Posted on 03/07/2011 7:23:40 PM PST by Dr. Eckleburg
WILLIAM LYNN FIRST HIGH-RANKING CHURCH OFFICIAL TO FACE CHILD ENDANGERMENT CHARGES; DOZENS ACCUSED OF ABUSE REMAIN IN ACTIVE MINISTRY
(CBS News) Phil Gaughan can't bring himself to talk about it in detail, but said when he was a teenager, he was sexually abused by a catholic priest, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.
"It just can't happen to anybody else," Gaughan said. "Nobody should have deal with what I've dealt with for 15 years, the way that I felt and no child should ever have to go through this again."
After years of silence, Gaughan is publicly filing suit against top officials in the Philadelphia archdiocese, who he said failed to protect him from a predator priest. One of those named in his civil lawsuit is Monsignor William Lynn.
Lynn is already facing charges in a separate criminal case. For 12 years, Lynn was in charge of recommending work assignments for priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese. The district attorney believes Lynn knowingly recommended abusive priests be reassigned, without ever warning the parishes.
"They did in fact re-offend," said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. "They did in fact rape and sodomize other children."
Lynn has now become the first high-ranking U.S. church official ever to face criminal child endangerment charges for allegedly covering-up abuse. But prosecutors said there are other problems.
Allegations against Lynn resulted from a 124-page grand jury report that concludes, "Apparent abusers - dozens of them, we believe - remain on duty in the Archdiocese, today, with open access to new young prey."
For now, the archdiocese has suspended three priests, but according to the report, 34 others accused of abuse or inappropriate behavior with minors remain in active ministry.
The archdiocese has hired a former prosecutor to re-examine past cases.
"I will not turn my back on evidence of a cover up," said Gina Smith.
The archdiocese is not commenting on recent legal action, but church officials have vowed to do better.
"We have now taken action and we hope that our actions speak to our resolve," said Bishop Daniel Thomas with the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
That's little comfort to Gaughan, who hopes by coming forward he's giving children the protection he never had.
From the "Boston Globe"...
(Dec. 16, 2010) The Vatican prevented Dublin church leaders from dismissing a particularly dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy in a pub restroom, an investigation reported yesterday... Cardinal Bernard F. Law promoted a Quincy pastor to the position of area vicar with oversight of 19 parishes south of Boston in 1996, after the pastor had admitted to an allegation of sexual misconduct, according to the sworn testimony of a church official. In a deposition made public yesterday, the Rev. Charles J. Higgins acknowledged that the pastor, the Very Rev. Daniel M. Graham, had admitted to an allegation of sexual misconduct before he was given responsibility for parishes in Braintree, Milton, Quincy, and Randolph. Law also had promoted Graham to pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Quincy in 1990 despite the fact that the archdiocese had been informed of an allegation of sexual abuse against him, according to the alleged victim and his attorney who spoke with the Globe yesterday...
We’ll see if they let your thread up tonight.
Lat night, your thread broke caucus rules, but, normally, if a thread breaks caucus rules, the caucus designation is taken away, and the thread becomes open.
When the moderator shut it down, it showed his bias, because the proper action would be to leave it as an open thread.
If flamewar was justification for a thread being locked, then this one would be, too.
I have heard that, in the past, when anti-Catholic posters kept on posting articles like these, a Catholic poster decided to post articles of Protestant sex abuse scandals himself. However, since he was Catholic, that was not allowed, so he was no longer allowed to post.
Oh, and what would YOU (ahh, the rules!) do? Rather than suggest that you'd walk away or worse, I'll say without a doubt that you would kick his sorry Petuny up through his shoulder blades and into the ceiling. As would anyone.
Your post is grasping at straws.
Another issue that ebbs and flows with regard to sensitivity and volitility is
whether or not the thread is
BY DESIGN/ SLANT/ TITLE/ CAST/ TONE/ use/ timing
a fairly transparent attempt to poke a hot poker in the heart and eyes of the other side as its primary goal.
Well, feel free to express your opinion when I post it.
Your post incorrect.
NO.
Far more Proddy posts and threads get locked, trashed, pulled out of seeming mod bias.
HOWEVER, PRODDY AND RC THREADS ALSO get pulled NOT out of bias but because they break rules and/or
are transparent deliberate attempts to start a flame war in a most brazenly trouble-making sort of way.
INDEED.
My, thats sad. Can you please provide links to protestant thread that were locked, trashed, etc, and then show that more proddy than Catholic threads were treated thus?
“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of God abides forever.” Final and only authority indeed!
NOPE.
Better things to do.
In the spiritual, it in no way represents YHvH nor His salvation.
Amen. For those with eyes to see and children to protect.
You were told "that was it" by the Admin Moderator.
Apples/Oranges.
Post a thread about teachers and I will decry them as well. Churches should set the example, be seperate from the world. Not jump in feet first and then blame their sin on everyone else is doing it.
Franlky that defense sounds more like a 16 year old: “Everyone else is doing it...”
In any event, I'm posting an updated version tonight.
whether or not the thread is
a fairly transparent attempt to poke a hot poker in the heart and eyes of the other side as its primary goal.
I agree - that's exactly what this thread is.
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