PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Verdict
Marcia A. Hamilton
The most developed record in the country of a cover-up of child sex abuse by an entire Roman Catholic diocese now exists in Philadelphia. Why? Because recent Philadelphia prosecutors have proactively sought the truth, even when it was far from flattering to the diocese’s hierarchy. For an elected official, that takes guts. Fortunately, both former District Attorney Lynne Abraham and current District Attorney Seth Williams have plenty of guts.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese is being unmasked, day by day, as an institution that operated in such a way as to endanger children. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Msgr. William Lynn for his integral role in suppressing the identities of priest perpetrators. The policies that Lynn implemented have now been put under the harsh glare of the public spotlight, for the first criminal trial of a member of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy is now underway. Each and every day of the trial—which already has lasted six weeks, and is expected to last up to three months—the prosecution further peels back the diocese’s veneer, exposing it as a truly horrific place for children. Recently, it has also added to its profile of callousness by re-victimizing the victims it had a hand in creating.
This trial is only going forward because of former D.A. Abraham’s steely determination to know the truth of what happened in Philadelphia. A decade ago, she instituted the first grand jury investigation of the Archdiocese, knowing in all likelihood that she might not find victims whose cases she could prosecute, because Pennsylvania statutes of limitations regarding child sex abuse were so short. But once they got the go-ahead, Abraham’s dogged and brilliant attorneys, including Charlie Gallagher and Mariana Sorenson, pursued the truth in just the way we want our public servants to do so: They cared about the truth first, and the political fallout second.
Compare Abraham and her Office to the many District Attorneys and their Offices, across the country, who have refused, when asked, to investigate dioceses, saying that they can’t do anything until a victim comes forward whose claims fall within the statute of limitations. Abraham’s work reveals those excuses as being more political than prosecutorial.
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