PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
A defense lawyer and a detective went snorkeling through the archdiocese’s confidential files Wednesday in search of the real Father James J. Brennan.
In an often tedious cross-examination, the defense lawyer tried to paint Father Brennan as a talented priest who was also a spiritual searcher, while the detective saw the 48-year-old Father Brennan as a tormented soul trying to hide a secret.
Meanwhile, the jury’s attention span was challenged, as they often stared off into space while the defense lawyer and detective did battle during a long afternoon of questioning.
Defense lawyer Richard J. Fuschino Jr. asked Detective James Dougherty to dig into the priest’s personnel jacket. Some 70 formerly confidential documents began with the priest’s background as a seminarian. Father Brennan was the fourth of seven children born into an Irish-Catholic family. His father was a lapsed Catholic, his mother a true believer. The tensions in the Brennan marriage revolved around the couple’s religious differences.
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