An insult to fish

Damian Thompson today has an important article: The Pope, the judge, the paedophile priest and The New York Times. This includes the full article by Fr Brundage, the priest who was presiding judge at the tribunal which proceeded against Fr Murphy. The original is at Catholic Anchor, the website of the Diocese of Anchorage: Setting the record straight in the case of abusive Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy. When I clicked it a few minutes ago, there was a server error. Another try and it was OK but I guess that the server is being hit quite heavily just now so you can take the text from Damian Thompson or check the original. (The kind of procedure the NYT seems to have neglected.)

Fr Brundage sets out to do the following:

• To tell the back-story of what actually happened in the Father Murphy case on the local level;
• To outline the sloppy and inaccurate reporting on the Father Murphy case by the New York Times and other media outlets;
• To assert that Pope Benedict XVI has done more than any other pope or bishop in history to rid the Catholic Church of the scourge of child sexual abuse and provide for those who have been injured;
• To set the record straight with regards to the efforts made by the church to heal the wounds caused by clergy sexual misconduct. The Catholic Church is probably the safest place for children at this point in history.

This is a vitally important article which clears some of the fog of war that is wafting around at the moment. Many thanks to Damian Thompson and Simon Caldwell for bringing it to our attention.

I put in a graphic in showing fish being wrapped in newspaper. However, along with Fr Z, who comments also on a disgraceful article in the National Catholic Reporter, I think this jibe is now becoming an insult to the poor inoffensive fish.