Monsignor Says Abusive Priests "Pretty Sick"

San Francisco Chronicle
May 24, 2012

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/23/MND61OMNFH.DTL

A Roman Catholic church official conceded that a 1994 list he compiled of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children in the Philadelphia archdiocese included some "pretty sick individuals."

Monsignor William Lynn took the stand in his defense Wednesday in a groundbreaking child-endangerment and conspiracy case. Prosecutors blame Lynn for helping keep those priests and many more in ministry, where they had access to countless other children.

Lynn testified that the head of the archdiocese forbade staff from telling accusers their alleged abuser had other victims. He said the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua wouldn't let parishes announce the real reason an accused priest was being removed.

Parishioners were often told their priest had health problems when he left for sex-offender treatment, according to testimony over the past nine weeks.

Bevilacqua died Jan. 31, two months before his longtime secretary for clergy went on trial. Lynn's stoic demeanor softened when he took the stand for direct questioning, but he endured a blistering cross-examination that is expected to continue Thursday.

Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic church official in the United States charged with a crime for his handling of complaints that priests were molesting children.

Prosecutors spent 10 years investigating the Philadelphia archdiocese before bringing charges against Lynn, the point person for priest assignments as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. No other church official in Philadelphia was charged.

Lynn faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted. He is on leave from the archdiocese, which is paying for his defense.