UNITED STATES
Philadelphia Inquirer
POSTED: Sunday, June 23, 2013
Mortal Sins
Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal
By Michael D’Antonio
Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 400 pp. $26.99
A year and a day have passed since a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury found Msgr. William J. Lynn guilty of child endangerment in the priest sex-abuse trial involving the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Lynn, 62, for 12 years the archdiocesan official in charge of investigating complaints against priests and recommending action to the archbishop, is serving three to six years in prison.
The prosecution and conviction of Lynn was a landmark for Philadelphia Catholics and Lynn’s church: he was the first church official convicted and sent to prison for the sexual abuse of children by priests he oversaw.
Of course, the Catholic church sex-abuse scandal predated the Philadelphia prosecution by almost 30 years. For those who want to understand what happened and why, Michael D’Antonio’s Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal is a comprehensive examination of the scandal and the role of church culture.
It’s also, finally, a very sad story of opportunities not just missed but cast away by a bureaucracy that refused to admit – or deal with – the depravity it nurtured.
It’s sad because, in the beginning, those warning of the danger and urging action were true believers: ordained priests who saw a mortal threat to the world’s oldest Christian church. They were rebuffed, and in some cases punished, for their warnings.
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