U.S. Priest on Trial over Alleged Abuse Coverup

Calgary Herald
March 27, 2012

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/priest+trial+over+alleged+abuse+coverup/6363856/story.html

Monsignor William Lynn has been described by the prosecution as a "keeper of secrets."

A Catholic priest tasked with assigning priests jobs protected the dark "secrets" of his child-abusing subordinates, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday at the start of a landmark trial.

The trial of Monsignor William Lynn, the most senior church official in the United States to be charged with covering up priests' sexual abuse of children, began under heavy media scrutiny in Philadelphia.

Prosecutors are targeting Lynn, who they claim shuffled two priests suspected of child abuse to other positions, enabling the crimes to continue.

Assistant district attorney Jacqueline Coelho described Lynn as the "keeper of the secrets," tasked with protecting the church from scandal and keeping parishioners in the dark. "The protection of children was the furthest thing from defendant Lynn's mind," said Coelho, who promised the jury a painstaking review of church archives in which Lynn would be incriminated by his own words.

But Thomas Bergstrom, Lynn's attorney, described his client as having been powerless to stop abuse within the Church because he was too low on the Church hierarchy.

"The sexual abuse of children is awful," Bergstrom said. "Monsignor Lynn knows that it is awful. He, and perhaps he alone, tried to stop it."

Still, the relative seniority of Lynn, whose co-defendant Reverend James Brennan is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s, makes the trial the first of its kind in the country.

In a surprise twist last week, the other co-defendant, defrocked priest Edward Avery, pleaded guilty to sex crimes, thereby avoiding trial. He was sentenced to between two-and-a-half and five years in prison.

Defence lawyers sought a delay in the trial, arguing jurors may have learned of the plea over the weekend, a factor that could damage their clients' chance. The judge, Theresa Sarmina, rejected those arguments and ordered the trial to start.