PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Seattle PI
MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press
Updated 12:08 p.m., Monday, February 27, 2012
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jury selection moved surprisingly quickly Monday in a landmark priest abuse case in Philadelphia involving two priests charged with rape and a monsignor charged with protecting them — and failing to protect children.
Several jurors were seated for what could be a four-month trial, after assuring the judge they could fairly evaluate the sensitive issues.
Meanwhile, Monsignor William Lynn lost a last-minute bid to have his unprecedented child endangerment case throw out based on new evidence found in a 10th floor safe at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
A memo turned over by the archdiocese only this month states that the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua ordered his top aides to shred a list of 35 accused priests still in ministry in 1994 — a decade before the child abuse scandal exploded.
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