After 11 days of deliberation the jury is hung in all but one of the counts in the Philadelphia Diocese landmark sexual abuse trial. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports jurors sent a note to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina shortly before noon, Wednesday, saying the panel of seven men and five women had reached “a hung jury status” for four of the Read more
In an emotional summary after more than two months of testimony, the prosecution in a landmark sexual-abuse trial said here on Thursday that overwhelming evidence showed that a Roman Catholic Church official had shielded predatory priests, lied to parishioners and victims, and exposed innocent children to abuse. But a defense lawyer for the official, Msgr. Read more
A string of Roman Catholic priests testified Wednesday in a landmark clergy-abuse case, saying they reported fellow priests to the archdiocese after finding them with pornography or in unhealthy relationships with children.
The priests, uncomfortably, are prosecution witnesses in the trial of a longtime supervisor in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Monsignor William Lynn. The former secretary for clergy is charged with endangering children by allegedly helping the church cover up abuse complaints.
Read the article...The discovery of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua’s 1994 order to shred a memo about 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of molesting children is no reason to dismiss the case against one of his key aides, a judge ruled Monday.
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Defense lawyers for Philadelphia diocesan official, Monsignor William Lynn, claim Philadelphia Cardinal, the late Anthony Bevilacqua ordered the shredding of Lynn’s predator priests list and are asking for the case against Lynn to be dropped. The lawyers contend that the real criminals are Bevilacqua and his advisors, and they are either dead or have not been charged in conjunction Read more
Philadelphia sex-abuse chair, Ana Maria Catanzaro, has blasted her Cardinal, Justin Rigali and his bishops for their response to the sexual abuse problem in the archdiocese. Writing in Commonweal, a lay Catholic magazine, Catanzaro wrote the Philadelphia cardinal “failed miserably at being open and transparent.” “What will it take for bishops to accept that their attitude Read more
A legal case in Philadelphia is drawing special attention, because for the first time, prosecutors are charging a church official for allegedly transferring predator priests to new parishes without warning. If found guilty, former secretary for the clergy, Monsignor William Lynn faces a possible 28 years in prison. On Friday, Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes said Read more