PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John P. Martin and Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Msgr. William J. Lynn took the witness stand at his landmark trial Wednesday, asserting he “did my best” to weed out sexually abusive priests and battling with a prosecutor who painted him as a liar more concerned with protecting the church than children.
During hours of tense testimony in a Common Pleas courtroom, Lynn tried to counter charges that he spent a dozen years burying sex-abuse claims and shuffling accused priests around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
He repeatedly told jurors that his bosses, notably Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, directed the church’s response to child-sex abuse allegations, and he denied knowingly putting children in harm’s way.
“I thought I was helping people,” Lynn said. “I thought I was helping priests, and in those circumstances, I thought I was helping victims, as much as I could.”
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