PHILALDELPHIA (PA)
Philly Trib
Written by Larry Miller Thursday, 14 November 2013
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office may have been legally unable to pursue further prosecution of a Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse, but that won’t stop a wrongful death civil suit from being leveled against him.
On Wednesday, Philadelphia attorneys Marci Hamilton, Daniel Monahan and Jeff Anderson announced they were taking civil action against former Catholic priest Robert Brennan, Monsignor William Lynn and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The civil suit is on behalf of Sean McIlmail, who died of an accidental drug overdose on Oct. 13, 2013 at age 26 and accused Brennan of sexually abusing him when he was a child. McIlmail claimed Brennan abused him for years, beginning at age 11 in 1998. The District Attorney’s Office had planned to prosecute Brennan, but had to drop the charges against Brennan after McIllmail’s death.
The complaint alleges that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, and Msgr. William Lynn knew of numerous child sexual abuse allegations against Brennan at least ten years before Brennan sexually abused McIlmail. Brennan was sent for evaluation several times after which the Archdiocese and its representatives allegedly covered-up the accusations about Brennan’s extreme risk to children and placed him back in ministry.
According to attorneys, whistleblowers came forward complaining about Brennan’s inappropriate behavior with children going back as far as 1988 but the complaints were ignored. Over time Brennan was reassigned to several parishes including St. Mary’s Parish in Schwenksville, Pa., St. Ignatius Parish in Yardley, and Resurrection Parish in Rhawnhurst, among others.
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