Rockville Centre John Paul II appointed Murphy as bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on June 26, 2001. He was installed on September 5, 2001.He signed the 1994 document Evangelicals and Catholics Together. In 2007, he was appointed the head of the Domestic Policy Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Massachusetts report On July 23, 2003, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly released the report The Sexual Abuse of Children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The report described Murphy, when auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese, as being in close consultation with Cardinal Law on sexual abuse issues with clergy. The report stated that Murphy did some positive things, but it presented this evaluation of his actions:Bishop Murphy did not report to law enforcement any of the numerous allegations of clerical sexual abuse he reviewed nor did he ever advise the cardinal to do so. And even with undeniable information available to him, Bishop Murphy continued to place a higher priority on preventing scandal and providing support to alleged abusers than on protecting children from sexual abuse.In response to the report, Murphy claimed that another archdiocesan official was in charge of these cases..On August 3, 2003, in response to the attorney general report, the Long Island chapter of the group Voice of the Faithful called for Murphy to resign as bishop. Murphy banned Voice of the Faithful from meeting on diocese property soon after that declaration. Monsignor Alan J. Placa, a Rockville Centre diocesan priest, was cleared by the tribunal of the Diocese of Albany, the home diocese of the complainant, of allegations made against him in June 2002. The decision was subsequently confirmed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which instructed Murphy "to do what we can to restore his good name.” Renovation of bishop's quarters Soon after Murphy was installed as Bishop of Rockville Centre in 2001, he decided that his private quarters in the cathedral rectory lacked privacy and sufficient space to entertain visiting clergy. He decided to take over the top floor of an old convent building at the cathedral. The diocese had been planning to create rooms for nuns on that floor, but Murphy asked them to accept some different accommodations. The project ended up costing $800,000. As news of the project and its cost became public, Murphy