By Edward J. Kelly
Establish Mag
September 8, 2011
http://establishmag.com/2011/08/16/philly-district-attorney-history-priest-indictment/
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Monsignor William Lynn is one of a kind.
As Secretary of Clergy under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua from 1992-2004, Lynn was tasked with the job of investigating allegations of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests for the purpose of protecting parishioners from repeat offenders. Two decades after his appointment, William Lynn may well become a household name because he’ll be the first clergyman in history to be indicted on felony charges for endangering child welfare.
A recent grand jury investigation found that he had been “knowingly allowing dangerous priests to continue in ministry.” According to a press release from the Philadelphia District Attorney, Lynn was recommended for indictment along with four co-defendants — three priests and a teacher from St. Jerome’s parish — who were subsequently charged with the rape and sexual assault of two adolescent boys. Lynn was the Secretary of Clergy during the time the alleged abuse took place.
The grand jury report says that Lynn’s job was
“to review all reports of abuse, to recommend action, and to monitor the abuser’s future conduct.”
Before the rapes that occurred on his watch, he maintained that the troubling things being said about Father Edward Avery were “mere rumors,” and that only nice things had ever been said about the pastor despite the fact that he had already received complaints about inappropriate behavior from the cleric. After it came out that Avery was indeed a sex offender, Lynn recommended his transfer to another parish with another school, and was aware that Avery was then allowed to adopt several children into his care.
Another priest, James Brennan, had numerous complaints made against him during the same period of time. Concerned that the allegations of sexual misconduct were stacking up, “he went to Monsignor Lynn,” according to the grand jury, “who promptly assured him” the allegations would never be put on paper in Brennan’s file.
“There is no doubt that Monsignor Lynn’s refusal to curb Avery and Brennan led directly to the rape [of two students at St. Jerome's],” the report says, and that “Avery and Brennan were hardly the only priests whom Monsignor Lynn so favored.” The trial is set for March of 2012.
The office of Philadelphia’s district attorney Seth Williams declined to comment on the grand jury’s findings, citing a gag order that prevented them from speaking about an on-going investigation. Establish Magazine also contacted the Philadelphia Archdiocese and two pastors in connected parishes, none of whom availed themselves for comment.
This was actually the second grand jury investigation regarding sex crimes among the Catholic clergy here in six years. The D.A. also concluded that the church had not complied with the 2005 recommendations.
The circumstances of Lynn’s indictment are as historic as they sleazy, and not just because the felony charge is the first one to be handed down. The Lynn indictment is particularly historic because it happened here in the Philadelphia archdiocese, one of the largest in the world, with its hundreds of churches and almost 1.5 million parishioners. Three of the last four Philadelphia archbishops have been appointed by the Vatican as Cardinals who go on to appoint the Pope.
The current archbishop of Philadelphia, Justin Rigali, announced his resignation in July, and both he and the archdiocese claim that the resignation is not related to the sex crimes cover-up. According to Canon law, all cardinals must submit their letters of resignation when they turn 75. The Vatican then “accepts” the resignation at some later date. Denver archbishop Charles Chaput will replace the 76 year old Rigali next month.
“It’s basically a promotion,” said David Clohessy. He’s the National Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, a non-profit organization that formed in 1988 with the primary goal of serving as a support group for abuse survivors. SNAP has over ten thousand members and chapters in cities all over the country, including Philadelphia.
“[Chaput] is just a more warm and out-going and media savvy Rigali or Bevilacqua,” Clohessy continued.
“We couldn’t care less about his ideology or theology. What matters is his record on child safety. And it’s awful.”
“He plays brutal, brutal hardball with victims who come forward.”
Clohessy says that for the clergy, “The real issue is protecting themselves and their reputations.”
There is some debate regarding the percentage of priests who are sexual predators in relation to the percentage of sexual predators throughout the rest of the general population. The church and its defenders maintain that priests are no more likely to assault children than the average citizen.
Clohessy does not believe that’s true. “The real scandal,” he says, “is the cover-up.”
“I can literally count on one hand how many times a Monsignor Lynn-type has ever experienced any consequences.” Those consequences have never before amounted to a defrocking or a demotion, let alone an indictment. Most priests are sent away for “a month of prayer and penitence.”
“There is nothing the church hierarchy fears more than this ruling,” he added.
Clohessy also worries that the recent resignation of Cardinal Rigali is “dangerous” because it may lead people to think that there has been progress made, and that, in his words, “there is a tendency to give the new guy a little more breathing room.” If the results of the 2005 grand jury are any indication, the clergy isn’t going to change unless they are forced to.
Seth Williams, who is a church-going Catholic himself, is not going easy on them despite his admitted allegiance to the faith. Apart from the grand jury report, Williams has said, “There’s no get-out-of-jail-free card for raping, sodomizing, groping, doing anything wrong to kids.”
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said of our Williams, “In Seth Williams’ city, the law sees no collars, except the ones put on criminals.” Williams has also assured that Anthony Bevilacqua will testify in court this September regarding his involvement in the rape cover-up, despite claims from the church that the former cardinal, now 87, has memory problems related to dementia. Not surprisingly, Lynn, who served directly under Bevilacqua during the rape and cover-up, stands to benefit the most from Bevilacqua’s purported mental condition.
But Dave Lorenz, a SNAP volunteer and Chapter Director for the state of Maryland, is skeptical about whether Bevilacqua will actually make it to court at all.
He tells the story of a priest in California who was brought to court. “They were nailing him to the wall and pointing out inconsistencies in his testimony. He started crying and said, ‘Can I be excused? We can pick this up tomorrow.’ They said alright and the next day he was in Canada. The diocese said they sent him there for psychological counseling because he had a nervous breakdown.”
“So I’ll believe that Bevilacqua is old and senile when I see it.”
Lorenz himself is a survivor. When he was in a Catholic college preparatory program, he was raped by a priest who was his counselor. The priest, Father Earl Bierman, had been at this all-boys school for years. “He was the guy you went to,” Lorenz said. “He was a fun-loving priest, the guy you wanted to hang around with.”
“He did a lot of strange things that, only as an adult, I can look back and say were part of the ‘grooming process.’ He talked about my sexual development all the time, touched me in inappropriate places and in inappropriate ways, and I think he was gauging my reaction.”
Though Lorenz and his schoolmates did not know it, Bierman was being transferred out of the area due to allegations of sexual misconduct. They threw him a going-away party at his mansion, where he lived by himself.
“It wasn’t unusual to stay over his house. It wasn’t a big deal to just crash in his living room.” The next morning, he came into the room and raped Lorenz. He was 16.
Bierman died in prison in 2005.
Mr. Lorenz’s story speaks the severity of the crime that Msngr. Lynn is alleged to have committed. This well-rehearsed, well practiced child rapist, who may have had as many as one hundred victims in his depraved career, was also transferred over a dozen times and over two states and was protected by countless clergymen. He transferred because of allegations of misconduct at least twice before he was sent to Lorenz’s school.
“I should never have met Earl Bierman,” he said.
According to RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, males are unlikely to report that they are raped. The 2003 John Jay study organized by the US Commission of Catholic Bishops found that 80% of the victims of predator priests are boys, and so any discussion of numbers, like the Church’s claim that priests are just as likely to be rapists as anyone else, is haunted by the scores of potentially unreported crimes.
Lorenz himself only came forward when his abuser was arrested in 1993. It’s not an easy subject for him. “That’s the one great regret of my life.” Bierman was found to have abused more boys after being transferred out of the parish.
“How many kids got hurt because I didn’t say something? I’m going to carry that around for the rest of my life. I tried to apologize to everyone that was abused by him that came after me. I took out an ad in the newspaper. But how do you apologize for that?”
“But that’s why I do what I do,” Lorenz continued. “I refuse to be a coward again. I was too scared to do it, and I am not going to let that ever, ever happen again.”
“In one way I was looking to hide it, and in another way I was looking to come forward … still someone had to ask me directly.” In a phone conversation with his mother after Bierman’s arrest, she asked if Bierman had ever done anything to him. He was 34 at the time. That’s when he began writing letters to his family members and later went public about what had happened. Unfortunately, his father passed away a month before.
“I kept thinking, How would I explain this to my Dad?”
He urges that anyone who was assaulted by members of the clergy come forward. And he says to family members of those who went through the system: “Ask them. Ask them if they’ve been hurt. Nobody would have guessed that I had a problem.”
Mr. Lorenz still considers himself a Catholic and maintains his faith — just not his faith in the clergy. He says the church is in need of serious reform.
“A far as we can tell,” Clohessy says, “the church is growing.”
He wants to encourage anyone abused by clergy members, or anyone who has information about sex crimes, to report it to proper law enforcement. “As soon as you call Charles Chaput instead of Seth Williams, that’s when records are destroyed, alibis are fabricated, victims are intimidated, witnesses are discredited and threatened, and on and on.”
“These crimes need to be dealt with by the independent professionals in law enforcement. Not the five amateurs sitting in a church chancellery office.”
If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual abuse, or if you have information regarding abuse by members of the Catholic clergy, please contact the office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia or the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests
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