PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer
Prosecutors in the endangerment and child sex-abuse trial of three current and former priests scored a major legal victory on Monday, when a judge ruled that they could tell jurors how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled years of abuse allegations against nearly two dozen other priests.
Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said jurors could hear the evidence because it could show that Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former high-ranking archdiocesan official, recommended parish posts for two priests in the 1990s despite knowing or suspecting they might molest boys.
Lynn made those recommendations, the judge said, after reviewing the church’s secret personnel files and learning about claims or suspicions against other priests.
“It will be up to the jury to decide that there were no lessons to be gleaned from those earlier cases,” she said.
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