Judge Chastises Priest over Legal-bills Plan
...By David O’Reilly & Nancy Phillips
Inquirer Staff Writers...3/15/11
In court for the first time Monday on charges of sexual assault and child endangerment, four current or former priests and an ex-parochial schoolteacher watched the judge erupt in anger over one’s plan to ask the Philadelphia Archdiocese to pay his legal fees if acquitted.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110315_Judge_chastises_priest_over_legal-bills_plan.html
Of the five criminal cases, the one against Msgr. William J. Lynn marks the first time in the nation that a member of the Catholic hierarchy has been charged with child endangerment... On Friday, the District Attorney's Office added conspiracy charges against Lynn and the others..." "...In addition to Brennan, two priests, a defrocked priest, and the teacher face criminal charges at the recommendation of a grand jury, which blasted the archdiocese last month for harboring sexually abusive priests. The archdiocese has placed 24 priests on administrative leave since the report was made public early last month.
That should be interesting.
Brennan is charged with raping a teenage boy in Chester County in 1998. He declined to comment as he left the courthouse..." "They include the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 64, an Oblate priest; Edward Avery, 68, the defrocked priest; and Bernard Shero, 48, a former parochial schoolteacher, all charged with sodomizing or raping a 10-year-old altar boy at St. Jerome's Parish in Northeast Philadelphia in 1996.