Amen, amen I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls to the. ground and .dies,. it
remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies,
it produces much fruit.
John 12 :24
We send you this special issue of Hand in Hand to inform you that
Fr. Lawrence Murphy died on August 21 . He had lived in Boulder
Junction, Wisconsin, since he left St . John School for the Deaf in 1974.
The death of someone we know can bring forth many emotions . It is not always easy to sort out
those emotions, but our faith.in God can help us to face the source of any pain . And the passage of
time can help to heal that pain .
Bishop Richard Sklba spoke at the private funeral held for the Murphy family at Holy Cross Cemetery. We
hope those of you who knew Lawrence Murphy may find comfort in the bishop's words which began with a
reference to the passage from John's gospel printed above . The bishop said:
"As any grade school child knows, seeds carefully
placed into the soil don't really die at all - the
seed's outer cover becomes too narrow, too
contained, and new life begins . As first graders we
placed seeds into glass containers, then watched
wide-eyed as the mystery of new life began .
first the root down into rich soil .. . then the new
leaves . . . and finally the plant reaching upward
toward the light.
"Lawrence Murphy put his roots
deep into his
family. To be a priest in one's own family is a
wonderful but also very unique experience .. .
celebrating not Advent or Lent or major holy
seasons as such, but always present for family
gatherings . Uncle Larry was at christenings,
graduations, weddings, family events of all sorts .-
giving gifts, watching families grow, offering
congratulations or sympathy. You knew him in
his laughter and sorrow, in good health and on
difficult days .
"His entire priesthood was devoted to the deaf
conmmunity' . When I first met him in the autumn of
1960-at St. Mary's in Elm Grove where he was a
Sunday help-out - he talked about St. John's . He
loved the school and its community very much .
He did so much wonderful work for the youngsters
and staff.
"But not everything he did was good. I say that not
to offend or hurt, but because it's true . Painful
accusations were made. They surfaced again in
recent years, with increased bitterness : I don't
know the whole story, but I do know that the
amount of damage became clear and that Father :
Murphy was in the process of writing letters of
matter hadn't yet been resolved
when he died:
"So to protect your grief from disruption and to
respect your sorrow, this lad to be a very private
funeral. I can't tell you how badly I feel about all
this, for I knew Larry for almost 40 years and liked
him very much.
"I have a theory about the last judgment for each
of us .. . only a theory, but one which gives me
much comfort. I do not believe the last
judgment will be when all our sins are
revealed to the whole world . In fact, I suspect that
it is a bit arrogant to think that the whole world is
even interested in anyone's secret sins . No, I
believe the last judgment will be that time when
God reveals fully to each of us who we really are .
....
This is precisely why Anderson makes up his facts. He depends on suckers like you to bite hook, line, and sinker, and expects that anyone who tries to unmask his lies will get the "pedophile defender" label. Good job, Anderson's monkey scribe.
