1970

San Francisco archbishop was Joseph Thomas McGucken (1962-1977)

Kentfield-Greenbrae

• Murnig was accused in the late 1990s of having sexually abused a girl between 1970-1974, beginning when she was 14 or 15 years-old. His accuser said they met when she joined St. Sebastian's Teen Club, which Murnig ran. The first incident is said to have occurred in St. Sebastian's rectory.

1973

McGucken was succeeded by John Raphael Quinn (1977-1995)

Kentfield

• The alleged victim from St. Sebastian's said that some of the abuse occurred at Marin Catholic. She attended another high school.

• A second woman accused Murnig of having sexually abused her when she was a student in the 1970s at Marin Catholic.

Marin Catholic had 353-396 boys and 386-434 girls.

Murnig left the priesthood in 1978 and married a former Marin Catholic High student he had met as a teacher there.

He was arrested in Oct. 2002 and charged with sex offenses against a teenage girl between 1970 and 1974. The alleged offenses included forced sodomy and oral copulation. Charges were dropped in July 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a California law that would have allowed for prosecution.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1971-1978)

• Former Marin Priest Held on Sex Charges from '70s, By Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 2002
• Sex Crimes Cases Allowed to Proceed, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, January 23, 2003
• 3 More Marin Molest Cases Dropped, By Con Garretson, Marin Independent Journal, July 3, 2003
• Fast Times at Marin Catholic High, By Ron Russell. SF Weekly, January 19, 2005
• $21.2 Million Settlement for Victims of 5 Priests, By Wyatt Buchanan and Elizabeth Fernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2005

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Murnig's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Nov. 13, 2011