-255x255-255x255.jpg "Reuters/Scott Anderson")
PHILADELPHIA — Msgr. William Lynn, the 61-year-old Philadelphia priest at the center of a landmark sexual-abuse court case, was sentenced to three-six years in prison for his role in the archdiocese-wide scandal.
The July 24 sentence drew criticism from the defendant’s lawyer as extreme. It is close to the maximum three and a half to seven years requested by Philadelphia’s District Attorney Seth Williams. Both Msgr. Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, and a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said they thought the sentence was too harsh.
A jury June 22 found Msgr. Lynn guilty on one of two counts of child endangerment for knowingly placing minors in danger when he reassigned troubled priests to parishes where they would have access to children.
The archdiocese released a statement, saying in part, “Fair-minded people will question the severity of the heavy, three- to six-year sentence imposed on Msgr. Lynn. We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed, it will be adjusted.”
Bergstrom told the Register he planned to file an appeal.
Defense attorney Jeff Lindy told the Register that the sentence was “too harsh” and pointed out that now-defrocked priest Edward Avery was sentenced to less time than Msgr. Lynn. Avery is serving a two and a half- to
five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999. “That doesn’t seem like justice,” said Lindy.
On top of the sentence, the judge in the case, Judge Teresa Sarmina, reportedly had some strong words for Msgr. Lynn, saying that he — the former secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia — had supported “monsters in clerical garb.”
Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University, said the strict sentencing sends a strong message to the Church. He said the days of “protecting the institution over the individual” must be done away with.
“Clearly, this signals that the court takes this kind of case very seriously,” he said. “The defense that ‘I was only following orders’ is not going to work in the future.”
He said he believed that because of this case, “in the future priests in Msgr. Lynn’s position are going to be careful about a paper trail. They’re going to make sure they’re not culpable. It really will change the relation of the clergy with the bishop.”
Msgr. Lynn reportedly told the judge that he was sorry for his “failings” during the 12 years he managed priests’ assignments and investigated clergy sex-abuse reports for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He repeated a claim he made during his trial: that he did his best as clergy secretary.
“But the fact is, my best was not good enough — and for that I'm truly sorry,” he told the judge.
Dispute Over Sentence
Under state guidelines, Msgr. Lynn will have to serve at least three years before becoming eligible for parole.
Tasha Jamerson, director of communications for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, said DA Seth Williams was “very happy” with the sentence.
She said she hopes the case is precedent-setting: “Given this verdict, it may make other people pause and perhaps put the interests of the individuals over the institutions. That’s the ultimate goal.”
The archdiocese, in its statement, is saying that this lesson has already been learned.
“The public humiliation of the Church has emphasized the vital lesson that we must be constantly vigilant in our charge to protect the children in our parishes and schools. Since the events some 10 years ago that were at the center of this trial, the archdiocese has changed,” the statement said. “We have taken dramatic steps to ensure that all young people in our care are safe, and these efforts will continue even more forcefully now and in the years ahead. We remain committed to protecting children and caring for victims.”
Matthew Archbold writes from Philadelphia. He blogs at NCRegister.com.
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If this is really about “protecting the children,” the Philly DA would be going after the rampant abuse happening TODAY in the public school system, where students are raped and molested with impunity.
Instead, the Philly DA’s Office - who partnered closely with SNAP throughout this whole ordeal - has spent 10 years and three grand jury reports targeting decades-old crimes in the Church.
Unlike many of my Catholic brothers and sisters, I have been responsible for the sometimes very uneasy job of hiring and firing people. I can assure you that the situation in which a “personnel manager” often finds him- or herself, can be anything but clear and straightforward.
It is easy for one who has never held those responsibilities to judge the “obvious” failures of Msgr. Lynn . . . I cannot quickly say such a thing.
Before you revile the Msgr. you should know much more about the exact information he was given, the precise way in which he was authorized to act, the details of exactly what was revealed to him in each of the subject instances. Even then, I expect that you would discover that you faced daunting decisions with several completely legal but ethically vague solutions.
The court said he made the wrong decision in at least one of those cases, and punished him for all of the crimes committed. Is that justice, or vengeance?
I am glad to see justice served. Unfortunately, you do not see this is other places.. It is the right sentence. I am from Los Angeles
Monsters in clerical garb. And monsters in judicial garb. She is out of control.
We are all human, we make mistake, I’m with you Msgr Lynn, I’m sure you didn’t hurt anybody, and most of the time kids are who try to corruption , they are not all agels….
We pay for our mistake, making mistake is human.
God will help you.
Raffaele.
I recognize the innate prejudice of the media, the liberals and others in American towards the Catholic Church, but this is also related to the odious changes in the Church related to Vatican II errors. Hopefully the Church will wake up before it is too late. I suppose that is why Jesus said…“but when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth.” The bishops need to wake up and realize that the Church has become what it has fought against for 500 years - Protestantism.
I believe he got off very lightly. There has to be more prosecutions and sentences such as this handed out particularly to bishops who have been complicit in this outragious scandal. This is a problem that the Catholic Church has to address from the very top down. Nice words from Pope are all very well and good but as long as a monster such as Bernard Law remains in good standing at the Vatican Benedict XVI has to bear some culpability. A good man but a failure in this instance.
Matt, I’m disappointed. You referred to the child molesting priests as “troubled priests”. I think the judge described them better when she referred to them as “monsters in clerical garb.” I agree that a monsignor that assigns a “troubled” priest to be around children should not have received a sentence of 3 to 6 years, but I also think that a monsignor who knowingly assigned “monsters in clerical garb” to be around children, deserved a much harsher sentence.
Most intelligent, well meaning people don’t rejoice at the sending to prison of an elderly priest. However, for every Msgr Lynn there is a bishop Thomas Dupre of Springfield, MA. Don’t know him? Let me acquaint with the appalling way in which he evaded the criminal justice system:
In 2004 Bishop Dupre retired for “unspecified health reasons” one day before the local paper ran a story of him committing two acts of child molestation.
Bishop Dupre’s whereabouts, meanwhile, were unknown during this entire time. Officials from the diocese of Springfield and the Vatican said they didn’t know where he was.
He was later indicted by a duly impaneled grand jury. As has happened so often, the statue of limitations had expired so the DA decided not to prosecute.
Finally a reporter tracked down Bishop Dupre, an indicted child molester, living in suburban Wash DC Catholic retirement home with minimal to no supervision. Turns out the Vatican and other officials weren’t being entirely truthful about not knowing his whereabouts. He actually spent over a year in Pennsylvania at treatment center specializing in the treatment of mentally ill priests, treatment costs covered by the institutional church.
As of 2011 he still gives his address as this hospital. Oh, and there have been no official reprimands or discipline from the Vatican other than a removal from public ministry.
Msgr Lynn has my sympathy but so many pedophile priests have been saved from criminal prosecution.
@Bill Laudeman - I don’t think anyone here is reviling Msgr. Lynn. What came out very clearly during the trial was that the Msgr was following Cardinal Bevilacqua’s directives. Msgr. Lynn did what he had to do to stay in the Cardinal’s good graces. In fact, as poor a job as Msgr. Lynn did, he protected children far more than anyone else had to date. And sadly, so did Cardinal Bevilacqua when compared to many of his brother bishops. But what Msgr. Lynn did, under the direction of Cardinal Bevilacqua, was transfer a known abuser to a parish.
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Now that a priest is going to prison, i.e. an example’s been made, let’s hope the desire to remain in the prelate’s good graces will come second to the fear of going to jail for a priest charged with protecting the flock. I’m sorry it’s come to that, but it’s very clear nothing would really change unless our priests and bishops have a fear of prison lurking in the background.
As a high school counselor I did not let the sun set before contacting the abuse hotline whenever I suspected a child was in danger.
As a graduate of 12 years of Catholic schools I am disgusted with the depravity of these priests who preyed upon young people and ruined their innocence…and indeed sometimes their sanity.
This problem was so widespread ( many cities, many countries) BECAUSE people like Monsignor Lynn and and his Cardinal allowed it to continue world-wide.
3 years in prison for a grown man is nothing compared to the hell that he put those children through by not protecting them.
Like Joe Paterno he deserves no respect.
@ Joan: Well stated. I agree with every word you wrote. I think the Catholic Church in America needs a total purging of every Bishop and Priest who is guilty of any sin of comission or omission in relation to the sex abuse scandal. Until the purging takes place the credibility of the collective clergy is undermined in the minds of Catholics and Non-Catholics alike. And that is putting it as mildly as I can.
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