Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Exposing the Lies in the New York Times

In an article posted yesterday, Doug pointed out that the New York Times, which to some is the most authoritative source of news in this country, has been engaging in a campaign to discredit the Holy Father. The story mostly involves a U.S. priest, Fr. Lawrence Murphy, who abused many boys at a Church-run School for the Deaf in Wisconsin. The Times has implicated the Holy Father in what it paints as a conspiracy to cover-up the case and to refuse to bring Fr. Murphy to trial.

Now Fr. Thomas Brundage, JCL, the priest who presided over the canonical criminal trial against Fr. Murphy, has written a rebuttal in which he points out serious factual errors in the Times account.

"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."

Read it all-- well worth your time.

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