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    De-frocked priest pleads guilty ahead of Philadelphia pedophilia trial

    PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A defrocked priest accused of sex abuse in the pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia pleaded guilty on Thursday, just days before he, another priest and a higher-ranking monsignor were due to go to trial.

    Edward Avery, 69, admitted to sex abuse involving a 10-year-old boy and was promptly sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to two-and-a-half to five years in prison for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and criminal conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children.

    Avery was one of three defendants in the high-profile case at the Archdiocese, the sixth largest in the nation with 1.5 million Catholics.

    The trial is due to begin on Monday with Rev. James Brennan, who is charged with child sex abuse, and Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary of the clergy for the Archdiocese, who is accused of child endangerment and conspiracy.

    Lynn, who prosecutors say covered up the abuse, is the first U.S. church official to be charged and go to trial.

    In a grand jury report in January 2011, Avery was accused of sex abuse involving a child at a parish in the Northeast section of Philadelphia in 1998 and 1999. Avery was defrocked in 2006.

    Lynn, who was responsible within the Archdiocese for investigating sex abuse claims from 1992 to 2004, faces the possibility of 14 years in prison if convicted.

    Defense lawyers and prosecutors are forbidden from commenting on the case due to a court-imposed gag order.

    However, civil attorney Marci Hamilton, who represents six alleged victims in the case, said the guilty plea might be a signal that Avery might be prepared to testify against the others.

    "You had to wonder if he was committing himself to being a martyr in the process," she said.

    (Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Tim Gaynor)

     

    10 comments

    • Walter  •  Livingston, New Jersey  •  1 day 22 hrs ago
      And, the church goes on expounding on birth control, homosexuality, divorce, whatever. In the forefront of everyone's mind is the face of institutionalized pedophilia. They are delusional. It makes any comment, any statement they would make about anything invalid. It will slowly destroy this religion.
    • TRH58  •  1 day 15 hrs ago
      A sick nuisance to mankind that holds its membership through fear and coercion. Only a fool would give a dime in support of this proven cult of sickos. No wonder they focus on the poor and illiterate, with a ban on birth control.
    • CC  •  2 days 0 hrs ago
      "ROCKED" THE ARCHDIOCE?!? AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME - WHO ARE THEY KIDDING!
    • Robert  •  Bigfoot, Texas  •  1 day 16 hrs ago
      just another sick white evil man
    • I Haz A Ball  •  Beverly Hills, California  •  2 days 0 hrs ago
      THIS is the church that claims 'moral authority' over the world. please, please, please, pretty please don't vote for insantorum in november. or we will all pay the price.
    • I Haz A Ball  •  Beverly Hills, California  •  2 days 0 hrs ago
      oh and another thing.....is anyone else mad as i am that our federal tax money has paid this clown church 'charities' over 1.5 BILLION dollars since 2005?
    • Reason  •  1 day 21 hrs ago
      2.5 - 5 years?? Bullsit - chick, chick, boom.
    • C1QK  •  2 days 0 hrs ago
      Why are the victims always boys. A pedophilia priest is sick, but on boys is doubly sick. The justice system took care of the pedophilia part already. Should LGBT and boy-love people defend those priests?
    • Manuel  •  1 day 17 hrs ago
      The best place for these "priests" is hell. But since only their souls will eventually end in hell while they are still alive they should spend the rest of their lives in prison. Let them die of syphilis or cancer, just let them rot in prison. But not all the guilty have been charged. What about the hierarchy in the church. The Bishops, Cardinals who permitted these pedophile priests to be transferred from one parish or school to another parish or school without letting anyone know that these priests were child molesters. This is where the Catholic Church should direct all of its energy and resources, purging all these perverts out of the Catholic Church. Leave the issues of contraception, birth-control and abortion to women who can best handle their own lives.
    • Buck Nasty  •  Northridge, California  •  1 day 17 hrs ago
      They're trying to make Penn state look like a pedophile haven
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