Boston Archdiocese Releases More Information On Abusive Priests

BOSTON — The Boston Archdiocese is releasing more information about three abusive priests with ties to Ireland who worked in Boston. The archdiocese says the three men were never accused of abuse before or while they worked here.

Two of the three Irish priests the archdiocese says worked in Boston are deceased. Brendan Smyth, a notorious abuser who died in prison in Dublin in the ’90s, worked briefly at St. Camillus Church in Arlington in 1991. Another serial abuser, Joseph Maguire, died in prison in New Hampshire in 2005. He worked at the Stigmatine Fathers Espousal Center in Waltham from 1981 to 1985.

The third priest, Dennis Murphy, worked at St. Cecilia’s Church in Boston in the late ’90s. His last-known parish assignment was in Virginia. It’s not clear where Murphy is now.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, is among those asking for more details. “The little bit of information about the Irish priests raises questions as well as answers them,” she said at a news conference outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston on Wednesday.

Doyle asked state officials to get involved. “We’re calling again on Attorney General (Martha) Coakley to follow through with her stated intention to ask the archdiocese to release the names and assignment histories of all accused priests in Boston,” she said.

The attorney general has not said whether she’s made that request. The archdiocese says it is improving abuse prevention efforts and its screening of all church workers.