UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal
Posted on May 1, 2013 by Peter Smith
The Catholic hierarchy’s handling of sexual abuse is getting mixed news this week.
An investigative reporter is challenging the case against Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn, who last year became the first high-ranking Catholic official to be convicted and sentenced to jail for covering up sexual abuse by a priest.
Meanwhile, the archbishop of Newark, N.J., faces claims that he knowingly allowed a priest to minister with children despite a legal agreement forbidding him from doing so — reached to avoid a re-trial of the priest on a sexual-abuse charge.
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First, Philadelphia.
A star witness who testified against a former priest accused of sexual abuse — and whose conviction led to that of Lynn’s — has serious credibility problems, and prosecutors themselves questioned his reliability.
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