A former priest, Edward Avery, on trial fro molesting at least one young boy, suddenly declared just days before his trial was set to begin, that he would be changing his plea to guilty.
As in, he did it.
As part of his plea deal--he plead guilty to one count of sexually assaulting a boy under 13 years of age, and one count of conspiring to endanger the welfare of a minor--Avery was immediately sentenced to 2½-5 years in prison and ordered to surrender to authorities within 10 days.
He and two others--a priest and a monsignor--were set to go to trial next week in a case that shocked both the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Vatican with accusations of sex abuse, coverups, and stonewalling.
But, perhaps even more shocking than his sudden change of heart and plea, was Avery's declaration in court that Monsignor Lynn knew that he had sexually abused children but had nevertheless allowed him to remain in ministry.
Yes, the monsignor covered up for a pedophile.
Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington said, “Avery was aided in his efforts to remain in ministry with unsupervised access to parish children and altar servers b Lynn and others in the Archdiocese....Defendant Lynn and other Archdiocese officials acted in concert with Avery with a common purpose to conceal Avery’s known acts of sexual abuse of a minor, so that Avery could remain in ministry without the knowledge of parishioners whose children would be exposed to a man that defendant Lynn and others in the Archdiocese knew presented a danger to children.”
What's this? The Catholic Church covered up a case of sexual molestation in order to protect a priest and the church? Who knew?
Monsignor Lynn, for one, and his trial is scheduled to begin this coming Monday where i hope, with the aid of Avery's plea deal statement, they throw the book at him and then begin investigating all those who conspired to protect a known pedophile.
Maybe there will be some sense of justice for those molested boys.
I really do wish I could be more shocked about this happening. The Catholic church has done a lot to tarnish its image in the last few...millennia. Absolute power really does corrupt absolutely. All we can hope now is that justice can be served, even though it will never heal the scars that these children, some now adults, will and have carried with them for a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a growing view in the R.C. Church's hierarchy that, although they are, of course, 'profoundly sorry' for the grievous sins of clergy in the past, and forgiveness from the victims is sought, it's really now time to move on, as there are mechanisms in place to prevent such an appalling situation happening again. (One can but hope!)
ReplyDelete- So, in other words, we are invited to forget about pursuing and persecuting those surviving paedophilic priests of decades ago (and more than a few rather more recent). Just forgive them and carry on. Yeah, right! So is the church suggesting that all those peadophiles who were NOT priests should also be allowed this amnesty? Or could it just be that the Church has had enough of the secrets of its tawdry organisation being thrown open to the world and is trying to salvage the moral authority which, unaccountably, so many millions still accord it?
Get them ALL, and quickly, I say - and before they all die off!
mess, pure mess
ReplyDeleteWhat really needs to happen is for one of these cases to be heard before Judge Judy. Seriously - what the Catholic Church needs is a good heaping helping of "take no shit, take no prisoners" justice done unto them the way they have been doing unto others, and Judge Judy is the one to dish it out.
ReplyDelete