{"id":4992,"date":"2010-10-01T16:35:13","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T16:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/priest-cleared-of-sex-abuse-charges-for-second-time.html"},"modified":"2010-10-01T16:35:13","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T16:35:13","slug":"priest-cleared-of-sex-abuse-charges-for-second-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/10\/priest-cleared-of-sex-abuse-charges-for-second-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Priest cleared of sex abuse charges for second time"},"content":{"rendered":"

It happened in the Archdiocese of Boston<\/a>:  <\/p>\n

\nParishioners and priests at St. Francis Xavier Church say they’re happy to have the Rev. Charles Murphy back after he was cleared of sexual-abuse allegations for the second time in less than five years.<\/p>\n

\"g12c00000000000000043af97bfa338963e758e05b7a0977a3ea9d6dcaf.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>But it’s still unclear whether the 77-year-old priest will return full time to the congregation, which held prayer meetings to support him while the last allegations against him were being investigated.<\/p>\n

Kelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Boston, said Cardinal Sean O’Malley will meet with the Rev. Murphy to figure out what he will do next.<\/p>\n

“In the very near term, the cardinal and Father Murphy will sit down to discuss the next steps and how he will continue to serve,” Lynch said.<\/p>\n

O’Malley restored the Rev. Murphy’s senior-priest status on Tuesday after an advisory board that investigates allegations of abuse by priests found insufficient evidence to support a 53-year-old South Shore man’s allegation that the Rev. Murphy molested him four times in the early 1970s. Murphy was a priest at St. Agatha’s Church in Milton at the time.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer who represented the Rev. Murphy’s accuser, said his client is considering filing a civil suit against the priest.<\/p>\n

“My client feels re-victimized,” Garabedian said.<\/p>\n

He said the Ardiocesan Review Board was biased toward the church when it cleared the Rev. Murphy. The nine-member board, which includes a rabbi, a priest, a social worker and a judge, makes recommendations to Cardinal O’Malley. One seat on the board is currently vacant.<\/p>\n

Garabedian said he has represented more than 750 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese, including a Rockland woman who accused the Rev. Murphy of molesting her when she was a girl and he was working at the Boston School for the Deaf in Randolph.<\/p>\n

Those allegations were part of a 2004 lawsuit filed by 18 former students who said the Rev. Murphy, another priest and 13 nuns physically and sexually abused them or turned a blind eye to their mistreatment between 1946 and 1977.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Continue at the link.<\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b>  Comments for this thread are closed. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happened in the Archdiocese of Boston:   Parishioners and priests at St. Francis Xavier Church say they’re happy to have the Rev. Charles Murphy back after he was cleared of sexual-abuse allegations for the second time in less than five years. 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