Jury Duty a Serious Task

Pocono Record
February 27, 2012

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120227/NEWS04/202270310/-1/NEWSMAP

Lawyers who are selecting jurors in the Philadelphia priest abuse case better look for good readers — and hope they do their homework.

These jurors will hear and review evidence related to charges that Monsignor William Lynn endangered children by keeping predatory priests in the ministry. During the course of the trial, jurors will have access to two boxes filled with complaint files. Until now, the files have been closely guarded, kept in the private archives of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

News reports say the files include several decades of complaints against dozens of priests from the diocese, and that they include sex therapy notes and legal advice.

From 1992 to 2004, Lynn served as secretary of clergy for the archdiocese, a role that included overseeing the files now marked for presentment. Going to trial with Lynn are two accused priests, but altogether the jury will hear about 22 accused priests. These are the individuals Lynn knew about or took action about, according to their files. Prosecutors hope to prove that Lynn continued assigning to new parishes priests he knew were accused of inappropriate behavior with minors, and that his actions helped keep the complaints about them secret.

Serving on this jury won't be a field day. Officials expect the trial to take several months. That's a lot of time, but child abuse and turning a blind eye to it are serious charges. The details range from salacious descriptions of priests' alleged activities with boys to records indicating that a priest was admonished for complaining to the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua about the transfer of an accused priest to his parish.

Lynn, 61, is the first U.S. church official ever to face criminal charges pertaining to the priest sex abuse scandal that has swirled around the Catholic Church in recent years.

Jurors and alternates have a solemn duty to weigh the evidence and make their determination based in the law. In this case that means a painstaking review of reams of paperwork penned or signed by Lynn. It will take considerable time and effort. But it will fall to jurors in this landmark case to decide whether the evidence substantially proves that the monsignor indeed conspired to place the protection of priests and the institution ahead of children's welfare.