By John P. Martin
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 14, 2011
http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-14/news/28688531_1_abusive-priests-accused-priests-area-priests
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| Scheduled for a court hearing at 1 p.m. are (clockwise, from top left) priest… |
Four Philadelphia area priests arrested last month on charges of sexually abusing or endangering minors returned to court for the first time today, sitting silently while their lawyers clashed with prosecutors and a judge over the validity of the charges and who was paying defense fees.
None of those issues were resolved in the 75-minute hearing before an exasperated Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes. Instead she ordered the defendants and their lawyers to submit written arguments on the outstanding issues and return March 25 for another hearing.
Hughes also left unresolved until then a request by the defense for a preliminary hearing on the charges, a move that could force prosecutors to disclose some of their evidence and prove the case is worthy of a trial.
Three of the clerics are accused of sexually assaulting boys in the area in the 1990s, as is a fourth defendant, a former Catholic school teacher.
The fifth defendant, Mgsr. William Lynn, the former Secretary of Clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, faces felony endangerment charges for allegedly concealing and enabling the crimes by placing the priests in positions that gave them easy access to minors.
His prosecution is believed to be the first time in the country authorities have charged a ranking church official for endangering children by protecting and enabling abusive priests.
The arrests coincided with the release of a scathing grand jury report accusing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of failing to reform after an earlier clergy sex abuse scandal.
Though short on substance, the hearing Monday didn't lack for theatrics.
Before a courtroom packed with members of the media, at least six priests and other supporters, the judge openly seethed at one point when she heard that one of the defendants, the Rev. James Brennan, had paid for a private attorney and hoped to be reimbursed by the archdiocese.
Hughes said she had assigned a court-appointed lawyer for Brennan during the grand-jury investigation because he came to her "in tears" to say he had no money to defend himself.
She ordered him to stand and explain himself. "You lied to me," Hughes thundered.
One of Brennan's attorneys, A. Charles Peruto Jr., insisted that the priest had only found the money - a loan from his brother - after the grand jury investigation. When Brennan struggled to understand or explain what was going on, Peruto told the the judge Brennan had misspoke about his finances because he was so nervous.
"He's trembling back there," Peruto said.
Brennan, 47, is accused of raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996, when Brennan was on leave from his teaching assignment at Cardinal O'Hara High School in Delaware County.
His lawyers are challenging the charge, in part because they say a Philadelphia grand jury had no jurisdiction to charge Brennan for crimes it alleges occurred in Chester and Bucks counties.
Prosecutors countered late last week by filing a new charge against Brennan, alleging that his assault was part of conspiracy with Lynn, who was based in Philadelphia.
They also said they will pursue conspiracy charges against Brennan's co-defendants, Charles Englehardt and Edward V. Avery, who they say forced a fifth-grade altar boy to perform oral sex on them in the sacristy when both were posted at St. Jerome's parish in Northeast Philadelphia in 1998 and 1999.
Avery, 68, a Haverford resident, was defrocked in 2006, based on a complaint from another altar boy who said the priest had molested him in the late 1970s. Englehardt, 64, remains a priest under the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and was last known to be living at a parish residence in Wyndmoor.
A former teacher at St. Jerome's school, Bernard Shero, is charged with raping the same boy in the fall of 1999. Shero, a 48-year-old Bristol resident, is no longer a teacher. Court records say he tried to kill himself after the charges were announced.
The victim came forward with the allegations against all three men two years ago.
Brennan is believed to be in a secluded residential program for sexually abusive priests.
Lynn, 60, served as Secretary of Clergy for the archdiocese between 1992 and 2004, and was responsible for recommending and managing assignments for priests throughout the region. Since 2004, Lynn has been pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Downingtown.
His lawyers, Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy, are being paid by the archdiocese.
Today's hearing comes six days after the Archdiocese suspended 21 priests while it re-examines old accusations against them involving sex abuse or inappropriate behavior around minors.
Contact John P. Martin at 215-854-4774 or at jmartin@phillynews.com
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