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Monday, January 8, 2007 | Reason : Children and Religion | print version Print | Comments

Document Open Letter to Rev. John Auer

by John Patrick Murphy

This letter was sent on January 7, and as of yet no reply has been received.

Rev. John Auer
Pastor, St Paul's Catholic Church
Colorado Springs, CO

This morning you ordered me, my wife Mary, our daughter, Lisa, her husband, Jerimy Noon, our granddaughters, Halley, 7, and Lily, 2, together with my younger brother Edward, his wife Rose, her parents Tony and Dottie Brizzolara, two family friends, and our dogs, Mattie and Rascal, to leave the front of St. Paul's where we had peacefully assembled well outside from the front doors, and greeted the parishioners as they came to the Sunday 8 AM mass. Edward and I held posters which showed a photo of us as young boys, about 8 and 10 years old. By then we each had been molested by Leonard Abercrombie. At the time we were altar boys at Pauline Chapel as there was no St. Paul's then, and Eddie had been baptized there, and each of us made our first communion there when Rev. Michael Harrington was the pastor.

Our family passed out a document which was a plea to remember the victims of priests like Abercrombie, and bishops like the Most Reverend Archbishop Urban J. Vehr, who caused Ed, and I, and our brother, Dr. Martin J. Murphy Jr., to be molested. It also asked the churchgoers to call upon you to protect the children in your care, especially to help in the healing of the victims of pedophile priests, as your bishop ordered you to do, according to The Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs web page.

A few years later there was a great campaign to raise money to build St. Paul's next to Pauline Chapel, and our Father and Mother, Martin J. Murphy and Gertrude Murphy, were primary donors who build the church we stood in front of this morning--- the one we were ordered from.

A few years later it was decided to build Pauline Memorial School and in short order it was built. As Edward was a pupil there he passed by a prominently placed photograph of the groundbreaking, honoring the four people who were primarily responsible for building the school, they were, Archbishop Vehr, Rev. Michael Harrington, Charles Tutt, and Martin J. Murphy, Esq. his father.

Our mother's funeral was held there, our children were baptized there, and we were ordered off for the offense of asking good people to think about families like ours, and the families that had 5 of their children kill themselves because they could not bear the pain of what happened to them when a single sexual predator priest came into their young lives. Our pass out documented the murder of 2 men, by a priest, when one of them confronted the priest with the accusation that he had been raping children. It named the priest who has been found to have molested children and remains in active parish ministry. We were there not just for our healing but for those whose lives were taken, who had their trust shattered when they were just young children, although it may have taken a few years to kill them, their lives were taken when they were molested. We were there for today's children and their children and their's. Your church admits that over 5,000 clergy have molested untold numbers of children in their care. We were there because it was where we belonged.

And if things were right with you and your church, you would have been there with us, reaching out to us and helping let your parishioners know which side you, and your bishop were on. Instead of passing out leaflets with us, you called the police on us, when I told you straight out that we were not leaving and that we were standing on property that we paid taxes on, not you. Instead of standing for the children you stood against them and for the church of cover ups that cared not for the children, but protected serial child rapists instead.

Your conduct this morning was crass and disgusting, and highlighted the very facts our literature set forth. Namely, your church is not to be trusted when it comes to children or its claim of care for its victims.

Regretfully,

John Patrick Michael Murphy
January 7, 2007

Comments 1 - 28 of 28 |

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1. Comment #16783 by Dogbreath on January 8, 2007 at 6:23 pm

 avatarThe question that interests me is whether such actions render faith indefensible for these abused famlies? Priests claim to directly commune with God. The Papacy is built on divine affirmation. I suppose this must mean that God was silent on these issues. Were the priests able to carry out their disgusting activities under a cloak of secrecy from God, or did he punish them? I suppose that, over the last few years the Pope has had a never ending series of dicussions with God where God has been lecturing him about how wrong this kind of behavior is?

On another level, I don't need the guiding hand of any religion to know that this behavior is morally wrong. I don't need a God to let me know whether this behavior is good or bad.

Other Comments by Dogbreath

2. Comment #16786 by DavidJMH on January 8, 2007 at 7:14 pm

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wonder whether or not the Murphy family and the other victims and families have come to realize that perhaps their religious beliefs need serious questioning, given how their "God" sought to protect them from not only the molestation, but the whole rotten organization which supports it.

Other Comments by DavidJMH

3. Comment #16787 by hmsbeagle3 on January 8, 2007 at 7:16 pm

Though Mr. Murphy's letter conjures the worst kind of imagery, it was an inspiring message.

Should it be so difficult to protect children?

Other Comments by hmsbeagle3

4. Comment #16789 by palebluedot on January 8, 2007 at 7:26 pm

Yet still they go, in their thousands, like Lambs to the slaughter.

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5. Comment #16794 by Zappi on January 8, 2007 at 8:10 pm

I was recently observing some religious people and noticed something interesting in their behavior: it was not truthful.

It could be related to the fact they have to fool themselves into believing a idiotic story, and then this makes them at ease with lying to other people as well.

No wonder the truth hurts them so deeply.

Other Comments by Zappi

6. Comment #16796 by icouldbewrongbut on January 8, 2007 at 8:46 pm

DavidJMH, I think that John Patrick Murphy is a freethinker:

www.freethinkerscs.com
Infidels.org

Other Comments by icouldbewrongbut

7. Comment #16798 by CruciFiction on January 8, 2007 at 8:53 pm

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." - Thomas Jefferson

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8. Comment #16805 by Andrew Charles on January 8, 2007 at 10:57 pm

A good illustration of the hypocrisy of religion, especially Catholicism.

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9. Comment #16808 by Sancus on January 8, 2007 at 11:21 pm

The scary thing is that there may be no hypocrisy, Andrew Charles. These are the sort of atrocities we can expect from people who think they have a right to mold and shape children.

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10. Comment #16816 by Luthien on January 9, 2007 at 1:12 am

 avatarLast year there was at least one diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland that started taking up a 2nd collection (of money, in addition to the collection they normally take up) which people were told was a special collection "for the Priests". It later emerged that this money was going towards out of court settlements for abuse cases!

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11. Comment #16817 by Aussie on January 9, 2007 at 1:21 am

This can't be true. Christianity is the ultimate source of morality in our society. Without religion we would all be rapists and murderers.

This can't be true. Priests, of all people, would be aware of the terrible fate in the lake of fire awaiting anyone in the hereafter who would commit such heinous crimes against children.

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12. Comment #16823 by kmccardle on January 9, 2007 at 2:31 am

My thoughts go out to Mr. Murphy and his family. It is horrible to think of the atrocities committed by so called community leaders and role models. This just goes to show that religion by no means provides a good sense of morality.

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13. Comment #16825 by Joadist on January 9, 2007 at 2:39 am

How soon we forget.

A little more than a century ago, the Catholic Church was still castrating young boys for their choirs.

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14. Comment #16828 by Homo Incredulous on January 9, 2007 at 3:20 am

 avatarWhy on earth did he get his children baptized there?

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15. Comment #16833 by Homo economicus on January 9, 2007 at 4:46 am

 avatarI agree that the Rev. John Auer may have handled it better. Eg spoke to the family, and spoke of the need for vigilence so that no one can use their position of authority for bad ends. Did he do this in his sermon that day?

We are responding of course to the letter rather than getting a view from parishioners going into the church or the Rev John Auer response.

Needless to say, with the whole history of the church, what comes out is an attitude to defend the organisation rather than protect children and deal with people within the church who may be a threat to children. Such an attitude is not worthy of a human being.

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16. Comment #16845 by CruciFiction on January 9, 2007 at 6:57 am

Beth:

You said "...he sought to ban religious organisations from having to pay property tax..".

Religious institutions have been exempt from paying taxes in the US since 1913. I suspect you meant to say that he sought to repeal the exemption religious organisations now enjoy.

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17. Comment #16846 by CruciFiction on January 9, 2007 at 7:02 am

Oh, BTW, religious institutions now own more than 20% of the privately owned land area in the whole of the US. A tremendous strain on the American people who must subsidize this shortfall of billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Other Comments by CruciFiction

18. Comment #16859 by Irate Harry on January 9, 2007 at 8:52 am

Funny that there are no posts from the usual bunch of christian trolls, leaping to the defence of the disgraceful Auer, the hypocritical church, or the origin of dubious morality (i.e. the bible).

Cat got their tongues? or are they busy crafting their weasel words?

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19. Comment #16862 by NoLongerHaveBelief on January 9, 2007 at 9:11 am

A good point Harry.

Where is Robertson now then? He's usually harping on about the 'evil' of Atheism.

Why isn't he here now, to complain about lack of morality amongst Theists?

Oh! I guess the Devil tempted the evil priests to rape children. That's fine then. Glad we sorted that mess out.

Other Comments by NoLongerHaveBelief

20. Comment #16877 by Richard Morgan on January 9, 2007 at 10:40 am

No, it's quite clear that this business of being tempted by the devil is pure silliness.
Any right thinking person knows that the molested children were experiencing the lessons required by their Karma. They had obviously been sexual perverts in a previous life.

Well, not actually, it was God teaching them a lesson so that their parent's faith would be tested and made stronger in the refiner's fire.

Er, no, it's not quite that either, it's God humbling His Church...

In fact it's the Universal Life Force enabling children and parents alike to learn about detachment...

What I'm saying is that God moves in mysterious ways, that Jesus is the Sinner's friend and it's a chance for everyone to learn forgiveness...

There again, what a chance to get the sexual shakras opened up at such a young age...

And they didn't die, they went into transition...

Sincerely, my heart bleeds for the Murphy family. To suffer all of that, and then to have the suffering hideously multiplied by all the mythical, inhuman nonsense that is likely to be ladled on them.

Sometimes it's hard to resist the temptation to become as virulent as the Theists, isn't it?
But we must resist AND persist.

Other Comments by Richard Morgan

21. Comment #16886 by One Eyed Jack on January 9, 2007 at 11:38 am

 avatarWhat always jumps out at me when I read an account like this is that the most damning crime isn't the molestation. I doubt there is a much greater percentage of child predators in the priesthood than there are in the population in general. The greater crime is the Church's denial and cover-up. The Church allows the predator to continue hurting children by covering up their crimes. The author had it right -- the Church cares more for their image than they do for the children.

John 3:10 "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God;..."

I take this to mean that pedaphile priests and those that hide their crimes are children of the devil.

Gandhi nailed it when he said, "I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

OEJ

Other Comments by One Eyed Jack

22. Comment #16895 by CitizenPaine on January 9, 2007 at 1:29 pm

That letter has the ring of truth. A patethic commentary on the historical mistake which is the catholic church.

CitizenPaine

Other Comments by CitizenPaine

23. Comment #16897 by troodon on January 9, 2007 at 1:54 pm

Something that intrigues me: does the Christian religion even regard pedophilia as a sin? I'm certainly no expert on the bible or its various interpretations, but in the little reading I've done, any forbidding of pedophilia is conspicuously absent. The Ten Commandments are much more concerned about "important" sins like working on the Sabbath or worshipping other gods, than about protecting our children.

The Old Testament, from the few passages I've read, seem to sanction child sexual abuse rather than forbid it. This from Numbers:

"And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Jehovah. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

What glorious, uplifting moral teachings!

Can anyone else, with more knowledge of the bible than myself, tell me if pedophelia is even considered an "official sin" by the Christian religion? Or Islam or Judaism?

Other Comments by troodon

24. Comment #16900 by Diplo on January 9, 2007 at 2:22 pm

 avatarThe whole history of the Catholic church is virtually an unending succession of shameful acts that have been committed, or covered up, in the name of God. The Inquisition; the Conquistadors; the subjugation of women; the persecution of scientists; collaborating with the Nazis; exploiting the poor in workhouses; forcing single young women to give away their babies for adoption; helping the spread of AIDS through condemnation of contraception; the encouragement of sectarian violence; indoctrinating children from any early age with feelings of guilt and repression; and now the covering up of the horrific abuse of vulnerable children by sexually repressed old men. Disgusting.

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25. Comment #16954 by k1mgy on January 9, 2007 at 6:44 pm

 avatarThe church is such a political institution that, here in Boston, they got away with these same crimes.

Had you or I owned a business whose managers knew that child rape was occurring on our premises and by our employees, and we did nothing to stop it and even attempted to cover it up, we'd have our ass hauled right quick before a judge, answering to criminal charges such as "Conspiracy", "Obstruction of Justice", and "Racketeering".

But because the "holy" church is such a political institution, it survives unscathed from the retributive hand of the state. Prosecutors were apparently as afraid to drag the fat arses of the high preists before Grand juries as many are of criticizing religious "faith" for the sham that it is. In the end (sad pun) only a few individual priests were charged.

Thanks to civil litigation the holy church continues to be thrashed - forced to sell off property to pay out reparations for all the crimes, but the sad part is that because of the free ride they get here in 'Murca (tax-exempt status applies to property tax which can be significant for equivalent buildings and land) the citizens actually help in the pay off.

The forced religious indoctrination of children is a slow crime and therefore goes on virtually unnoticed (except perhaps not so now that courageous thinkers like Professor Dawkins brings this to light). The greater sin is the use of the power and "spirituality" of the holy church to effect child rape. This is deserving of the harshest punishment, both individually and institutionally, but the church as an institution will shake this off, just as they have all other forms of challenge.

Then, they will tell us that "god" forgave them, so why don't we?

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26. Comment #16957 by atheisticism on January 9, 2007 at 7:09 pm

That the catholic priesthood attracts pedophiles is only logical given what the job entails. The police force attracts bullies in much the same way. The police force is necessary and needs to be cleaned up. The catholic church is unnecessary at best and should be driven into extinction as soon as possible

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27. Comment #16961 by Brendan on January 9, 2007 at 7:24 pm

Anyone who is surprised by the actions of Rev. Auer must have come down with the last rain. The church has responded the same way many times and in many countries, and they will always act in this way because they believe that protecting the image of the church is more important than protecting the rights of individuals. In this way, the church is a very dangerous entity.

Other Comments by Brendan

28. Comment #201827 by ali80906 on June 30, 2008 at 9:47 am

i grew up in this church. my mother sang in the choir and chaired the stewardship and various other committees throughout her life. i made my 1st communion, confirmation, and was married in this church. father john married me. father john also officiated the memorial service we had when my parents were killed.

i am much younger than mr. murphy, and i do not know any of the priests he makes mention of. i do not remember when there was no school or st.paul's church.

i would like to make a comment on his open letter. i think what he and his family have had to experience is beyond horrible. i also think that they had every right to demonstrate. however, i do not believe that father john was completely out of line asking them to vacate. i do not know how the interaction took place.

knowing father john, it probably wasn't the most polite, well mannered of conversations. however, i believe he was trying to protect his parishioners. i have attended this church since i was 8 years old. i am now 31. i have never witnessed any pedophiliac anything, nor have i heard of any rumors that state that.

i am not at all suggesting this story was made up. the man or men who committed these disgusting act should face nothing less than death, a view i reserve only for those who commit crimes against children. i am just suggesting that one must not jump to conclusions.

this country was founded on the belief that we could worship how we chose. you may think Catholics are horrible monsters, but, please be respectful of each individual's right to worship as he pleases.

not every Catholic was molested, and not every priest was or is a pedophile.

and, honestly, when you believe that, it really takes away sympathy for the victims of these horrible crimes. you can't just lump all catholics or all priests into 1 category. it isn't right and it isn't true.

st.paul's was a great church. i believe it still is, for the most part. i do not care for father john. i never have. but, he is a good man. i do not know what is happening over there as i have not lived in colorado springs in 7 years, and i do not keep in touch with anyone who attends this church.

but, please, be respectful of this church. not all catholics are crazy, guilt-ridden hypocrites. of course, there are many who are, but look at the new life church scandals! there are just as many crazy christian hypocrites over there, just as there are crazy christian hypocrites everywhere. just like there are jewish hypocrites, agnostic hypocrites, muslim, hindu, buddhist, baptist, atheist, satanist, etc...

i do not read the bible, i do not pretend to understand it, and i do not try to live by it's words, but i do believe in god, and i believe that no one can judge another human being.

i am not a perfect person. but neither are any of you. i respect your right to believe whatever you want. i ask that you do the same.

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