NEW YORK
Albany Times Union
Chris Churchill
Colonie
Retired Archbishop Harry Flynn was supposed to be sunshine amid the dark clouds of the pedophile priest scandal.
The Schenectady native — a former pastor at St. Ambrose Parish in Latham and emeritus head of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Archdiocese — emerged decades ago as a national leader in reforming how the Catholic Church dealt with potentially dangerous priests.
But Flynn’s reputation has been tainted by a criminal complaint claiming that he and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis did too little to shield victims from predator priests.
“We are alleging a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior committed by the highest levels of leadership of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis over the course of decades,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi as he announced the criminal charges filed against the Minnesota diocese earlier this month. “The archdiocese’s failures have caused great suffering by the victims and their family and betrayed our entire community.”
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