Breach of Duty: a Pedophile Priest's Enabler Gets Prison Time

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 26, 2012

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/breach-of-duty-a-pedophile-priests-enabler-gets-prison-time-646205/



Few things are worse than a watchman who doesn't watch. That's why Monsignor William J. Lynn of Philadelphia was sentenced Tuesday to 3 to 6 years in prison.

He failed to watch over the safety of the children of his Catholic archdiocese for the dozen years he was secretary for clergy to Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua. It was Lynn's job to make parish assignments and to investigate sex abuse claims against priests.

Last month, Lynn, 61, was found guilty of turning a blind eye to the predations of Edward Avery, a former parish priest who pleaded guilty to charges of sexually assaulting an altar boy in 1999. Lynn was told by a medical student in 1992 that Avery had molested him in the 1970s.

Lynn removed Avery from his parish and ordered him hospitalized for evaluation. But instead of then turning Avery over to Philadelphia police, Lynn let him to return to ministry in a limited capacity. Avery was reassigned to a parish that knew nothing of his history and no report was made to civil authorities.

Avery struck again in 1999, seven years after Lynn became aware of his monstrous proclivities. The molester was finally defrocked six years ago, but he didn't confess his crime to authorities until March of this year.

Lynn's failure to investigate abuse allegations was egregious. His insensitivity to the problem's magnitude had a direct impact on the lives of Avery's victims. For that reason, Lynn's sentence is appropriate because it sends a signal to other dioceses that shuffling pedophiles to unsuspecting congregations will not be tolerated and that those who enable such behavior can expect prison time.

Lynn claimed that he did everything in his power to keep children safe, but that it was church bureaucracy that hindered him. The jury that convicted him didn't buy it.

The parallels to the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State are obvious enough. One lesson is that powerful institutions that protect child predators have much to answer for.