PHILADELPHIA (PA)
dotCommonweal
Posted by Paul Moses
The trial of Monsignor William Lynn on charges of child endangerment for allegedly permitting predatory priests to continue in ministry took an interesting turn today with the testimony of a sister who said Lynn could’ve removed an abusive priest if he really wanted to.
The sister, not named in news accounts because she was herself a sexual-abuse victim as a girl, challenged Monsignor Lynn’s defense, which is based on the assertion that he didn’t have authority to remove a priest from his job.
The sister said Lynn, who was secretary of the Office of Clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese, had the power to at least suggest removing a miscreant priest, and that given his position, the archbishop would have likely signed off. And besides, she said, there was another choice: “You can also say, ‘I cannot do this.’ … You can walk away.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.