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Catholic Sex Abuse Hearing Descends Into `Shut Up' Order and Charge of 'Abomination'
Courthouse News Service ^ | March 25, 2011 | Reuben Kramer

Posted on 03/26/2011 12:59:03 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Current Events; Moral Issues
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To: WPaCon

You said I said Protestantism is a denomination.

You have not been able to substantiate that claim, even
though you’ve been asked three times now for any such statement.

If and when you get around to posting anything other than errors and insults, be sure to let us know.

Meanwhile, we’ll await with bated breath your pointing to any post of mine that says Protestantism is a denomination. Your continuing inability to do so will prove my point.


601 posted on 03/27/2011 6:43:16 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Lorica
lies as evangelical tools.

History is not Rome's friend. From here...

http://www.answers.com/topic/pope-gregory-xvi

"Pope Gregory and Cardinal Lambruschini opposed basic technological innovations such as gas lighting and railways, believing that they would promote commerce and increase the power of the bourgeoisie, leading to demands for liberal reforms which would undermine the monarchical power of the Pope over central Italy. Gregory in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them chemins d'enfer (literally "ways of hell," a play on the French for railroad, chemin de fer, literally "iron road").

602 posted on 03/27/2011 6:49:04 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: muawiyah
There was no attempt at blackmail. The judge said the defence attorney might be a witness not one of the accused. There IS a difference.

And note that the defence attorney accused the prosecution of sending the letter. Why?

It sounds like the judge is running a going out of way to follow procedure and avoid a later mistrial. No one is “going after” the defence!

603 posted on 03/27/2011 6:51:08 PM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: count-your-change
If the guy is a witness to a crime about to be tried in her court she needs to say so and be prepared to prove it ~ in a different trial.

She has referred to secret testimony (that letter which she did not let the lawyer read) as the basis for her acccusation that he's just a consiglieri ~ and he expressed anger ~ and that's not just because he has an Italian surname.

Hop hop!

604 posted on 03/27/2011 6:51:41 PM PDT by muawiyah (Make America Safe For Amercans)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Alaska Beat

...NW JESUIT SEX ABUSE SETTLEMENTS TOP $250M

Alaska Dispatch | Mar 27, 2011

“Alaskans & others who have been sexually abused by Jesuit priests over nearly half a century received a hefty settlement Friday, according to reports.

The Seattle Times published a lengthy article on the settlement of lawsuits brought by some 500 victims against the Northwest Jesuits, formerly called the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province.

The payout, “one of the largest … in the Roman Catholic Church’s sex-abuse crisis, & the largest by a religious order,” came in the form of a bankruptcy settlement & was believed to be approximately $166.1 million, according to the Seattle Times.

Insurance companies would provide about $118 million & the Jesuits would contribute $48.1 million.

The Oregon province of the Rome-based Jesuit order covers Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington, according to Reuters, which reported that most victims were Alaska Natives or Native Americans.

The victims were “sexually or psychologically abused as children by Jesuit missionaries in those states in the 1940s through the 1990s,” according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

About 57 priests had been identified and removed, & 700 victims compensated nearly $250 million, including this week’s settlement, the Seattle Times said.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, elected president of the Catholic conference of United States bishops last fall, was quoted by the Catholic News Service as saying that “the painful issue continues to receive our careful attention” & that bishops remained committed to removing from public ministry any priests that committed such “intolerable offenses.”

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/nw-jesuit-sex-abuse-settlements-top-250m


605 posted on 03/27/2011 6:51:41 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: metmom
Nice way to either load the jury or declare a mistrial...

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was intentional. That way, the whole thing would have to start over from scratch, giving more opportunity for it to be dropped on some technicality.

Exactly. This accounts for the judge's fury. The defense team's lapse in ethics is that profound.

For at least 500 years Rome has believed that the end justifies the means. Whatever it takes.

606 posted on 03/27/2011 6:55:10 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: lastchance
You know nothing of Father Corapi

You have no idea what I do or do not know about Corapi so please obey the rules and stop making this personal.

607 posted on 03/27/2011 6:56:51 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
So? The guy was right. Commerce grew. The middle class rose. Garibaldi and Buongiovanni took over the Papal states, etc., and created ITALY.

Do you imagine it could have happened in any other way?

608 posted on 03/27/2011 6:57:50 PM PDT by muawiyah (Make America Safe For Amercans)
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To: count-your-change
Did I say "attempt"? It looks to me that the Judge imagines the letter is true and actually blackmailed the guy.

It didn't work. At the same time the attorney is certainly entitled to know who his accuser(s) might be so he can sue their pants off (a pun guys, a pun ~ what a thread to use that one eh).

609 posted on 03/27/2011 7:00:14 PM PDT by muawiyah (Make America Safe For Amercans)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

answers.com??

How scholarly.

And it does nothing to support the lies offered earlier.


610 posted on 03/27/2011 7:01:39 PM PDT by Lorica
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To: lastchance; Dr. Scarpetta

The link said the RCC dumps pederast priests into the military, and then gave substantial evidence of that fact.

Once in the military, with their criminal pasts unknown to military servicemen and their families, these pederast priests are free to continue whatever abuse they can manage.

The link was an astounding indictment of the Roman Catholic church. Pity that some people missed that fact. Unless sin is acknowledged, it can never be repented of.


611 posted on 03/27/2011 7:02:38 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: Gamecock

“I’ve actually been to both. Here are a couple of pics:”

Is that a “roaming Calvin”? lol!


612 posted on 03/27/2011 7:03:47 PM PDT by Boogieman (")
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To: Lorica; Dr. Eckleburg

answers.com sounds like just what we need. As opposed to excuses.com or this is what we believe today, but it may change tomorrow.org.


613 posted on 03/27/2011 7:06:46 PM PDT by smvoice (The Cross was NOT God's Plan B.)
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To: WPaCon; Dr. Eckleburg; metmom; Gamecock
“The Roman Catholic “Church” doesn’t make the definitions — GOD DOES.”

Through the Church.

And this, in a nutshell, is the proof of the apostasy: a group of fallible, sinful humans CLAIM that they (The Roman Catholic Church) in some way -- in any way -- have ANY say in the standards set by Almighty God.

Here's a newsflash: God is SOVEREIGN. He and He alone has set the standard; He and He alone determines those who are saved. Man has NOTHING to say about it.

As to why I put "Church" in quotations? To differentiate The True Church (all those called and regenerated) from the Roman Catholic Church that makes the claim of one true church. A false claim at best.

Does the Roman Catholic "Church" teach that Christ alone is the one mediator between God and man? Be careful: it's been posted here before... but, just to be accurate, allow me to quote from the Roman Catholic Church's catechism:

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."

Where, in scripture, does it state that Mary was "taken" into Heaven?

Where, in scripture, does it state that Mary provides "intercession"?

Where, in scripture, does it state that Mary is an "Advocate," "Helper," "Benefactress," or "Mediatrix?"

And that last one is the kicker -- Mediatrix? Really? Where in scripture did God say this? So.....

If it's being taught in the "Church," and it's a different gospel (and ascribing to ANYONE other than Christ the title of mediator and intercessor is a different gospel than that taught in God's word), then, it's heresy.

This was taken from the Roman Catholic "Church"'s own catechism -- from the Vatican website -- and, as such is constituted as being taught by the Roman Catholic "Church" -- so, the "Church" IS teaching heresy.

No amount of saying, "no it doesn't" will change the cold, hard FACT that the Roman Catholic "Church" is a false church -- apostate and heretical.

Hoss

614 posted on 03/27/2011 7:08:04 PM PDT by HossB86 ( NOBODY admits to being a Calvinist unless they are one. I AM ONE.)
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To: muawiyah

Nope, not in another trial. If he can be called as a witness for any reason in this trial he cannot be an advocate.
And the judge has taken the prudent step of ordering an investigation.
Sounds like she’s doing it right.


615 posted on 03/27/2011 7:08:43 PM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: OLD REGGIE
Come now Mark, there is no evidence that James I wrote even one word of the KJV. It was written by 47-54 scholars unlike the Latin Vulgate which was written by Jerome.

The commissioning, the approval and the cash came from King James (and more from his handlers than him).

From various sources:

Conformists and Puritans alike, with great dedication, were approved to take up the task in June 1604. However, only 47 of the men actually remained on the project with Bishop Bancroft entrusted with managing the project's work.

The translators were formed into six companies: two meeting at Westminster, two at Cambridge, and two at Oxford. The books of Genesis through II Kings were translated by the first Westminster Company, 1 Chronicles through Ecclesiastes by the first Cambridge Company, and Isaiah through Malachi by the first Oxford Company. The second Oxford Company translated the four Gospel accounts, Acts, and Revelation. The Second Westminster Company translated Romans through Jude.


Fifteen general rules were advanced for the guidance of the translators:

1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the Truth of the original will permit.


"Neither did we think much to consult the Translators or Commentators, CHaldee, Hebrew, Syrian, Greek, or Latin, no nor the Spanish, French, Italian, or Dutch."


The conferences of each of the six being ended, nine months were spent at Stationers' Hall in London for review and revision of the work by two men each from the Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford companies. The final revision was then completed by Myles Smith and Thomas Bilson, with a preface supplied by Smith.


The Authorized Version, as it came to be called, went through several editions and revisions. Two notable editions were that of 1629, the first ever printed at Cambridge, and that of 1638, also at Cambridge, which was assisted by John Bois and Samuel Ward, two of the original translators. In 1657, the Parliament considered another revision, but it came to naught. The most important editions were those of the 1762 Cambridge revision by Thomas Paris, and the 1769 Oxford revision by Benjamin Blayney. One of the earliest concrdances was A Concordance to the Bible of the Last Translation, by John Down-ham, affixed to a printing of 1632.

Of the myriad mistranslations and mistake of the various KJV Bibles, there are many websites and documents; I don't think that I need to go into them here.

616 posted on 03/27/2011 7:09:46 PM PDT by MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so..)
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To: smvoice

answers.com is no better than wiki. Lame, lame, lame.


617 posted on 03/27/2011 7:10:11 PM PDT by Lorica
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To: Boogieman
Yup!

Here are some more of the Calvin Road Trip :

Photobucket Photobucket

Photobucket

618 posted on 03/27/2011 7:11:39 PM PDT by Gamecock (I didn't reach the top of the food chain just to become a vegetarian.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

“VICTIMS’ GROUP ACCUSES CATHOLIC CHURCH of SENDING PROBLEM PRIESTS to MILITARY”

March 24, 2011|

By Tricia Bishop,

The Baltimore Sun

“Advocates for victims of clergy abuse called Thursday for an investigation into its allegations that the Roman Catholic church purposely funneled problem priests into the chaplain corps of the U.S. military.

Meeting with reporters outside the downtown headquarters of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS to determine “how frequently & why Catholic officials dumped predator priests on military bases.”

And they distributed documents that they said showed that Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien ignored sexual misconduct by chaplains when he headed the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.

The names were compiled from public court, church & military records with help from BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abuse within the Catholic church. SNAP Maryland Director Frank Dingle said they represent a sampling of perpetrators.

The personnel files of one Boston priest on the list contain a 1987 notation that he “fools around with kids,” according to newspaper accounts, yet the man was subsequently assigned to a VA hospital in Palo Alto., Calif.

Another Boston priest who was accused of violence & sexual abuse against a preteen boy was later sent to work for the Army, according to personnel records available online.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-03-24/news/bs-md-ci-snap-20110324_1_predator-priests-boston-priest-survivors-network


619 posted on 03/27/2011 7:15:34 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: muawiyah

No, I said attempt, and the defence has already accused the prosecution of sending the letter but getting to the bottom of the question is what the investigation is for, No?


620 posted on 03/27/2011 7:15:36 PM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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