Via the New York Times:
Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former cardinal’s aide, was found guilty Friday of endangering children, becoming the first senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision.
The 12-member jury acquitted Monsignor Lynn, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, of conspiracy and a second count of endangerment after a trial that prosecutors and victims rights groups called a turning point in the abuse scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church.
The single guilty verdict was widely seen as a victory for the district attorney’s office, which has been investigating the archdiocese aggressively since 2002, and it was hailed by victim advocates who have argued for years that senior church officials should be held accountable for concealing evidence and transferring predatory priests to unwary parishes.
I side with the theory put forth by Andrew Greeley in Priests: A Calling in Crisis. The thing that turned a series of isolated pedophiles in the priesthood into a massive, global crisis of molested children was the tendency of the hierarchy to cover up reports and shuffle abusive priests to new areas. The culprits were able to harm many more children because they were moved into a new region with new targets instead of being arrested.
In attempting to protect the Church, they damaged it, perhaps beyond saving. If there’s a chance of saving it, the process has to begin by making sure that members of the hierarchy are held accountable.
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