The Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York state comprises the counties of Suffolk and Nassau. It is the sixth largest diocese in the United States and its current bishop William F. Murphy is a former priest and auxiliary bishop in Boston. During his tenure in Boston, Murphy was deeply involved in the secrecy and cover-up of priests who had sexually abused minors in the Archdiocese of Boston. Yet, in 2001, Murphy was promoted to the Diocese of Rockville Centre as its chief shepherd.
Soon after the Boston scandal broke in 2002, a grand jury was convened to investigate the actions of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in the burgeoning priest abuse scandal there. The grand jury issued a 181 page report on February 10, 2003. Unfortunately, like the Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s investigation, the grand jury could not do more than make recommendations for changes in the civil and criminal law because the statute of limitations had run on the sexual abuse charges.
However, the Suffolk County Grand Jury’s report is significant for its findings as well as a vehicle for change in child abuse reporting laws and civil and criminal statute of limitations changes across the country.
The grand jury concluded that “certain diocesan officials would have warranted criminal prosecution but for the fact that the existing statutes are inadequate.” In another part of the Report the grand jury notes, “Diocesan officials used the hollow promise of treatment and re-assignment for offenders and the inducement of monetary payments to victims to guarantee their silence. This had the further effect of concealing and preventing the discovery of heinous crimes committed by priests.”
Perhaps the best thing that came out of the Suffolk County Grand Jury report was the acknowledgement that the sexual abuse of children by priests as well as the subsequent conspiracy to cover it up by bishops was a crime, not just a sin as the bishops liked to call it.
