PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
AUBREY WHELAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Thursday, December 26, 2013
Advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse said Thursday that the dismissal of Msgr. William Lynn’s conviction on child-endangerment charges is nothing short of a travesty of justice.
“What a disgrace!” Marita Green, president of the Philadelphia chapter of Catholic activist group Voice of the Faithful said in a statement. “I don’t care whose ‘orders’ Lynn followed whether [Cardinals] Bevilaqua’s, Krol’s or even O’Hara’s! It is appalling that the laws in the state of Pennsylvania have been so ineffective that none of these enablers, facilitators and cover-up-ers have gone to jail.”
But supporters of the monsignor said they were elated at the news.
“I think that this case will give other prosecutors around the country pause to reflect on who is really accountable for the damage that may have been done to victims of sexual abuse,” said Joe Maher, the founder of Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a Detroit organization that provides assistance to accused priests.
Lynn, 62, was the first Catholic Church administrator in the country to be charged with covering up child sex abuse.
Nearly 18 months after he went to prison, his lawyers persuaded a Superior Court panel that prosecutors and the Philadelphia trial judge misapplied the state’s child endangerment laws. They contended the laws in place when he was secretary for clergy in the 1990s and early 2000s only applied to those who directly supervised children, and the higher court agreed. …
Some advocates called for stronger child endangerment laws.
“The issue – and this is an issue that’s much broader than this case – is whether the laws are adequate to deal with what we’re seeing in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and elsewhere,” said Terry McKiernan, who runs Bishop Accountability, a website documenting abuse by priests.
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