PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10
[The Philadelphia Archive – BishopAccountability.org]
By David Chang
Wednesday, Jan 23, 2013
Several months after the conviction of Msgr. William Lynn, a new website has been launched featuring files that were used as evidence during his child-endangerment trial last year.
The Philadelphia Archive from watchdog group Bishop Accountability, has posted 195 pages from the file of convicted former priest Edward Avery. The website plans to post more documents each month until they have a 5,780 page collection online.
The website states the following:
These documents, which became public when they were entered into evidence at the 2012 trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn and Rev. James J. Brennan, offer a rich sample of the archdiocesan files that formed the basis of the work of three Philadelphia grand juries. Those men and women were impaneled under District Attorneys Lynne Abraham and Seth Williams, and the reports that they produced in 2003, 2005, and 2011 are the gold standard of investigative work on the Catholic abuse crisis in the United States.
The 2005 Philadelphia Grand Jury Report in particular is remarkably comprehensive, dealing in an integrated and forceful way with aspects of the crisis that are too often examined in isolation. The abuse itself is described in harrowing and meticulous detail. But the report also studies the mismanagement of the crisis and the cover-up of the abuse, and it clearly explains the holes in current secular law that sometimes make it difficult or impossible to punish abusers and enablers.
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