For the first time in American history, a Catholic church official has been convicted and sentenced to prison for complicity in covering up child abuse by priests by not reporting their crimes to the police and moving them from parish to parish.
Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.
“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” said Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as she imposed the sentence, which was just short of the maximum of three and a half to seven years…
Monsignor Lynn served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, recommending priest assignments and investigating abuse complaints. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that he had shielded predatory priests, sometimes transferring them to unwary new parishes, and lied to the public to avoid bad publicity and lawsuits.
The conviction of Monsignor Lynn, now punctuated by a prison sentence, has reverberated among Catholic officials around the country, church experts said.
“I think this is going to send a very strong signal to every bishop and everybody who worked for a bishop that if they don’t do the right thing they may go to jail,” said Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “They can’t just say the bishop made me do it, that’s not going to be an excuse that holds up in court.”
I wish that were true, but I doubt it is. Very few prosecutors are going to have the courage to charge local Catholic leaders. That’s why it took so long for this first one to happen.
14 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven
July 27, 2012 at 11:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There really oughta be a zero on the end there.
Kevin
July 27, 2012 at 11:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Brava!
Alverant
July 27, 2012 at 11:42 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Very few prosecutors are going to have the courage to char”?
Depends on how attentive they are when grilling burgers.
Aliasalpha
July 27, 2012 at 11:53 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ Azkyroth: Char0? What, like some kind of leetspeak love boat?
jba55
July 27, 2012 at 11:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
““Very few prosecutors are going to have the courage to char”?
Depends on how attentive they are when grilling burgers.”
Or if they find some witches.
Seriously though, this made my day. It will make another day of mine if his appeal gets turned down.
reverendrodney
July 27, 2012 at 12:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The sentence was declared by a WOMAN!
And I like the way she bawled him out:
“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong.”
Now may this be followed up with more convictions, as I hope the Penn State scandal results in more convictions.
Attila
July 27, 2012 at 12:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wondering if there are a lot of convictions for Penn State which covered up for the religion of football. Is it going to make it more likely to have other high church officials prosecuted.
Bronze Dog
July 27, 2012 at 12:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
One down, lots to go.
It’s horrible that it took this long. I really hope my inner pessimist is wrong, and that more investigations and convictions will follow.
Didaktylos
July 27, 2012 at 12:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The one thing I will fault the judge on is that she should not have used his title in addressing him.
mikeym
July 27, 2012 at 1:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
From the prosecution:
“He locked away in a vault the names of pedophile priests. He locked in a vault the names of men that he knew had abused children. He now will be locked away for a fraction of the time he kept that secret vault,” District Attorney Seth Williams said of Lynn.
conway
July 27, 2012 at 5:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
More than half of the population of Pennsylvania is Catholic, as is its Governor.
As soon as the next round of pardons rolls around, il Monsigniori will be walking free.
Pierce R. Butler
July 27, 2012 at 9:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When are we going to send some Navy SEALs after Bernard Law?
uncephalized
July 28, 2012 at 12:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@conway I really, really hope that won’t be the case… But I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it did happen, either.
shockna
July 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I sense a series of Catholic League statements from a hysterical Bill Donahue, bemoaning this “crusade against the Church” and a demand for Catholics to harass the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.
Massive congratulations to Philadelphia though, hopefully we see this elsewhere too!