Ex-teacher and a Priest Are Convicted in Abuse Case

By Jon Hurdle
New York Times
January 30, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/us/philadelphia-priest-and-ex-teacher-guilty-in-abuse-case.html?_r=1&

A Roman Catholic priest and a former Catholic school teacher were convicted on Wednesday on nine charges relating to the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy at different times more than a decade ago.

Bernard Shero

A jury in Common Pleas Court here found the teacher, Bernard Shero, guilty of five charges, including rape and involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, after hearing testimony that he had assaulted the boy in the back of his car.

After deliberating for about 19 hours over four days, the jury also convicted the Rev. Charles Engelhardt on four counts, including indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a charge of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse against Father Engelhardt, who was accused of abusing the boy in a church sacristy during the 1998-99 school year. Judge Ellen Ceisler declared a mistrial on that count.

Judge Ceisler ordered that both men be held in protective custody until they are sentenced on April 18. Mr. Shero faces a maximum of 57 years in prison. Father Engelhardt, of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a teaching order, could be imprisoned for as long as 37 years.

Father Engelhardt, wearing a black jacket and clerical collar, hugged his lawyer, Michael McGovern, before being led away by sheriffs, but otherwise showed no emotion after the verdict was read.

Father Engelhardt, 66, and Mr. Shero, 49, were among five defendants named in a February 2011 grand jury report that accused the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of covering up reports over many years that some of its priests had sexually abused children in their care.

The highest-ranking official to be charged in the report was Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former secretary for clergy who was convicted in June 2012 of child endangerment for allowing another priest, Edward V. Avery, to move to the accuser’s parish in Northeast Philadelphia despite an earlier complaint of sexual abuse against him. Mr. Avery, who has since been removed from the priesthood, pleaded guilty to abusing the accuser of Father Engelhardt and Mr. Shero, and is serving two and a half to five years in a Pennsylvania prison. But on Jan. 17, Mr. Avery recanted, saying that he had entered the guilty plea rather than risk a longer sentence at trial.

R. Seth Williams, the Philadelphia district attorney, said he was “overjoyed” by the verdict, which he said served a warning to any church that seeks to shield its priests from accusations of sexually abusing children.

“It sends a message to archdiocese organizations across the country: Don’t protect pedophiles because you are more concerned with your institution,” he said.

Mr. Williams said he was “very thankful but surprised” by the verdict because of doubts that had been cast on the accuser, now 24, by defense lawyers.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt