PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage
Drawing on his wide legal expertise, Jerry Slevin has sent another critically important statement about the recent Philadelphia trial and what remains still to be done. What follows is Jerry’s statement:
APOLOGISTS’ RECENT “SPIN EFFORTS”:
Almost a year and a half ago, Philly’s Cardinal Rigali suddenly suspended three dozen priests of the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese (Philly AD) on perceived suspicion of sexual misconduct with children. Over half of these priests’ cases were “news” to Rigali’s lay child protection review board chairwoman. Over a dozen of these cases still remain open under Archbishop Chaput at the Philly AD. These remaining suspected priests are apparently still generally unmonitored and may yet be possible risks for defenseless Philly children. Yet, the Philly AD’s newly convicted felon, Monsignor Lynn, had barely broken in his new prison mattress when the Catholic bishops’ spin-machine went into over-drive to try to whitewash Lynn’s criminal trial’s findings and almost to suggest that an “abuse free” Philly AD had arrived.
The U. S. Catholic bishops’ occasionally unofficial mouthpiece, Bill Donohue, exclaimed here that the alleged “witch-hunt” against the Philly AD had failed with Msgr. Lynn’s conviction. According to Bill Donohue, the “witch-hunt” against the Philly AD was initiated in 2001 by former Philly District Attorney (DA), Lynne Abraham, who is of the Jewish faith, with her purportedly biased pursuit of Philly Catholic clergy. Bill Donohue claimed pointedly, gratuitously and irrelevantly that DA Abraham investigated priests, but not rabbis and others. Bill has previously made similar seemingly anti-Semitic diversionary allusions to her alleged religious bias against Catholic clergy as a factor in her investigation of Philly predatory priests.
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