Lez Get Real
April 16, 2011
http://lezgetreal.com/2011/04/philadelphia-archdiocese-starts-collecting-money-to-defend-monsignor-accused-of-hiding-sexual-abuse-of-children/
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The Archdiocese of Philadelphia does not seem to be taking the allegations that a Monsignor helped to hide the crimes of a few pedophiles all that seriously. In fact, they are asking their parishioners to donate money to help pay for his legal fees. Perhaps they would like for him to go on hiding the crimes of others as well. MyFoxPhilly.com wrote:
The bulletin is posted on its Web site at www.archphila.org .
In a statement, the church said the bulletins will provide "information about priests on administrative leave, those indicted by the Grand Jury, and the Delegate for Investigations."
The bulletin said the church won't pay legal fees for priest accused of abuse, but some of the priests are under investigation for other issues.
"The complaints in these cases range from potential boundary issues as outlined in the Archdiocesan Standards of Ministerial Behavior to allegations of sexual abuse. As such, it would be unfair to paint all priests currently on administrative leave with the same broad brush," the bulletin says.
The Archdiocese also explained why it continues to pay the legal fees of Monsignor William Lynn, the former aide to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
The statement says the "charges against [Lynn] relate to the position he held. Those legal fees are being paid from unrestricted funds in reserve for use at the discretion of the Archbishop. These funds come to the Archdiocese through unrestricted bequests or the sale of Archdiocesan property and not from parish collections, the Catholic Charities Appeal, nor from the Heritage of Faith—Vision of Hope Capital Campaign."
The Roman Catholic Church has been missing the real point of the anger being felt by the people who criticize it. The problem is not pedophile priests, but the Cardinals and Monsignors who protect them from prosecution and jail. While the abuse was bad enough, the fact that many of the Catholic hierarchy have been more than willing to shuffle priests around ahead of abuse investigations, even going so far as to ship them overseas to avoid the law, has angered many people, including many parishioners, and resulted in countless more victims for these abusers than there would have been had they just called for a criminal investigation.
Monsignor Lynn is charged with criminal negligence and is accused of having covered up the crimes of two priests, a former priest and a Catholic school teacher as they passed around an eleven year old boy as their private sex toy. According to Prosecutors, Lynn transferred abusers to new parishes with schools and youth groups without warning anyone related to he parish itself.
Perhaps the Church should start considering that paying for Monsignor Lynn's defense is part of the reason people are angry and does nothing to actually address the problem that is eating away at the Catholic Church.
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