PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Inquirer Staff Writer
THE REV. James Brennan told church investigators four years ago that he let a 14-year-old boy view online pornography and share his bed in 1996 but denied that he touched the teen or exposed himself, according to documents revealed Monday at his landmark clergy sex-abuse trial.
Brennan told his interrogators at a 2008 canonical proceeding that his decision to let the boy view the images and sleep next to him that night was “borderline” inappropriate. Still, he said he was blindsided when the young man came forward after a decade and accused him of sexual assault.
“I was just devastated,” Brennan testified, according to a transcript read to jurors.
His statements emerged as the trial against Brennan and Monsignor William Lynn began its sixth week.
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