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Da: Many More Priests Linked to Abuse My Fox Philly February 15, 2011 http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/da%3A-many-more-priests-linked-to-abuse- [with video] Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams spoke with Fox 29 on Monday and repeated a Grand Jury finding that 37 active priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese were accused of sex crimes. Seth Williams says as many as 37 current priests have been accused of molesting children but are stil under the archdiocese's protection. "I stand behind the grand jury report," Williams told our Jeff Cole. "The grand jury believes there were corroborated, substantiated, allegations of sexual abuse," Williams said. The archdiocese has said those allegations are not correct. "This is not a witch hunt," said Williams, who acknowledge he is Catholic and he had to deal with issuing the report. "It is about evil men doing bad things and being held accountable," Williams said. "They don't priests anymore questions directly. They think anything beyond the statute of limitations is unsubstantiated. They have priests who failed lie detectors still in the ministry," he said. Williams agreed with Cole that there is a systemic problem with the church, and not with the faith. Williams also said Cardinal Justin Rigali should take action immediately against the 37 priests under his jurisdiction. Two Roman Catholic priests, a former priest and a Catholic school teacher were charged last Thursday with raping young boys, while Monsignor William Lynn, a former high-ranking church official, was accused of transferring problem priests to new parishes without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints. Lynn featured prominently in a scathing 2005 grand jury report that found 63 priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese had been credibly accused of child sexual assault over several decades while local church officials turned a blind eye. Frustrated prosecutors in 2005 concluded, though, that they could not file any criminal charges because the statute of limitations on the crimes had expired. |
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