PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Christian Century
May 04, 2012 by David Gibson
Religion News Service (RNS) Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Friday (May 4) that five priests accused of sexually abusing children last year would be barred from ministry and could be defrocked, while three others were cleared by a church-led investigation and could return to pastoral work.
The eight were among more than two dozen priests who were suspended from ministry as a result of accusations made in a scathing February 2011 grand jury report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the archdiocese.
One of the 27 suspended priests is Monsignor William J. Lynn, who was not accused of direct abuse but of covering up for clergy molesters while overseeing personnel matters for the archdiocese from 1992 to 2004. Lynn is currently on trial in Philadelphia on charges of child endangerment, the only church official ever to go before a jury for allowing abusers to prey on minors. …
Terence McKiernan, head of BishopAccountability.org, a lay-led church reform group, said Chaput “missed a crucial opportunity” because he “could have made Philadelphia the bellwether for nationwide reform of a system that has never delivered on its promise. He has not done so.”
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