the banks of Lake Michigan . Timeline of Father Murphy 's case Budzinski said he was 12 the first time it happened . `` It was in the closet . I asked for a confession , and then he molested me , '' he said , adding the abuse occurred once a year for three years . `` I was wondering ... ` You 're a man from the church , why are you molesting me ? ' '' He was unable to tell his story at the time , because his parents did not know sign language . For years , he blocked out the memories of the abuse , until they came flooding back when he was in his 20s . It was during the 1970s that Budzinski , Smith and another friend and classmate , Robert Bolger started sharing their experiences with each other . `` If you do n't tell people , it gets worse , and it will happen more and more , '' Budzinski said . `` You need to speak out and be open . '' The three friends found strength in numbers . It was time to tell their secret and put
Milwaukee , Wisconsin -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Arthur Budzinski wiped away the tear running down his cheek . He had just returned from the basement , where he was talking to Gary Smith , a longtime friend and former classmate . The two men , both deaf , feverishly gestured to one another in sign language over a videophone , discussing the recently released documents relating to a Milwaukee priest molesting students -- the same priest they said had molested them . The New York Times reported the documents showed top Vatican officials , including the future Pope Benedict XVI , had failed to discipline the now-deceased Milwaukee priest , the Rev. Lawrence Murphy . According to the report , Murphy abused as many as 200 deaf boys in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee , Wisconsin , from 1950 to 1974 . Read the article Back upstairs , Budzinski , 61 , sat next to his daughter , Gigi , who translated his story . Her father , she said matter of factly , was abused three times by Murphy while a student at St. John 's School for the Deaf in St. Francis , a suburb of Milwaukee nestled on