Sexual abuse scandal in Catholic archdiocese of Milwaukee

The sexual abuse scandal in the Milwaukee Archdiocese is a series of sexual-abuse cases that occurred in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Lawrence Murphy was a priest who taught at the former St. John School for the Deaf in the Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis from 1950 to 1974. He is believed to have molested up to 200 deaf boys before the mid-1970s. Local law enforcement agencies, including the Milwaukee Police Department, the St. Francis police, and the Milwaukee County District Attorney, were informed of the abuse in 1974 by adult graduates of the St. John School for the Deaf, but expressed doubts about the credibility of the allegations and the statute of limitations, and did nothing.

Then Milwaukee Archbishop William Edward Cousins gave Murphy a leave of absence in 1974 and allowed him to move to his mother's house in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, which is in the Diocese of Superior. Cousins did not tell the Bishop of Superior the reason Murphy was not living in Milwaukee.

In 1977, Rembert Weakland succeeded Cousins as Archbishop of Milwaukee. Weakland stated in a deposition, that he was aware of the accusations against Murphy in 1977, and prohibited Murphy from saying Mass in Milwaukee, but otherwise did nothing, and gave no information about Murphy to the Diocese of Superior where Murphy was living. Weakland offered to transfer Murphy to the Diocese of Superior, but the offer was not accepted, and Murphy finally retired as a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in January 1993. In December 1993, Weakland had Murphy evaluated by a psychotherapist. During the interview, Murphy admitted molesting boys at least up until 1974, including during the sacrament of penance, which is an offense under canon law. In July 1996, Weakland notified the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and asked how to proceed. Although the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time did not have jurisdiction over most incidents involving sexual abuse by priests, it did have authority over cases involving solicitation by priests during the sacrament of penance. Weakland stated that "[I] got an answer back saying yes. We could open the case", and the process against Murphy was begun in October 1996. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone instructed Wisconsin bishops to convene a canonical trial, which could have resulted in a range of punishments, including laicization. A formal church trial was initiated but later dropped because Archbishop Weakland decided that a pastoral solution was more appropriate because Murphy was elderly and in poor health. Murphy died several months after he requested that the Vatican halt a canonical trial against him because of his ill health.

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