PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks
May 21, 2012
By Elizabeth Fiedler
Several weeks into a landmark trial over child sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, defense lawyers are ready to lay out their case. They’ll argue that Monsignor William Lynn acted responsibly by reporting abuse allegations to higher officials. Lynn is accused of endangering children by transferring priests accused of sexual abuse to unsuspecting parishes.
Monsignor William Lynn served as secretary for clergy under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
Rocco Palmo is the editor of “Whispers in the Loggia,” a website that covers Catholic news and politics.
“Over their cross-examination, the defense essentially kept coming back to the same point which is, ‘Was Monsignor Lynn the ultimate person responsible for reassigning priests?’ And you know the answer, not just in Philadelphia but in any Catholic Diocese, is, no, he wasn’t. That everything would ultimately be determined at the time by Cardinal Bevilacqua,” said Palmo.
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