Catholic Sex Abuse Hearing Descends Into `Shut Up' Order and Charge of 'Abomination'

Courthouse News Service ^ | March 25, 2011 | Reuben Kramer

[Dr. Eckleburg]

At an intensely combative and vitriolic hearing Friday afternoon in a sex-abuse case that has shaken the Philadelphia Archdiocese to its core, a state court judge shocked one priest's defense attorney by disclosing that the government thinks he might be a witness as a former seminarian and could be disqualified from the case. The lawyer, who represents one of three current and former Roman Catholic priests charged with raping boys in their parish, fired back that prosecutors were being "anti-Catholic" and had uttered an "abomination."

Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes told defense attorney Richard DeSipio that she's received information that "might make you, in fact, a witness because of events that occurred while you were a seminarian."

The information "stems from the fact that you attended the seminary with a student who asserts he was abused," Hughes said, adding that DeSipio "may possess factual knowledge about abuse that occurred with that student."

She added that the substance of the claim that DiSipio witnessed something is still unclear. "I just don't know if it's true," Hughes said. "I really don't know if it's true."

Yelling and visibly upset, DeSipio demanded that the government, then and there, identify the source of the allegation. "Let them spill it out right now!" DeSipio demanded.

"How dare they send you a letter about that," DeSipio said, referring to the district attorney's office. "That's an abomination."

Prosecutors said only that part of DeSipio's seminary training overlapped with the tenure of a senior clergyman accused of endangering children by failing to protect them from priests with a known history of abuse.

Monsignor William Lynn, now pastor of St. Joseph Church in Downingtown, Pa., is reportedly the highest-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States ever to be charged with child endangerment. Between 1984 and 1992, he served as dean of men at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa., according to his biography on St. Joseph's website. As the secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, Lynn acted as personnel director for priests. He is accused of ignoring reports of abuse, covering up for them and putting children in danger.

"They are anti-Catholic. I'll say it," DiSipio fumed. "[The district attorney is] attacking me as a Catholic!"

The judge rejected DiSipio's claim. "Attack you? You attacked me! You don't even know me!" Hughes said, referring to a prior argument over the necessity of a preliminary hearing, another hotly contested issue Friday afternoon.

"Mr. DeSipio, I suggest you shut up," Hughes said. "People are coming from out of the woodwork [to provide information to the commonwealth.]"

If the government can prove the allegation is credible in 30 days, DeSipio will be disqualified as the archdiocese's attorney.

"You can change lawyers now, you can change lawyers in 30," the judge warned DeSipio's client, the Rev. James Brennan. "[But] there are some conflicts that are not waivable."

DeSipio argued that the 30-day investigation was "really unfair to Father Brennan," given his mounting legal costs.

Judge Hughes was livid that DeSipio spoke up again. "If you open your mouth one more time I am going to have the sheriff take you out of here," she told DeSipio.

As DeSipio continued to argue, Hughes said she might have him "locked up and held in contempt." Instead she issued a gag order, responding to what she observed as attorneys having "gone to the airways to advocate."

"No more interviews with anyone," the judge ruled.

"Does that include the DA going on Chris Matthews' 'Hardball' and going to the New York Times," defense attorney Michael McGovern asked.

The judge responded affirmatively: "I don't want tweets. I don't want Facebook. I don't want IMs [instant messages]."

Hughes said the court will revisit the gag order on April 15, when defendants are to be arraigned. That date also marks the deadline for the DA to provide the defense with the first batch of discovery, she said.

All but one of the defense attorneys challenged the government's amendment to its case, which added a conspiracy charge that had not explicitly been requested of the grand jury.

"The issue here is that if the DA seeks to amend, it has to be subject to some sort of prima facie determination," the defense argued.

The judge found otherwise, ruling that the commonwealth established "good cause" in its pleadings and that "there is no constitutional right - federal or state - for a preliminary hearing."

It was "a technical error on the commonwealth not to charge conspiracy" originally, Hughes said. "Conspiracy is made," and the defendants will not be afforded a preliminary hearing, she ruled.

Hughes said there was abundant evidence to support the amendment.

"I'm the only person, besides the prosecutors, who has seen every stitch of evidence," she said.

Defense attorney McGovern argued that her admission was precisely the problem.

"Your Honor, this is patently unfair!" McGovern said. "You know the evidence. They know the evidence. I don't know what the evidence is! I haven't seen any!"

The attorney said proceeding to trial without a preliminary hearing was like saying, "Let's have a dart game in a dark room."

"What kind of country is this where we have this?" he shouted.

The judge yelled back, baring her teeth: "You sit down! Sit, sit, sit!"

DeSipio agreed with McGovern that their clients deserve a preliminary hearing, which could allow them to confront their accusers.

"There's no witness. I know that they [the prosecutors] don't like that he's in jail," DeSipio said. "This accuser says there was an erect penis in his buttocks."

"Was it in your buttocks, or was it in your anus," he asked rhetorically. "If that question wasn't asked [of the grand jury], and he didn't specify anus or butt cheeks, I have a right to ask that."

"What you can't do, and what I submit they're trying to do, is say just because we have a grand jury, we have good cause [to by-pass a preliminary hearing]," DeSipio said.

The judge also addressed a potential conflict of interest concerning Monsignor Lynn, who unlike the three current and former priests, faces child endangerment charges - not rape or sexual assault. Plans for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to pay Lynn's legal costs present "a whole array of conflicts that I can't even imagine at this point in time," Hughes said.

"It's real simple," the judge said to Lynn, who was donning his clerical collar, "your master is the person that's putting bread on the table."

"It may be in your best interest to put forth a defense that attacks other people [or the church]," Hughes said.

She told Lynn he was putting himself in the position of receiving "advice from people who are being paid by people whose interests don't necessarily align with yours."

The stakes of this gamble could amount to "14 years of incarceration versus probation," she said.

Lynn, in a calm voice, declined. "Well, I trust these two men." he said, adding that the church hadn't placed any conditions on the payment of his legal costs.

Hughes was incredulous. "You are making a knowing, voluntary and intelligent decision to place yourself in conflict with your attorneys?" she asked.

"I am," Lynn responded, waiving his right to any future appeal based on the argument that his attorneys had a conflict of interest.

"Then we're moving forward," the judge said.

After arraignments and release of the first batch of discovery, which will include grand jury notes and testimony, on April 15, the government will begin putting together a second batch. The government said that batch would take longer to produce, as it will include roughly 10,000 pages of documentation, much of which will need to be redacted.

Hughes said the government must give the defense a specific timeline for the production of the second batch. "There has to be some finality," she said.

In January, a grand jury returned an indictment for rape and sexual assault against one current priest, one defrocked priest and one man who taught at a Catholic school. Monsignor Lynn, the third cleric who worked for the archdiocese as secretary of clergy, is accused of giving known abusers easy access to minors.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

This thread began with a news article. Did you read it?

[count-your-change]

Thank you, says the red faced poster!

[Cronos]

Just to point out to you, dear pnsm, how you have been taken in by the very folks who hate you, who say

The problem with non-denominational churches is that there's nothing to stop the congregation from deciding to become Mormon or Unitarian, etc.
There is something to be said for a diagonal form of church structuring, like the Presbyterians -- organized by a representative group of congregants. This actually strengthens the Christian imperative rather than dilutes it as so many non-denominational churches tend to do."

Pax/Peace!
Cronos

[Cronos]

Your scattergun use of quotation marks is incorrect and thus confusing, making it unclear who said what.

Yes, we need to point out to the Christian Protestants here how your group, the OPC:

1. says that Methodists and Pentecostals are damnable heretics
2. Has beliefs that and preaches that>"John Wesley preached Universal Infant Damnation for unbaptized infants -- which is unsurprising, because Wesley preached the Gospel of Satan"
3. Preaches that "The liberal church teaching of free will has infected the Lutherans, too, in contradiction to what Martin Luther taught from Scripture"
4. Tells its OPC cult members to shun Jews and not celebrate Jewish festivals with them
5. Damns Christian martyrs killed by Moslems
6. The OPC says that The Adventists are a cult that is as dangerous as the Jehovahs Witnesses or the Mormons

Why don't you tell pnsm, Dr. Scarpetta etc. that your group, the OPC hates them and considers them as non-OPC members to be damned to heck as heretics?

Oh, wait, your group members have already done this.

[presently no screen name]

Just to point out to you, dear pnsm, how you have been taken in by the very folks who hate you, who say

Cronos, I'm not like you concerned who likes me or hates me. I know hate is your favorite word. And unlike you, I don't bow to man, so I wouldn't be taken in by any man unlike you.

Now run along and say your prayers to the dead, their spirits are waiting for you.

[Cronos]

And, Dr. E no one takes seriously your repeated statements that your religious cult, the OPC is in any way Christian.

It's been shown again and again that your group is demonstrably non-Christian in statements by your members and your doctrines of beliefs

the Hinduism link to the OPC/PCA where your groups says The Father predestinated the plan and the Son and Spirit agreed to the plan .

Polytheism OPC/PCA style.

God the Father is "conferencing" with the Son and the Spirit

Here is proof that your group is finally shedding off it's pretence to be Triniatrian Christian.

[Cronos]

Why not make it 250%, Cronos?

Because I don't post inflated or false figures like your posts.

kindly explain why 75%+ of the OPC voted for Obama? -- you haven't given any statistics or reasoning beyond pure blather. You've given hearsay at best, obfuscations otherwise

[Cronos]

you won't hear anyone whining about "anti-OPC bigotry."

the same way you don't hear too much whining about the smaller version of the OPC - the WBC. At 20,000 members, your cult with it's conspiracy of silence keeps it's hateful practises secret, but now all Christians know how anti-Christian your cult is

preaching hatred against Pentecostals	from the OPC doctrinal website It will be noted that the Confession sharply contradicts the view popularized today by the neo-Pentecostal movement. In essence this view would have us believe that we can have the same charismatic gifts that we read about in the age of the Apostles - such as prophecy, speaking in tongues, and healing - today. This is a very serious error. In essence it is a result of a failure to grasp the Biblical teaching concerning the history of salvation.
preaching hatred against Lutherans	Dr. Eckleburg disses the LCMS: "The liberal church teaching of free will has infected the Lutherans, too, in contradiction to what Martin Luther taught from Scripture"
preaching hatred against Pentecostals and Methodists:	From the opc doctrinal website: . Are Arminian (Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptist etc) preachers heretics? yes . Is Arminianism (Methodism, Pentecostalism, Baptists) a damnable heresy? Yes. . the teachings of Arminianism are contrary to Scripture, they are manifestly false. They are serious perversions of the gospel of Jesus Christ "we see the inherent Satanism of Free-Will Arminianism" (accusing Methodists, Pentecostals, etc. who disagree with Calvin of preaching a gospel of Satan
preaching hatred against Methodists	"John Wesley preached Universal Infant Damnation for unbaptized infants -- which is unsurprising, because Wesley preached the Gospel of Satan"
preaching hatred against Pentecostals and Catholics together as targets of the OPC/PCA message of hate	Gamecock posted this "This goes to what the Reformers taught; that is the "enthusiasts" or what we call today Pentecostals, are really no different from the Roman Catholics." AnalogReigns: I think this is one reason why it is easy for certain evangelicals, often from the "enthusiast" wing, find it easy to become Roman Catholic.
preaching hatred against Judaism	Acording to the OPC OrthoPresbyterianC: "Christians should not celebrate the Seder or other Jewish festivals. "
preaching hatred and evil against Christians martyred by Moslems in the Middle East	This man followed the wrong teachings of Rome and we know what happens to such people. Heaven is for the elect.
preaching hatred against the Eastern Orthodox	Insinuating that the E. Orthodox are not helping others in Japan
preaching hatred against Adventists	The Adventists are a cult that is as dangerous as the Jehovahs Witnesses or the Mormons
revealing their true beliefs that Christianity means only Calvinism and only their particular brand of Calvinism	Dr. Eckleburg: "That's Christianity. That's Calvinism" Dr. Eckleburg: " The problem with non-denominational churches is that there's nothing to stop the congregation from deciding to become Mormon or Unitarian, etc. There is something to be said for a diagonal form of church structuring, like the Presbyterians -- organized by a representative group of congregants. This actually strengthens the Christian imperative rather than dilutes it as so many non-denominational churches tend to do." "Calvinism is the Gospel and to teach Calvinism is in fact to preach the Gospel." Arthur C. Custance, The Sovereignty of Grace, 1979. "Calvinism is evangelicalism in its purest and only stable expression." B.B. Warfield, Calvin and Augustine, ed. Samuel G. Craig, 1956 "We believe with the great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that Calvinism is just another name for Christianity." John H. Gerstner, Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism, 1991.

[presently no screen name]

Probably not, just stopped by to sling some mud.

[Cronos]

Yup, and they tell you Wesleyans that ;John Wesley preached the Gospel of Satan" and their doctrinal website states that Pentecostals, Methodists, etc. are all damnable heretics

Look at that....

[Cronos]

the OPC/PCA dreams of a police state like Geneva, where they attacked fellow Protestants as exemplified in

1. Belot, an Anabaptist was arrested for passing out tracts in Geneva and also accusing Calvin of excessive use of wine. With his books and tracts burned, he was banished from the city and told not to return on pain of hanging (J.L. Adams, The Radical Reformation, pp. 597-598).
2. Jacques Gruent was racked and then executed for calling Calvin a hypocrite
3. A man who publicly protested against the reformer's doctrine of predestination was flogged at all the crossways of the city and then expelled.
4. Calvin's Letter to the Marquis Paet, chamberlain to the King of Navarre, 1561. "Honour, glory, and riches shall be the reward of your pains; but above all, do not fail to rid the country of those scoundrels [Anabaptists and others], who stir up the people to revolt against us. Such monsters should be exterminated, as I have exterminated Michael Servetus the Spaniard."

post things like post things like "we see the inherent Satanism of Free-Will Arminianism" (accusing Methodists, Pentecostals, etc. who disagree with Calvin of preaching a gospel of Satan

And they will also state that "John Wesley preached Universal Infant Damnation for unbaptized infants -- which is unsurprising, because Wesley preached the Gospel of Satan" --> Calvinist'squoting this and attacking those who disagree with them

[Cronos]

You’ve obviously never worked on a newspaper.

Have you ever worked or work for the NYTimes?

Neither I nor WPa do and see the bias on that paper by its columnists...

[Cronos]

Dr. Eck; it will only hasten the complete destruction of a once great denomination, now mired in apostasy and Scriptural error.

Interesting -- and the same thing is happening to the OPC/PCA.

>This is what an ex-Ruling Elder of the OPC says about your group: :

From the Trinity Foundation

• the Report continues the conspiracy of silence that has prevailed in the OPC for three decades. It leaves the erroneous impression that the serious doctrinal problems are outside the denomination, not within it. The Report gives false comfort to those who think the OPC is still a bastion of Biblical orthodoxy. On the contrary, the Report, and the 2006 General Assembly’s commendation of it, both maintain the OPC as a safe haven for those who teach error
• Men within the OPC, including at least one member of the Committee itself, teach heresy regarding the Gospel and many other fundamentals of the faith.
• The OPC long ago ceased to proclaim the one true Gospel to the exclusion of all false gospels
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has abandoned the marks of a true church of Jesus Christ
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded in 1936 by about 135 people who were offended by the lack of discipline in and doctrinal errors of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. .
  But early in its history the OPC fell under the influence of an agnostic view of propositional revelation emanating from Westminster Seminary -- a view that said that there is no identity of content between the \"Christian system\" of theology, meaning Reformed confessions of faith, and the \"divine system\" of theology, known only to God.
  
  This agnosticism has now brought the OPC to the point of falling. Like its predecessor, the PCUSA, the OPC has failed to discipline teachers who teach contrary to Scriptures and the Confession of Faith, and it has endorsed un-Biblical teaching about Scripture and the Gospel.

And the PCA has already started down this path -- next is the OPC. No wonder, these groups are founded by man and not God.

[Cronos]

no worried — mistakes happen. Yours are definitely not intentional.

[Cronos]

Actually, there is an option for this -- there is such a thing as an {Ecumenical Thread} where one can dispute, but civilly. And the condition is that antagonism is not allowed and in the event of whether you are unsure, you should say "this is what I believe and why I think what I believe is correct" -- disputes are to be expected in religious matters.

Yet, very few posters bothered to get on these -- one notable exception among anti-Catholic postes I will point out is RnMomof7, though I dispute quite strongly with her, she has been discussing on ecumenical threads, raising her in my esteem. The others decline to be involved in a non-antagonistic forum.

[esquirette]

kindly explain why 75%+ of the OPC voted for Obama?

---

Would you please cite to a source for this assertion? It is quite surprising to me, if true, in that the local OPC church is quite conservative.

[esquirette]

There is nothing in this list that teaches hate. The assertion of a position which excludes the validity or truth of a contradictory position is not ‘teaching hate.’

Assertion that one postulate is true, and its opposite is false, is the very foundation of logic.

It is not hate to espouse a position which excludes another. Hate is a feeling of enmity directed at another.

[Cronos]

nothing that teachs one to hate?

You mean that the OrthodoPresbyterian C (OPC) saying that Pentecostalism is a damnable heresy is not hate?

How can the OPC say "John Wesley preached Universal Infant Damnation for unbaptized infants -- which is unsurprising, because Wesley preached the Gospel of Satan" and that NOT be considered hate?

You mean ordering OPC members to not celebrate with Jews is not hate?

you mean that saying The Adventists are a cult that is as dangerous as the Jehovahs Witnesses or the Mormons is not hate?

What about this statement by the OPC on Bhatti, the Christian martyr killed by Moslems in Pakistan: This man followed the wrong teachings of Rome and we know what happens to such people. Heaven is for the elect.?

[Cronos]

Hatred is a feeling of enmity directed at another -- like Dr. Eckleburg: " The problem with non-denominational churches is that there's nothing to stop the congregation from deciding to become Mormon or Unitarian, etc.
There is something to be said for a diagonal form of church structuring, like the Presbyterians -- organized by a representative group of congregants. This actually strengthens the Christian imperative rather than dilutes it as so many non-denominational churches tend to do."?

[Cronos]

It would be good to read what an ex-Ruling Elder of the OPC says about this group:

From the Trinity Foundation

• the Report continues the conspiracy of silence that has prevailed in the OPC for three decades. It leaves the erroneous impression that the serious doctrinal problems are outside the denomination, not within it. The Report gives false comfort to those who think the OPC is still a bastion of Biblical orthodoxy. On the contrary, the Report, and the 2006 General Assembly’s commendation of it, both maintain the OPC as a safe haven for those who teach error
• Men within the OPC, including at least one member of the Committee itself, teach heresy regarding the Gospel and many other fundamentals of the faith.
• The OPC long ago ceased to proclaim the one true Gospel to the exclusion of all false gospels
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has abandoned the marks of a true church of Jesus Christ
• The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded in 1936 by about 135 people who were offended by the lack of discipline in and doctrinal errors of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. .
  But early in its history the OPC fell under the influence of an agnostic view of propositional revelation emanating from Westminster Seminary -- a view that said that there is no identity of content between the \"Christian system\" of theology, meaning Reformed confessions of faith, and the \"divine system\" of theology, known only to God.
  
  This agnosticism has now brought the OPC to the point of falling. Like its predecessor, the PCUSA, the OPC has failed to discipline teachers who teach contrary to Scriptures and the Confession of Faith, and it has endorsed un-Biblical teaching about Scripture and the Gospel.