Well, okay, just this once:
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.
The Pew study I cited was from 2008. Yours is from 2001.
You lose.
That is worth repeating...
“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.
No, but you give off the impression that you are.
Because it wasn't truth.
Ah, but it was.
Who knows..lol! I guess they just quickly change the subject to something they can all agree infallibly on....contraception...
“What a red herring.”
It’s obviously not a red herring. While on the topic of churches changing, it’s always pertinent to bring up the 180 degree turn on contraception that Protestants performed.
“Are you taking that much of a beating on the thread that you need to switch gears so radically?”
I’m not the one taking a beating on this thread.
RCs follow "another Christ" and pray to a "co-redeemer" and other "mediators" and presume their own good works must be added to the justification Christ has incompletely won for them on the cross.
Thank God we "have not so learned Christ" (Ephesians 4:20.)
LOL.
Do your own homework and read up on pope Gregory XVI.
Churches changing what they believe.
Talk about incoherent.
No, I don't feel like going over your post again.
Much to the chagrin of pope Gregory XVI.
And many other priests have died since the abuse.
Well, okay, just this once:
Pedophiles will go where children are. It it impossible to prevent every single incidence of child molestation. Abuse is going to happen because those who want to abuse badly enough WILL find a way to do it. I don’t know of anyone who denies that.
The question then is not why abuse happened in the church, just like the question isn’t why abuse happens anywhere, but what it wasn’t dealt with appropriately, by the church. And the same question could be legitimately asked of ANY organization which didn’t deal with the problem appropriately.
The church, any church, of ALL organizations should be leading the way in setting an example of dealing with the problem. God has made it extremely clear in Scripture what is to be done in dealing with immorality in the church. The Catholic church, which claims authorship of said Scripture is doubly accountable for not following the advice that it not only claims responsibility for, but that should know better than anyone else. It condemns homosexuality as sin and yet doesn’t deal with it within its own midst.
That is NOT acceptable. And pointing that out does not make one a *anti-Catholic* or a *Catholic hater*. Expecting integrity in behavior from someone who is supposed to be setting an example is not unreasonable and if they fail in that, criticism of them is to be expected.
Read 1 Corinthians 5 concerning the subject of immorality in the church.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+5&version=ESV
The dictionary also gives a definition of heresy that backs up my claim:
FIXED:
The RCC DAFFYNITIONARY also gives its DAFFYNITION of heresy that backs up my claim:
Not being willing to admit human foibles like that makes one wonder how they can honestly go to confession to confess sins. If they don't admit that sin is sin, as in the abusive priest issue, but are in denial about it, well, you can't ask for forgiveness about what you won't admit you did that was wrong.
Is that why you have so much trouble saying that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine?
“Mistakes were made” is hardly the same as “forgive me father for I have sinned.” Although both are about as useless in the end. It’s just all so ridiculous. And pitiful.
“The real story is that truly conservative Roman Catholics are becoming Protestants.”
I am a truly conservative Catholic. That’s why I’m registered on Free Republic-—I am a true conservative. I’m also Catholic.
I also know many, many Catholics who are true conservatives. And those are just the ones I know personally.
That’s why I consider posts of this type to be more like “drive-by” comments that generalize and then treat such generalizations as a universal truth-—(such as “the real story”).
Merriam-Webster's dictionary is a tool of the "RCC?" Are you one of those conspiracy nut? Oh, wait...
http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Evangelicals-take-top-spot
"Evangelical Protestants outnumber Catholics by 26.3 percent (59 million) to 24 percent (54 million) of the population, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, a massive 45-question poll conducted last summer of more than 35,000 American adults."
59 million Evangelical Christians in the U.S.
54 Roman Catholics in the U.S.
The U.S. is over 50% Protestant and 24% Roman Catholic.
Keep arguing the obvious. It won't be the first time.
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