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	Milwaukee Archbishop Supports Victims, Defends Pope By Matt Smith WBAY March 31, 2010 http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=12231328 WISCONSIN -- During the most holy week of the Christian year, a cloud of sin hangs over the Catholic Church. Tuesday night, Milwaukee's archbishop publicly addressed the alleged sex abuse cover-up extending from Wisconsin to the Vatican. The late Father Lawrence Murphy is accused of molesting as many as 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Milwaukee in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Last week, a victims advocacy group called SNAP said it has documentation that Vatican leaders, including Pope Benedict when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, stopped a church trial against Father Murphy. Archbishop Jerome Listecki addressed a full congregation in honesty and candor about the alleged sexual abuse. "As bishop, a priest, and as a man of faith, I apologize to anyone who has been a victim of clergy sexual abuse. This crime, this sin, this horror should never occur, especially by a priest. Those who committed these crimes and those, including some bishops, who didn't do everything in their power to stop it go against everything in the Church and the priesthood represent. For those actions, I offer my sincere apology." Archbishop Listecki defended the Pope in the case of Father Murphy. "Mistakes were made in the Lawrence Murphy case. The mistakes were not made in Rome in 1996, 1997, 1998. The mistakes were made here, in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in the 70s, 80s, and 90s by the Church, by civil authorities, by church officials and by bishops." He says the Church has changed because of the "brave victims-survivors" who have come forward. "So many people have suffered -- first and foremost, victims and their families. Because of the actions of the few priests who committed these crimes, all of us continue to suffer today." While the archbishop said his words won't be enough for everyone, he says the Church has taken major steps to "purge this abuse from our Church."
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