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The Associated Press: Milwaukee clergy abuse victim upset with memoir
A victim of an abusive Roman Catholic priest and victims' supporters expressed disappointment Monday over former Archbishop Rembert Weakland's upcoming memoir and say he and the Milwaukee church continue to hide one of the worst abuse cases.
Arthur Budzinski said the excerpts from the book that have been disclosed ahead of its June release are striking. Now 60, the former student at a Milwaukee-area Catholic school for the deaf believes leaders failed to protect students and Weakland should have tried harder to defrock the abuser.
"It just doesn't make sense, it sounds like he's changing his story," said Kiki Dawson, Budzinski's daughter, as she translated his sign language at a news conference.
Weakland wrote in an e-mail Monday to The Associated Press that he tried in his memoir to recount how he and the archdiocese dealt with abuse cases and his own growth in understanding the problem.
"That this account will assuage the anger of so many victims is dubious," he wrote. "I am not sure my words can be that effective, but I hope that at least, with open minds, they will see my sincerity and the progress that was made."
But Weakland's sincerity is what Budzinski and others questioned Monday.
Peter Isely, the Midwest director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Weakland was more interested in sheltering the abuser at the deaf school, Father Lawrence Murphy, than finding the truth.
"There are current cases against the archdiocese and their senior management for covering this up. The effects of Father Murphy's crimes are ongoing," Isely said. "Father Murphy may be dead, but his legacy lives on. And the people who were involved in this case are alive and well."
Murphy worked at St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis from 1950 to 1974 and worked for the archdiocese until he died in 1998. In 2004, the archdiocese named Murphy as one of 43 Milwaukee-area priests restricted from duties because of abuse allegations.
Court documents released Monday in an ongoing fraud case against the church show Weakland oversaw a 1993 evaluation that concluded Murphy likely assaulted up to 200 students.
Budzinski attended the school from 1953 to 1964 and says Murphy sexually abused him. The Associated Press does not normally name sex abuse victims, but Budzinski said he came forward to help deaf friends who still struggle with their encounters with Murphy.
"He still thinks about it every day," Budzinski's daughter said. "Some of the other deaf victims are really struggling. He was able to pick up the pieces and move on."
Weakland contends he worked to have Murphy defrocked and the Vatican's tribunals moved slowly. But in a response Weakland wrote to a person asking why a public funeral Mass wasn't held for Murphy, the then-archbishop cited concern about the "awful" reaction from the press.
"I had to do what I did and keep this as quiet as possible. So far we have succeeded in preserving his reputation, and I hope we are able to do so in the future," Weakland wrote in an October 1998 letter now included in court documents.
Weakland, 82, resigned as archbishop in 2002 after admitting the archdiocese secretly paid $450,000 to a man who accused him of sexual abuse decades earlier but he has denied any abuse.
He told the AP in an interview last week that he is gay and his memoir describes his struggles with being gay.
A victim of an abusive Roman Catholic priest and victims' supporters expressed disappointment Monday over former Archbishop Rembert Weakland's upcoming memoir and say he and the Milwaukee church continue to hide one of the worst abuse cases.
Arthur Budzinski said the excerpts from the book that have been disclosed ahead of its June release are striking. Now 60, the former student at a Milwaukee-area Catholic school for the deaf believes leaders failed to protect students and Weakland should have tried harder to defrock the abuser.
"It just doesn't make sense, it sounds like he's changing his story," said Kiki Dawson, Budzinski's daughter, as she translated his sign language at a news conference.
Weakland wrote in an e-mail Monday to The Associated Press that he tried in his memoir to recount how he and the archdiocese dealt with abuse cases and his own growth in understanding the problem.
"That this account will assuage the anger of so many victims is dubious," he wrote. "I am not sure my words can be that effective, but I hope that at least, with open minds, they will see my sincerity and the progress that was made."
But Weakland's sincerity is what Budzinski and others questioned Monday.
Peter Isely, the Midwest director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Weakland was more interested in sheltering the abuser at the deaf school, Father Lawrence Murphy, than finding the truth.
"There are current cases against the archdiocese and their senior management for covering this up. The effects of Father Murphy's crimes are ongoing," Isely said. "Father Murphy may be dead, but his legacy lives on. And the people who were involved in this case are alive and well."
Murphy worked at St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis from 1950 to 1974 and worked for the archdiocese until he died in 1998. In 2004, the archdiocese named Murphy as one of 43 Milwaukee-area priests restricted from duties because of abuse allegations.
Court documents released Monday in an ongoing fraud case against the church show Weakland oversaw a 1993 evaluation that concluded Murphy likely assaulted up to 200 students.
Budzinski attended the school from 1953 to 1964 and says Murphy sexually abused him. The Associated Press does not normally name sex abuse victims, but Budzinski said he came forward to help deaf friends who still struggle with their encounters with Murphy.
"He still thinks about it every day," Budzinski's daughter said. "Some of the other deaf victims are really struggling. He was able to pick up the pieces and move on."
Weakland contends he worked to have Murphy defrocked and the Vatican's tribunals moved slowly. But in a response Weakland wrote to a person asking why a public funeral Mass wasn't held for Murphy, the then-archbishop cited concern about the "awful" reaction from the press.
"I had to do what I did and keep this as quiet as possible. So far we have succeeded in preserving his reputation, and I hope we are able to do so in the future," Weakland wrote in an October 1998 letter now included in court documents.
Weakland, 82, resigned as archbishop in 2002 after admitting the archdiocese secretly paid $450,000 to a man who accused him of sexual abuse decades earlier but he has denied any abuse.
He told the AP in an interview last week that he is gay and his memoir describes his struggles with being gay.
