Archdiocese of Philadelphia Laments “heavy” Sentence for Monsignor Lynn

SNAP Wisconsin
July 24, 2012

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Monsignor Lynn was sentenced today to prison for 3 to 6 years following his conviction for child endangerment. Lynn is the first high ranking Catholic Church official to be tried and found guilty in a criminal court of law for giving known pedophile priests access to unsuspecting children.

At sentencing Judge Teresa Sarmina told Lynn “You knew full well what was right Monsignor, but you chose wrong”.

Sarmina added that Lynn deserved the sentence imposed on him because of “your support and facilitation of monsters in clerical garb…who destroyed the souls of children as you turned a hard heart”.

Following the sentencing of their Monsignor the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a statement lamenting Lynn’s sentence stating “Fair minded people will question the severity of the heavy, three to six year sentence imposed on Msgr. Lynn today. We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed it will be adjusted”.

The archdiocese neglected to mention the sentence that was imposed on the child whom Lynn endangered. That child was sexually assaulted by Fr. Edward Avery who Lynn was in charge of supervising. Lynn knew that Avery was a child molester and assigned him to St. Jerome’s parish anyway without warning parishioners that there was a dangerous predator in their midst.

Avery took a child from St. Jerome’s parish into the sacristy, turned on the radio, ordered him to entertain him with a striptease, and then performed oral sex on him. That 10 year old child went on to begin abusing alcohol and marijuana one year after being attacked by Avery. He later started using heroin and at the age of 23 had been in almost two dozen drug treatment facilities.

Avery’s victim has served and will serve a much longer sentence than Monsignor Lynn ever will.

Today’s statement by the Philadelphia archdiocese stands in sharp contrast to how officials from Penn State University have chosen to respond to revelations that Joe Paterno and his colleagues covered up and enabled the crimes of Jerry Sandusky. When confronted with the findings of the Freeh Report the Penn State Board of Trustees didn’t point fingers and find fault with former FBI Director Louis Freeh or his investigation. Instead they humbly accepted Freeh’s conclusions.

Likewise, when the NCAA leveled its punishment on the Penn State football program Penn State President Rodney Erickson stated “The NCAA ruling holds the university accountable for the failure of those in power to protect children and insist that all areas of the university community are held to the same high standards of honesty and integrity”. Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien added “Today we receive a very harsh penalty from the NCAA and as Head Coach of the Nittany Lions football program, I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance, and operational excellence”.

In the aftermath of Lynn’s conviction and sentencing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia could have followed the example of Penn State officials, and humbly accepted the verdict of the jury and the sentence of Judge Sarmina. Instead they chose to respond as church officials often do, by implying that they are the “real victim” who is being unjustly punished.