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.
They already cried about a vanity by Celtic Cross tonight and had it locked.
Yes, and even before the caucus was removed there were protestants weighing in. I’ve placed my vanity on my profile, at the bottom, for anyone whose interested.
I lost a lot of respect for this site since signing up.
It was hard to see the bias just from lurking.
Pastor Kenneth Craig (America’s Most Wanted, on the run)
Pastor Kenneth Johnson (Florida, convicted)
Pastor Ford (Texas, charged)
Pastor Kerry Clyde Martin (California, Charged(?))
Minister William Bell (South Carolinia, Convicted)
Minister Delton Benson (Guilty)
Preacher Leslie Mason (Charged)
Alas, it seems the protestant slate isn’t clear either.
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Hmmm, I don’t see *reassigned*, *relocated*, or *promoted* following any of their names.
I think it’s best just to leave these threads– without a target…
Keep wasting your time if it releases endorphins. Everybody has their own choice of drug; keep in mind that hate is one of the more dangerous ones.
You mean the pointing the finger tactic? No I didn’t see it but that tactic is a comfort tactic for those who want the focus off of them. Nothing new under the sun - the other guy did it, so all is well. And the RCC continues after MANY MANY YEARS of covering the raping of children.
I agree. I’m not responding to any of the haters until the end of Lent.
Let’s see what they’ll do with themselves without Catholics around.
The Catholic Church didn't respond as quickly as many would have liked, but now HAS addressed this issue, largely because of the efforts of then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. All Dioceses in the US have programs in place to screen any and all volunteers who come into contact with children. I've been subject to background checks several times because of my positions as Classroom volunteer, and Religious Education teacher, in addition to Girl and Boy Scout activities. The formation of priests has also been addressed, and young men with obvious homosexual tendencies are no longer being allowed into Seminaries.
There are many religious denominations who have suffered from the same problems, we just haven't heard as much about them.
It’s best for all. When we try to hurt someone, we hurt ourselves. Best not to provide the opportunity for another and much better to spend the same effort in prayer for peace and healing.
Have a blessed Lent.
Honestly if someone besides the orignal poster had posted this I would have taken it as a simple reporting of fact without an ulterior motive. But....
I am sure this same person will be quick to report any good done by the Church and her members.
My opinions on the facts presented are in my other replies. This is just an explanation of some reaction. It is not a reaction to the facts but to the person posting.
Have a blessed Lent, too, D-fender.
I agree.
But before departing for Lent;
I often think of the fact that even Our Lord had one who betrayed Him, yet—weak as they were—the other 11 remained and were gifted with the strength of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
There they were told to go out and tell the Good News to all the people. Did they go out and talk endlessly about the betrayer Judas? was that their evangelizing style?
No, they talked “about the wonderful things of God”.
So I find it difficult to see any productive evangelizing coming from a relentless pursuit of ugly (true, yes, but ugly) stories of priests who have been as Judas to their calling. Is that “good news” evangelizing to those who do this?
Do 97+% faithful priests have to be unjustly branded and thrown over the cliffs in order to get a message out about the Lord Jesus?
Or have our betrayer priests become the ready tool for rants against the whole Catholic Church?
If that is so, it may very well prove to be quite counter-productive.
I agree, D-fendr-—”best to leave these threads”
I am gone for Lent.
Welllllll, yeah . . .
the biased actions on the part of some mods in behalf of the RC’s is very plain and annoyingly frequent, to the Proddys eyes and standards.
That brigade force of RC’s ready to sit on the abuse button in a flash whenever their shallow-thin-skinned sensibilities get rattled are clearly a force to jerk the system around far too successfully far too often.
I am fairly certain that Proddys didn’t complain at all.
But I’ll ask.
Hey—Proddys, did any of our group complain in any way to the mods about that thread, title, designation?
I doubt it. I suspect the mods dealt with it on their own awareness given how brazen it was.
I think you have properly identified the danger and the solution.
Have a blessed Lent.
Well said.
Have a blessed Lent.
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