Testimony in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, 61, the priest accused of helping the Philadelphia archdiocese hide decades worth of priest sex abuse complaints in secret files, has shocked the jury.
The court heard this week how one priest joked about how hard it was to have sex with three boys in one week, after internal Catholic church documents were read in court for the first time.
The shocking testimony was revealed during Monsignor Lynn's trial, where he is the first Roman Catholic church official to be charged in the US for his handling of priest abuse complaints, and now faces charges of child endangerment and conspiracy.
According to the Daily Mail prosecutors are detailing allegations made against nearly two dozen priests since 1948 to show that Lynn and other church officials gave child abusers repeated employment in jobs that gave them access to children.
A detective read to the court internal church memos concerning one priest who allegedly had a 'rotation process' of boys spending time sleeping with him.
Jurors also heard shocking testimony of a 1992 complaint about a priest accused of molesting boys at a church-owned camp three decades earlier.
The allegations covered many decades, with junior counselors complaining in the early 1960's that a priest was on the prowl at night, molesting them in their tents. The priests late night activities were a well-known secret among teenage counselors for several years.
The documents read out at court show that that particular priest remained in his ministry, working at three archdiocesan high schools and serving as assistant superintendent of Catholic schools right the way through 2004.
Monsignor Lynn's defense lawyers are arguing that hat Lynn, who was secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, tried to address the problem. Jeffrey Lindy and Thomas Bergstrom, defending, had detectives confirm that Lynn interviewed both complainants and accused priests and sent the priests to a church-run hospital for mental health evaluations and treatment.
The defense counsel claim many of Lynn's efforts were blocked by the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and others in the Philadelphia archdiocese. Cardinal Bevilacqua died of heart disease on January 31, a day after he was ruled competent to testify at Lynn's trial.
The Washington Post reports that Monsignor Lynn supervised more than 800 priests as the secretary for clergy in Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004.
Prosecutors charge that he kept known abusive priests in parish work around children to protect the church’s reputation and avoid scandal. He faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and child endangerment.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Intercessor | Apr 25, 2012, 03:39 PM EDT
To SingleDonald: Yes, we were taught a lot of bologna in Catholic School. When I was in High School, Simon and Garfunckle put out a song called, "Kodachrome." It starts out with the line, "When I think back on all of the crap I learned in High school, it's a wonder I can think at all!" Immediately, when I heard it, I thought, "Aren't Simon and Garfunckle Jewish? How did they end up in a Catholic high school?
Fastest | Apr 06, 2012, 02:52 PM EDT
I'm glad I'm Jewish!
Springfield9 | Apr 05, 2012, 01:44 PM EDT
Very funny Willie. When you get to the prison plan on being the reciever.
Portia777 | Apr 05, 2012, 09:25 AM EDT
The history of religious and systematic abuse of children "To date, the Roman Cult, otherwise known as the Vatican is the only organization in history to orchestrate as a “sacred” religious ceremony the systematic and widespread encouragement of its clergy to abuse of children from as late as the 14th Century."
Portia777 | Apr 05, 2012, 09:23 AM EDT
of course he joked. he believe that as a man of god , he is entitled under the Roman Cult sacred texts to molest any child legally. Child Molestation (to “Molest” also known as Pedophilia) is when an adult engages in intimate sexually related contact with a child under the generally accepted completion age of puberty. It is also one of the oldest and most sacred rituals of the Roman Cult since the 14th Century in enabling the “sacrificing of innocence” of children to Moloch without having to physically kill them as had been the tradition under the worship of Cybele and Moloch."
merefalow | Apr 05, 2012, 06:41 AM EDT
its so diabolically evil institutional ingrained,words fail me,its the sheer hypocrisy of these men of god,how can anyone place faith in an institution so corrupt.its gone on and on ,if there had ever been real leadership,from the top,this EVIL,BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IS IS,would have been swept out of the church,but no,it goes on and on,children and young boys and girls should never have to be at the mercy of people like this so why is it still happening?.how many more victims before church leadership make it plain that there is no place in the church for them,that goes for the other denominations as well who are equably guilty of the same acts and cover ups.
merefalow | Apr 05, 2012, 06:25 AM EDT
This is one case where execution is appropriate
jamthecat | Apr 05, 2012, 12:18 AM EDT
Because, irishpjk, this "bleeding heart" liberal also thinks the rape of a child is inexcusable, and is aware enough to know pedophiles do not change and need to be kept away from children. Period. Almost all of us do. Now take your pathetic, limited concepts of those of us who actually care about people instead of power and corporations, and stick them exactly where you think I mean.
pilib04 | Apr 04, 2012, 07:44 PM EDT
mairint, i disagree with you. sex with children is RAPE. let's call it what it is. the "priests" and "bishops" having sex with children are RAPISTS. they should be treated as such.
SingleDonald | Apr 04, 2012, 06:39 PM EDT
Everytime I read of this scandal, I think of the baloney teachings we heard as kids. Chief among them were that "imoure thoughts" were "mortal sins". Thoughts of sexual fantasies, as all sane people now know, are NON TRANSGRESSIONS! By the Catholic Church, or any other church preaching that these thoughts, or even consensual sexual activities were "damnable offenses" they were just trying to exert more senseless control over their flocks. To think that some of those priests who taught this nonsense were molesting kids is the epitome of hypocrisy & moral corruption! To comment on Intercessor's post,I believe that only when the Pope spoke "ex cathedra" were Catholics required to accept the teachings as infallible. So, disagreeing with the Church's puritanical & dognatic position on sexual matters would not "send one to hell", even at the time when we were kids. As reported in a recent post, I recently went to face to face Confession and explained these feelings to the Monsignor of my parish church. At one point he told me, "You'd make a good Protestant"! I further explained that I did not consider these matters to be serious , qualifying as "mortal sins". I thought that this might be the 1st time in my life that I was refused absolution, in Confession. The Monsignor was understanding though, and, apparently respecting my views, if not agreeing with them, did give me absolution.
irishpjk | Apr 04, 2012, 05:54 PM EDT
What I want to know is why the bleeding hearts aren’t calling it an affliction and asking us to understand the poor priests that are unable to help themselves.
Fearbruscar | Apr 04, 2012, 05:38 PM EDT
These pigs will surely know God's justice but earthly justice must precede it! Slam them into the worst jail we have and then let them rot for eternity in hell!
BrendanDunphy | Apr 04, 2012, 02:20 PM EDT
A disgraceful comment from a no-class city. Hang him.
hybernia | Apr 04, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT
If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion. Now a question for our readers-If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it considered rape or shoplifting?
MarybethC.P. | Apr 04, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT
Thank you, Irish Central, for continuing to cover stories of Catholic Church cover-ups of pedophile priests. This tragedy needs to be known worldwide, so the Church hierarchy can be stopped in its abuse of power over the "faithful", as we once were. In regards to Seanmor's note about "boys" versus "men", there was indeed a study of Roman priests sometimes in the 90's or early millennium, that showed that 40% of all Roman priests were homosexual. Those of us trying to support the victims of pedophile priests try very hard to steer clear of mentioning a possible connection with the priests' sexual orientation. Pedophilia is hardly understood by professionals studying that horrible phenomenon, and pedophiles prey on both sexes of children (usually defined as those without ability to consent, age 16 or much, much younger). For now, we'd just be happy to out the pedophiles and the system that hides and protects them at the expense of their victims' very lives. We need justice for these victims - and someone can do a billion-dollar study of what makes pedophiles tick at a much later date.
Intercessor | Apr 04, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT
To Seanmor: The John Jay Report was NOT "an exhaustive report!" It was what the Vatican wanted us to believe was "an exhaustive report." Bishops could select which information was released and which information was to be held in their Secret Archives! Since total compliance by the bishops was optional, the John Jay Report fell short of reality, concerning the numbers of children and teens abused as well as the numbers of Pedophile Priests, Brothers, Nuns, Monks, etc........ performing sexual abuse! The John Jay Report was nothing more than another Vatican PR, "Dog and Pony Show!"
Intercessor | Apr 04, 2012, 11:16 AM EDT
According to a Papal Encyclical called, "The Syllabus of Errors," the Vatican doesn't need to reform itself as it is not subject to any civil authority on the face of the earth. She claims total immunity from the Law, everywhere on earth. The Vatican and the Catholic Church are laws unto themselves. According to the teachings of the Church, if one believes contrary to the teachings of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, one is damned for all eternity to Hell! Papal Encyclicals are supposed to stand for all time and all eternity (at least that's what the Vatican's Propaganda Machine and her Office of Inquisition, now called the CDF, want us to believe! Maybe it's time for courts in the United States to send the Vatican a wake-up call! The trial of Monsignor Lynn just might do the trick!
Seanmor | Apr 04, 2012, 11:00 AM EDT
Is there another aspect to clerical molestation of boys that nobody dares to mention? An exhaustive investigation conducted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice, paid for by the Catholic League,discovered that 81% of of victims of abuse by priests were boys. Some times we hear of boys of 15, 16, 17 years being molested by ordained clergy, but these teenaged victims are always called children. In the plaoon of marines I served with in Camp Lejune there were 2 17-year old P.F.C.s but no one ever called them children or boys. The first week I was doing basic training in Parris Island, it was discovered that the recruit in the next bunk to mine was ONLY 16, but he was in every way a real man. Could it be that clerical molestation of boys has a root cause that is not politically correct to mention?
MCCOLGAN1492 | Apr 04, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT
hang his ass in the public square!!!!
Murph46 | Apr 04, 2012, 10:17 AM EDT
OMG I agree with citizen on something!
CitizenWhy | Apr 04, 2012, 09:46 AM EDT
A hierarchy with absolute power, operating without constraints, will always be corrupt. Witness Ireland, the US, the Netherlands, the Vatican itself, etc., etc. The Catholic Church is incapable of reforming itself for any sustainable period of time.