[2] Then Milwaukee Archbishop William Edward Cousins gave Murphy a leave of absence in 1974 and allowed him to move to his mother's house in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, which is in the Diocese of Superior.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone instructed Wisconsin bishops to convene a canonical trial,[3] which could have resulted in a range of punishments, including laicization.
A formal church trial was initiated but later dropped because Archbishop Weakland decided that a pastoral solution was more appropriate because Murphy was elderly and in poor health.
[4] In 1984, Archbishop Weakland responded to teachers in a Catholic school who were reporting sexual abuse by local priests by stating "any libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers."
[8] Following public testimony by victims before a combined session of the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committee, a report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee was published in September 2003.
In response, Archbishop Timothy Dolan held a meeting with victims, mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, and clergy.
[12] On March 18, 2019, it was announced that former Archbishops William Cousins and Rembert Weakland would have their names removed from buildings in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee due to their poor handling of sex abuse cases.
[15] Father James Gannon, the leader of a Wisconsin-based group of Franciscan Friars, had previous negotiated settlements for some of West's accusers in Mississippi.