Father Lawrence Murphy Describes Problems Of The Deaf

The following is an article on Father Lawrence Murphy of Wisconsin, the priest at the heart of a sexual abuse scandal. It is from 1965.

Problems of Deaf Are Described

The great "invisible handicap," deafness, was described by the Rev. Lawrence Murphy, director of St. John's School for the Deaf, Milwaukee, to Janesville Serrans at a luncheon meeting Friday noon.

"Handicaps such as blindness, crippling injuries and mental retardation are obvious for all to see. Outwardly we cannot tell if a person is deaf, and this is the great tragedy of the handicap," he said.

The students at the school in Milwaukee are those who are not hard of hearing or deafened by a gradual loss of hearing. They are those who, regardless of amplification, cannot hear. The students are those whose parents have usually traveled the country looking for help, and when all hope is lost arrive here.

"This type of nerve deafness cannot be helped by an operation — the only medicine education," he stated. "There are only 10 Catholic elementary schools and two high schools for the deaf in the United States." Father Murphy mentioned that St. John's is becoming the third high school as it will add the ninth grade in September, 1965, and will have a full high school program by 1969.

There are 140 children in the school, but the job of teaching them is equivalent to teaching some 1,000 normal children because of the tremendous individual attention needed. We ordinarily have 8 to 10 children in a classroom. It takes 12 years for a child to complete his 8th grade education.

"The problem is becoming more acute because more children are being spared by modern medicines and are growing up with two or three handicaps such as brain injuries, mental retardation and cerebral palsy. The greatest handicap, however, is deafness as it is not only a physical handicap, but an educational, spiritual, emotional and social one. A completely deaf child at three years of age is like an animal — nothing has a meaning, he has no vocabulary and no means of communication."

"It is the task of our school to break through this world of silence. The ability to read lips is a talent which the child is either born with or not. This ability cannot be taught.

"To find out what it really means to be deaf, watch a TV program with no volume and you will be befuddled after one half hour — or try to watch a news commentator and see if you can understand. A deaf person's life is a constant television program with no knowledge as to what's behind the action.

"It is extremely hard to teach these children religion as they are unable to attend church services and understand what's going on due to the difference in lighting or ability of the priest to communicate."

Father Murphy concluded that the deaf children do not feel sorry for themselves since they have no problems with outside influences disturbing their sleep or their peace of mind.

--Janesville Daily Gazette, Janesville, Wisconsin, Jan. 9, 1965, p. 5.

The Past Catches Up With The Pope

The graphic is via the Huffington Post linked to an article at the NY Times. It concerns everyone's least favorite pope, Pope Benedict, not exactly a model of righteousness.

This is serious stuff. The pope, before he was pope, has a record of ignoring sexual abuse cases, of protecting and accommodating predators. It's disgusting, disgusting stuff. And there he still sits!

That headline's a real indictment. "NO ONE WOULD LISTEN. Deaf Boys Tried For Decades To Tell Of Priest's Sexual Abuse." If he had heard even a peep about a priest (or anyone) sexually abusing children, that should've been the end of that guy's career, assuming the facts checked out. The article mentions 200 boys, so that sounds like more than a peep.

There's a chilling photo at this link, showing an old picture (1960) of one of the main perps in this Wisconsin case. There he is with his hands piously together while boys are lined up below. You have to wonder what's going through everyone's mind in that photo. I bet it wasn't good.

The future pope, Joseph Ratzinger, had something to do with this guy's case ... and essentially nothing happened. The guy shouldn't be pope. That much is clear.

Catholic Books -- Full Authority

I'm not a Catholic but I dabble in religious matters, kind of a hobby.

The other day I needed to look up something about the Catholic faith, about some of their understandings of the Mass, what it's supposed to be all about as it relates to the sacrifice of Christ, etc.

I have the official catechism book that I got a long time ago. So I looked it up. Emphasis on the word official.

One thing about Catholic books, they let you know right up front if they're approved by the folks in charge. There's an imprimatur that says, I guess, that some higher up people in the know have read it word for word and it squares with everything they believe. So, the way I take it, it has authority. At that point it's not just someone's opinion. (Or it could be, in some cases, that it doesn't conflict with Catholic teaching, which, now that I think of it, is just another way of saying the same thing.)

This particular book, a big thick catechism, has the last pope's signature, meaning either that he read it and approved it, or, more likely, took someone else's word for it and signed it.

I saw in there that some of the credit in the putting together of the book went to Joseph Ratzinger, who is now the current pope. So presumably he stands behind everything in the book as well.

It's not like other faiths, though, where it's every many for himself. Your opinion is as good as someone else's and no one's really in charge. I actually prefer that, but if you want the official word on a subject, the strictly hierarchical faiths obviously have the edge.

Catholics Good, Catholics Bad

Wow, every time I start thinking the Catholic Church has a lot on the ball -- the rituals, the saints, the spirituality -- they turn around and blow it with one of these political mistakes.

This time: Catholic Church-Affiliated Publisher Apologizes For Prayer Honoring Ted Kennedy (Headline from the Huffington Post.)

So the Catholic Church now hates the Kennedys? As in John F. Kennedy, the first and only Catholic President of the United States?

Good grief. What planet are we living on? Have I entered some alternate, moronic dimension?

They do the same stupid thing whenever there's an election now. They deny communion to the Democrats, but they're willing to follow the Republicans to the gates of hell (and beyond) with their murderous agenda. As in "Thou Shalt Not Kill," then lying us into an unnecessary war. How many Republicans did they deny communion to over that?

I love their saints. I really do. But these Catholic right-wingers, not so much. There's no saints there!