Philadelphia Church Official to Be Sentenced in Abuse Case

By Erik Eckholm
New York Times
July 24, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/us/philadelphia-church-official-to-be-sentenced-in-abuse-case.html?_r=1

Sentencing is expected Tuesday in the landmark conviction of a Roman Catholic official for covering up child sex abuses by priests under his supervision.

The official, Msgr. William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, was found guilty on June 22 on one count of endangering a child. The crime carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Monsignor Lynn served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, recommending priest assignments and investigating abuse complaints. In a trial that lasted more than two months, prosecutors argued that he had shielded predatory priests, often transferring them to unwary new parishes, and lied to the public to avoid bad publicity and lawsuits.

Last week, Monsignor Lynn's lawyers asked Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to spare him from prison and sentence him to probation and work-release or house arrest. They argued in a written memorandum that a long prison sentence would be "merely cruel and unusual," and "would serve no purpose at all."

"Monsignor Lynn has never harbored any intent to harm a child," wrote the lawyers, Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy.

But prosecutors urged the judge to impose the maximum penalty. They argued in a statement to the court last week that the gravity of Monsignor Lynn's crime — giving known sexual predators continued access to children, causing lifelong anguish and damages to some — was "off the charts." They said he had refused to accept responsibility and had an "apparent lack of remorse for anyone but himself."

Monsignor Lynn's lawyers are expected to present character witnesses at the hearing and make one last request for a light sentence. They have also promised to appeal the conviction, saying the child endangerment law at the time of the events in question did not apply to supervisors and that the judge erred in allowing testimony about sex abuses that occurred outside the statute of limitations.

The trial and conviction of Monsignor Lynn has already sent a strong warning against lax oversight of sex abuses to bishops and other senior Roman Catholic officials around the country, according to church experts.

In the trial, Monsignor Lynn's lawyers argued that he had tried to protect children but that his powers were limited and that he had followed the instructions of the cardinal at the time, Anthony J. Bevilacqua. But prosecutors argued that Monsignor Lynn played a central role in deciding how to handle complaints against priests and that "following orders" was no defense.

Monsignor Lynn's conviction centered on one former priest who had a known history of abuse, but was allowed to continue in ministry. The former priest, Edward V. Avery, now 69, spent six months in a church psychiatric center in 1993 after an abuse episode, and doctors said he should be kept away from children. But Monsignor Lynn sent him to live in a parish rectory and did not warn the parish officials.

In 1999, Mr. Avery undressed with a 10-year-old altar boy, told him that God loved him and had him engage in oral sex. Mr. Avery pleaded guilty to the assault just before Monsignor Lynn's trial began and was sentenced to prison.

The prosecutors, in their sentencing recommendation last week, said that Monsignor Lynn's handling of Father Avery "was no aberration," but rather "part of a continuous, systematic practice of retaining abusive priests in ministry, with continued access to minors, while taking pains to avoid scandal or liability for the archdiocese."