Follow blindly. Don't question. Just do what you're told. Be a little good catholic robot.
I grew up in a strict Catholic home. I endured the long winded ritualistic mass every Sunday. In addition, I was required to attend CCD (religion education) every Wednesday night for 2 hours.
People think praying to God is like rubbing the genie lamp. Please God, I really want that new truck. Please let me win the lottery. My prayers to God were not pleas for material things. I prayed every night and I pleaded with God to help me with my depression starting at age 11. I hated myself. I wanted to be a good kid, because I wasn't. When my parents split up I needed comfort and there was no God or person help me get through it. I stood up in CCD class to question Sister Rita and whatever she was saying. I proved to be a skeptical girl.
One of the most painful parts of being a Catholic child was going to confession. I remember when I was 16 I was truthful behind the partition. I told Father Don I disrespected my mother on a daily basis with drag down fights. I drank and smoked weed. I had sex with my boyfriend.
The next thing I heard was, "BLASPHMER! BLASPHMER!" He's yelling at me about the sex thing and I said, "My mom told me it's OK if you're truly in love" that was out of context but I used it anyway to make a point to Father Don. I said, "Isn't God supposed to be forgiving?
The other families in our parish were very cruel to me and my family. I can't imagine what we ever did to them. They held their piggy snouts in the air, ignored us and had parties across the street from my house without inviting us. I was bullied by older kids who went to my church. I became insecure and mad that they treated us like dysfunctional dogs.
HYPOCRITES - TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
In the early 80s my church began to feel weird and it was hard to understand as a child. One of our priests, Father Bernie, left the church to marry one of our parishioners. He was "counseling" a recent widow with 5 kids.
Then there was Father John D. Murphy. He came to our parish in 1983. Everyone loved Father John. He was so open and friendly, warm, inviting. No one ever had a bad thing to say about him. He talked about the work he did in Chicago. He "mentored" young boys from the wrong side of the tracks. Everyone thought "Oh...that is so noble of him!" He was our "Father Flanigan".
After I graduated high school in 1991 I heard that Father John abruptly left St. Rita's. No one in the Church gave an explanation. Father John didn't say goodbye to anyone. He literally vanished into thin air.
In 1994 one of my mom's friend's from church was visiting Chicago and took her family to the Shedd Aquarium. To her surprise Father John was working there as an employee taking tickets. She was so surprised to see him that she ran up to him with open arms trying to hug him and say hello! As soon as their eyes locked Father John looked away and didn't acknowledge her. Then he disappeared for the second time. Just as abruptly how he left St. Rita's in 1993.
I knew something was fishy. A priest doesn't just leave the church. If a priest moves to another parish we celebrate what he's done for us and wish him well. No one said a word as to why he was gone.
I found out years later that Father John had molested an altar boy that I knew in church and at school. This prompted me to research what happened to Father John and why he was working at the Shedd Aquarium. Thank the lord for the internet or no one would have ever known what he did.
I found this article, the first of many to come. This was the day I denounced my religion and vowed to never return to this church or anywhere else.
I was on my own.
There was no God.
CHICAGO - Two men who say they were molested as children at a Chicago church filed a lawsuit Friday against a former Catholic priest who served at a Caledonia church for about 10 years. In addition to John D. Murphy, a former priest at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Caledonia, the suit names the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and a religious order as defendants.
"...The complaint alleged that Murphy molested them in the 1970s and 1980s at the St. Rita's parish in Chicago. The men say they were minors when the abuse took place, one while on trips with Murphy to a Michigan seminary and the other while Murphy worked at St. Rita of Cascia Church in Chicago."
"Instead of teaching them the ways of the priest, he taught them the ways of the predator," said Jeff Anderson, the men's attorney.
Murphy served at St. Rita's, 4339 Douglas Ave., in Racine from 1983 to 1993. Members of the church said Friday that Murphy worked with children at St. Rita's, performing all the roles of a priest at the church and its school…Father John's replacement, Rev. Joseph Stobba stated that he knew of Murphy, but never worked closely with him. From all he had heard, Stobba said Murphy was a "fine person" with a good reputation in Racine.
"...the lawsuit questions the decision of the Augustinian religious order for not investigating alleged previous complaints against the priest."
The Chicago Tribune (Source)
February 15, 2003
"…John D. Murphy, 60, who left the priesthood in 1993, had been working as a guest services supervisor at Shedd Aquarium and as a docent who led tours there that included children. The aquarium said it hired Murphy in 1994 based on a "positive written record" from the order's personnel director and that it did not learn of the allegations until Feb. 5, according to Shedd spokesman Roger German.
"…Following independent professional advice, Murphy was considered fit to minister without restrictions, he was assigned to St. Rita's, a parish in Racine, Wisconsin. Additional allegations surfaced in 1993, and Murphy chose to resign."
...One of Murphy's victims stated he saw him at the Shedd Aquarium, "I went up and asked if he was Father Murphy, and he said, 'No. I'm John Murphy…I told him, 'When I was a boy, you did some things to me you shouldn't have done.' And he looked down at the ground and said, 'I meant you no harm.' I asked him if he knew who I was. He looked down and said [my name]." Then the man asked Murphy what he really wanted to know: "Are you still doing this?" Murphy shook his head no.
WHAT DID HIS NEW NEIGHBORS KNOW?
Chicago Daily Herald (Source)
December 9, 2004
"...A group of men who claimed in a lawsuit they were sexually abused by a Chicago priest more than 20 years ago distributed fliers bearing Murphy's picture and detailing his history to the homes, grocery stores and schools in his Carpentersville neighborhood.
Neighbors were grateful that information came out..and angry that no one had before. John D. Murphy was never convicted of sexual abuse, never even charged. His name does not appear on a sex offender registry.
Murphy was named in a civil lawsuit brought by 13 men who accused him of molestation when he was a Catholic priest assigned to St. Rita of Cascia parish on Chicago's South Side.
In the settlement, which does not include any statement of guilt, the archdiocese paid the men undisclosed financial rewards, promised to build a memorial for them and vowed to involve abuse victims and their families in a national review board that hears allegations against priests, Jim Geoly, an attorney for the Augustinian Order.
IT'S ALWAYS THAT NICE GUY
"Are you kidding me?" Tammy Guzy cried when she read the flier. "The old man? With the little, white poodle?" Guzy lives two houses away from Murphy with her son, 16, and two daughters, 5 and 7. "It kind of freaks me out because he talks to my kids all the time," Guzy said. "I know it's something he did a long time ago, so it's not really any of my business, but it's good to know."
Across the street, the Baldwin family were startled to learn their friendly neighbor was accused of sexual abuse. "All we knew is that he's real nice and walked his dog and said hi to everybody…We should have been told about this sooner."
"...Murphy was removed from service as a priest and immediately reassigned to St. Rita parish in Racine, Wisconsin. In 1993, he left the priesthood. The 1981 complaint was not forwarded to authorities because it "was not considered serious sexual misconduct," said Jim Geoly, an attorney for the Augustinian Order. "It was not crystal clear what the crime was."
But the absence of criminal charges has left Murphy able to go where he wants without anyone knowing who he is.
When a priest is removed, the church makes an announcement in the community where it occurred. The church doesn't trace his steps if he moves away. "I think it's incumbent on the church to notify people…If (a priest) molests one child, and they could have prevented it.
Never again. I am now a kind, loving and non judging atheist.
Other John D. Murphy articles:
