Attorney William McMurry, who sued the Holy See for being complicit in the sexual abuse of his three clients, called it quits in August. He acknowledged that “Virtually every child who was abused and will come forward as an adult has come forward and sued a bishop and collected money, and once that happens, it’s over.” That’s right—once they got their check, they cashed out.
What collapsed in August was the heart and soul of McMurry’s interest: his attempt to put Pope Benedict XVI on trial. It was his objective to prove culpability on the part of the Holy See for what goes on in Kentucky. He also sought to show that priests don’t work for their local parish, community or diocese, maintaining that they line up single file taking their cues from the pope.
There was one other reason why McMurry quit: he couldn’t find any more alleged victims. But it was not for lack of trying. He admits he searched in vain for months looking to find any man who may have been groped. “No one who has not sued a bishop is in a position to help us despite our best efforts over the past several months,” McMurry said.
McMurry confesses that he spent 8,000 hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to find any man who may have settled out of court. It did not matter how trivial the offense, how many decades ago it occurred, or how old the alleged victim was, all that mattered was that the offender had to be a priest.
While there are similar suits pending, this is one gig that is up.
