UNITED STATES
The Legal Examiner
Posted by Joe Saunders
June 23, 2012 1:36 PM
The Penn State football dynasty and the Roman Catholic Church both for decades have put their own prestige and privilege ahead of the safety of children. The criminal convictions last night are a measure of justice for children whose words were not believed in the face of denials by the these powerful institutions. In both of these cases it was not only the evil of the child predators that was at issue but the abuse of power by the institutions that allowed child rapes to go on for years.
I hope that these cases are just the first step in protecting children and in holding those responsibe for child abuse and the cover ups accountable. Monsignor William Lynn of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was the first upper level official of the Catholic Church to be held accountable for protecting child rapists and endangering children. From the evidence in that case it is clear that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua who was Monsignor Lynn’s boss was probably even more culpable. Monsignor Lynn was the vicar for clergy under Cardinal Bevilacqua which means that he was authorized to act for and stand in the place of the Cardinal. Monsignor Lynn was the also the personnel manager of the Archdiocese.
The next significant criminal case pending is the child sex abuse cover up case against Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City. This case against Bishop Finn is only the second criminal prosecution ever against a high level Catholic priest for covering up for another priest child sex abuser. In spite of this charge and the clear underlying evidence that Bishop Lynn failed or refused to follow Missouri law and report child abuse to law enforcement the Vatican still has not removed Bishop Lynn.
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