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.
Touche.
Truly - would they have HAD to do so? I mean it was such a very blatant attack - and yet it’s being defended here by some. Unbelievable. Any objective person would have had to have been BLIND not to have noticed the hatred motivating that thread. Truly astonishing. Now imagine if the shoe had been on the other foot - replacing “all Protestants are in error” with “all Catholics are in error” and then asking to “respect the Caucus” (as that thread did when the desire was clearly: “Let’s have a bash fest at the Protestants’ (replace with “Catholics’”)expense right in front of them and not allow them to refute what we’re saying...won’t that be fun?”) I would imagine the response from the moderator would have been the same. It was trolling - pure and simple.
Report: Protestant Church Insurers Handle 260 Sex Abuse Cases a Year
Abuse by Protestant Ministers of Every Denomination
Teachers and Pedophilia - In YOUR Backyard
Washington Post -- D.C. school officials reported 220 abuse allegations against teachers
Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church
WHEN BOYS ARE MOLESTED BY TEACHERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY
Forgotten Study: Abuse in School 100 Times Worse than by Priests
I guess the thread posted earlier attacking Protestants was done in sweetness and light.... Certainly no “militant” behavior or hatred there..../s.
Militant against the rules, also, They will take CONTROL because they have a better WAY.
The extent of the blindness never ceases to amaze.
That thread clearly and quite blatantly broke the caucus rules. With the caucus designation, we're not supposed to mention another faith in the thread because members of that faith can't respond.
The thread you're referring to was so egregiously against the rules that it mentioned Protestants in the title!
As far as chutzpah goes, that one took the cake.
That is a very good question.
What do you call a Protestant minister who abuses children?
An inmate.
What do you call a Roman Catholic priest who abuses children?
Father.
Great analogy.
And adding insult to injury, most of these parishes are told that their weekly offerings will not go to settle the pederast priest scandals when nearly every one of them, in fact, do support the court ordered payouts which stand at over three billion dollars so far.
Your post 19 was removed.
Amazing that simply reporting the news of rapist priests is seen as "demonizing the church."
Where are the priorities of Roman Catholic apologists? Do they have children?
I'm sure there are still people who believe Father O'Grady was just a kindly old Irish Barry Fitzgerald priest, even though he admitted to raping countless children.
Watch the DVD and learn the truth.
Because of the thin skinned.
Wow. Awesome. I'm staggered by the level of denial.
Did you read the Grand Jury report? It was scathing against the Roman Catholic church and its officials who dodged the inquiry, fought the release of evidence and protected suspected pederast priests at all costs.
From the article...
Allegations against (Monsignor) 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.""They did in fact re-offend," said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. "They did in fact rape and sodomize other children."...
I'm stunned you would see that as anything less than an indictment against a church that harbors, defends, protects and promotes active pedophiles.
The denials we've heard on this forum for the past decade have been exactly the same.
Wake up, mothers and fathers. It's Roman Catholic children being raped. Don't RC parents have any common sense?
Or are all these vapid defenses coming from people with no children?
Thirty-seven accused pederast priests in ONE DIOCESE alone.
You call that "progress?"
These are great times.
Not so great for the children still under the care of the 34 other priests in Philadelphia accused of pederasty who are still actively ministering in their churches today.
Skin has nothing to do with posts being removed.
Posts are removed when they break the rules.
Your post broke the rules and was removed.
We're supposed to voice our reactions to posts, but not to other people.
The rules are meant for everyone. Please try to abide by them.
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