrate their efforts on the safe environment for children. There have been very few cases of recent sexual abuse of children by clergy during the last decade or more.


Catholic dioceses all across the country have taken extraordinary steps to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. As one example, which is by no means unique, is in the Archdiocese of Anchorage, where I currently work. Here, virtually every public bathroom in parishes has a sign asking if a person has been abuse by anyone in the church. A phone number is given to report the abuse and almost all church workers in the archdiocese are required to take yearly formation sessions in safe environment classes. I am not sure what more the church can do.


To conclude, the events during the 1960’s and 1970’s of the sexual abuse of minors and solicitation in the confessional by Father Lawrence Murphy are unmitigated and gruesome crimes. On behalf of the church, I am deeply sorry and ashamed for the wrongs that have been done by my brother priests but realize my sorrow is probably of little importance 40 years after the fact. The only thing that we can do at this time is to learn the truth, beg for forgiveness, and do whatever is humanly possible to heal the wounds. The rest, I am grateful, is in God’s hands.


Father Thomas T. Brundage, JCL

Editor’s note: Father Brundage can be contacted at brundaget@archmil.org or by phone at (907) 745-3229 X 11.

Don't believe there is an Anti-Catholic bias in the media?

Think again!

The sex abuse scandal that is currently in the news is a horrible thing. I know that. We as Catholics have to endure this and endure the struggles against our Church perpetrated by evil desires and some evil people. What we must do is call for the truth. Truth in the accusations, truth in the way things are handled by the Church, and truth in the reporting about these incidents.

Unfortunately, there is a HORRIBLE Anti-Catholic bias in the media. They are attempting to use these scandals to mar and destroy the Church. If you don't believe that, and think I am exaggerating let me use an example from ABC News Online story: Pope Benedict Cannot Be Fired.

It is a silly headline to begin with, but I understand the outrage. I also understand many people have a very primary understanding of the Church and the position of Pope.

What I cannot understand is how ABC News can and will blatantly misinform and lie about the facts of this ordeal. Or how they allow things to be printed that are not only wrong, but also use the source of that misinformation as a credible analyst on this issue.

Let me show you some examples of what I am talking about:

"He is really accountable to no one, and that is the history," said former priest Richard Sipe, author of the 1990 book, "A Secret World" about the priesthood. "There have been a pope or two who have resigned, several hundred have been murdered, but it's a very stable organization from the top down. What other monarchy do you know that's lasted for 2,000 years?"

"He is untouchable, there is no question about that," Sipe said.

This is a small point, but it shows the lengths to which ABC and other media outlets will go to harm and taint the view of the Church and the Papacy. So let me go through the problems with this blurb.

1. This is a former priest. So they are pushing him as some sort of AUTHORITY on the Papacy. What they don't tell you is WHY he is not longer a priest. They instead allow the reader to assume why. Most people will infer that he left because of some displeasure.
2. He wrote a book in 1990. It doesn't say how long he was a priest, when he left the priesthood, or what the books was about. Again they leave it to the readers to infer what it is about based on the title and the theme of this story. Wonder what they want us to assume? 
3. The book, "A Secret World", isn't about the secrecy of the priesthood or the Papacy. In fact, a quick browse of its Amazon Page shows that it is instead a book about the celibacy of priests. Ahh... the whole "this wouldn't happen if we let priests marry" angle... is that really where ABC wants to go?
4. So what does Mr. Sipe say? Well first he says that a pope or two have resigned. In actuality easy and quick research shows that it was more than that. The number is around 7 but there is a lot of disagreement about the actual number, and it depends on what you count as a "resignation." Regardless, I don't think Sipe was trying to be accurate here, instead I think he was trying to make it seem as if few men WILLINGLY relinquish this "power."
5. Then comes the statement that blew me away... "several hundred have been murdered..."?!?!? What? No. That can't be right? Of course not, but let's see how BAD of a misstatement this was.
1. There have been 266 Popes*. Now, granted this number is debatable or arguable for various reasons. For argument sake, let's go with this number, since it is used by Newadvent.org
2. The term several is highly ambiguous. Yet, it often means to be more than 2 or 3 but "not a lot." Again let's err on the low side and by several he meant between 300-400.
3. The problem is already evident.
4. Wikipedia lists 8 official "Murdered Popes." Generally I won't use wikipedia for "research" but I figure that at the VERY least the editors and writers at ABC know how to use google and can click on the wikipedia article. (They also list 11 "suspicious deaths" of Popes.
5. So 7-10 resignations = "a Pope or two" while 8 Murders = "several hundred."
6. Monarchy. Do I even have to explain how wrong this is? Ok good.

So how does this show bias? I think it is pretty evident. ABC clearly didn't check the facts, nor did they explain Mr. Sipe's comments. They left too much to the imagination of their readers. These are professionals. They get paid to work hours a day doing JUST this. I mean, this writer probably worked on this article for days, and didn't fact check these things? Why? 

I'll tell you why. They want to paint the Church in the worst possible light. There isn't another explanation. If there is one... tell me, and I will easily tell you how that explanation is an excuse and not an explanation. Sure a media source can write a story with any slant they want. Yet ABC purports itself to be an objective news source. It is clearly Anti-Catholic. So... if in just that one paragraph they are willing to allow so much misinformation and Anti-Catholic sentiment through... imagine how much more exists in the rest of this story, and the rest of the stories out there by other outlets with an even larger anti-Catholic and anti-Christian agenda? Be careful what you read.

-Posted by: Joe