Editorial: Judge Imposes 'Fair-Minded' Sentence for Lynn

Daily Times
July 24, 2012

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/07/24/opinion/doc500f62b2a75f4840809467.txt

After three months of silence regarding the child endangerment trial of the Rev. Monsignor William Lynn, who was accused of protecting pedophile priests, officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia spoke out late Tuesday afternoon.

They issued a press release expressing profound regret for any pain the trial may have caused the 12 victims of clerical sexual abuse who courageously testified.

They also insisted that things have changed in the Roman Catholic Church since the days those victims were abused.

That being said, archdiocesan officials wanted to make another major point.

They think it's time to be "fair-minded" in the case of the monsignor who was responsible for the disposition of suspected abusers when he served as secretary of clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004.

Convicted of child endangerment in connection with a victim of former Haverford resident and defrocked priest Edward Avery on June 22, Lynn was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a Philadelphia judge.

Lynn's defense during his 10-week trial was basically that he was just following the orders of the now-late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua when he didn't turn Avery and other known or suspected pedophile priests over to civil authorities.

"Fair-minded people will question the severity of the heavy, three to six year sentence imposed on Monsignor Lynn today. We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed, it will be adjusted. We pray for Monsignor Lynn and his family at this difficult time," said the press release issued by officials in the archdiocese headed by Archbishop Charles Chaput.

We don't even know where to begin in responding to such a tasteless and, quite frankly, incredible statement.

The implication is, of course, that the judge was neither fair nor objective when meting out the monsignor's punishment. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina was absolutely correct when she told Lynn that he chose his job and keeping quiet about abuse over the welfare of children. As a result, Lynn kept his job and thereby enabled what Sarmina called "monsters in clerical garb — to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart."

"You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong," the judge said at sentencing on Tuesday.

Lynn's attorneys have characterized their client as a scapegoat, and there could be an element of truth to that. As proven in two Philadelphia grand jury investigations many church officials came before Lynn and protected pedophile priests, transferring them from parish to unsuspecting parish, but that is the fault of officials in the archdiocese and at the Vatican.

If they had done the right thing and allowed civil authorities to handle these suspected pedophiles, the pedophiles — and not a priest who was in charge of them — would be paying the price for their sins.

The truth is that the Catholic hierarchy chose preserving the church's image and its pocketbook over the welfare of its children. Lynn happens to be the first Catholic Church official to be held accountable for such selfish and destructive decision.

He probably won't be the last.

Now that Lynn's case has set a precedent, district attorneys throughout the nation are bound to follow suit in prosecuting those in their purviews who protect pedophiles. Lest church officials cry religious persecution, Penn State University officials are also being taken to task in criminal court for their alleged failure in notifying police about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky who, a few hours after Lynn's child endangerment conviction, was found guilty of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years.

The archdiocese's press release also mentions "the public humiliation of the church" as though that should be enough of a price to pay for the egregious sins its leaders enabled some of its priests to repeatedly commit upon its children.

We daresay the embarrassment of the church will fade far sooner than the emotional and psychological scars suffered by the young victims of abusive priests. How "fair-minded" a sentence is that?