PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage
Jerry Slevin has sent another excellent statement about the abuse trial involving the Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia. The following text is Jerry’s latest commentary on the Philadelphia trial:
The ongoing Philly trial of Msgr. Lynn for the crime of “child endangerment” for allegedly retaining and reassigning known Philly child predator priests over a long period under two Cardinals is unprecedented. The Philly trial is quickly becoming a veritable goldmine of readily available information in English on how top US Catholic Cardinals typically handled abuse cases for over a half century period almost through the present.
For daily reports of key Philly trial events, including today’s major testimony by Fr. Tom Doyle, the world’s leading expert on the priest abuse scandal, please read the brief, but comprehensive, Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Complete Coverage—Clergy Abuse Case,” accessible at this link.
The broad domestic and international backgrounds of the Philly Archdiocese Cardinals in charge during the period implicated in the current trial (Cardinal Krol, 1961 to 1988, Cardinal Bevilacqua, 1988 to 2003, and Cardinal Rigali, 2003 to 2011) make these Cardinals’ dismal “abusive priest management” records a fair and representative case study of senior Catholic hierarchical policy and practice during this half century period by top US Cardinals.
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