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  2 Accused Priests Were Sent to Pa
The Pair Had Sexually Assaulted Boston-Area Youths. They Were Transferred to Villanova a Decade Ago

By David O'Reilly
Philadelphia Inquirer
December 21, 2002

Two Roman Catholic priests who sexually molested teenage boys in the Archdiocese of Boston were transferred to the Philadelphia area about 10 years ago when their crimes were discovered.

The Rev. Alfred E. Murphy, 74, and the Rev. George Callahan, 72, are members of the Augustinian order of Catholic priests.

After their victims sued in 1993, the two priests were assigned to the order's provincial headquarters in Villanova.

The Rev. Donald Reilly, head of the province, was not available for comment yesterday but has said the two priests had not been in active ministry since their arrival, and had been supervised by other members of the order.

Previously secret court documents on the two priests were among about 2,000 pages of materials on dozens of Boston-area priests released earlier this month by a Massachusetts court.

According to the Boston Herald, Father Murphy - then pastor of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lawrence, Mass. - molested a 17-year-old member of the parish in the summer of 1983 during a three-week cross-country trip in his new Winnebago.

In 1993, the Archdiocese of Boston settled his lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Father Murphy did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Court documents released recently also indicate that shortly before Father Murphy's assaults, Father Callahan had told the same youth that if he wanted to "get closer to God," he should "get undressed and get closer to him." Father Callahan also was accused of molesting another boy in Boston. His suits were settled in the early 1990s.

Father Callahan also resided at the Church of the Assumption. He could not reached for comment yesterday.

 
 

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