PHILADELPHIA (PA)
City Press
The landmark trial of a Catholic Church official accused of covering up paedophile abuses in the United States is set to start on Monday in Philadelphia.
Monsignor William Lynn, who oversaw the assignment of priests to schools and parishes across the Philadelphia region, faces accusations that he failed to keep priests accused of sexual abuse away from minors.
The role of such a senior official, whose co-defendant Reverend James Brennan is accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1990s, makes the trial the first of its kind in the United States.
In a surprise pretrial twist yesterday another co-defendant, defrocked priest Edward Avery, pleaded guilty to his own sex crimes, thereby avoiding trial. He was immediately sentenced to between two-and-a-half and five years in prison.
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