PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 05/07/12
PHILADELPHIA — Roman Catholic parishioners were told their priest had to leave his church in 1992 because he had Lyme disease, even though his removal actually came after an altar boy’s fondling complaint, a witness testified Monday.
Mary Mignogno, who knew about the boy’s complaint, didn’t know what to say to her children when she heard the lie from the pulpit.
A nurse and school volunteer, Mignogno had helped the boy tell his parents about the abuse. The boy said that the Rev. Robert L. Brennan routinely touched him inappropriately in exchange for candy or prizes. The parents had threatened to go public if Brennan wasn’t removed from their Schwenksville parish.
Mignogno testified as the seventh week got under way in the child-endangerment trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the secretary for clergy in Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004. Lynn is accused of helping the church transfer problem priests to new parishes.
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