Week Three of Lynn Trial

Last week's testimony continued during the trial of Msgr. Lynn and his co-defendant, Fr. James Brennan. Much of the evidence continued to portray an atmosphere of people complaining about abusive priests to Lynn's office and the Archdiocese failing to act appropriately. Lynn's attorneys continued to pursue a strategy of asserting that removal of priests was the duty of the now deceased Cardinal Bevilacqua and not Lynn.

Two witnesses may be of particular note to MOJ readers, however. One was Bishop Robert Maginnis as vicar of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the trial, Sister Joan Scary testified that she was concerned when a Fr. DePaoli was receiving what appeared to be a form of pornography at a church rectory. Fr. DePaoli had a prior conviction for child pornography possession, but was allowed to serve in a parish without notice to the parishioners about his conviction. After Sister Scary mailed her concerns and relevant information to the Bishop, she was fired from her position. Bishop Maginnis testified in connection with these events and, according to the New York Times, he stated that "he could not remember much about the episode but that he had been trying at the time to establish whether the sister's assertions were true." In 1996 he reportedly wrote to Msgr. Lynn that "perhaps she [Sr. Scary] is using [the pastor's] absence to cast doubt on Father DePaoli's credibility." DePaoli continued as a priest until, due to abuse of children, he was defrocked in 2005. Lynn's defense attorneys confirmed with Maginnis that Lynn, as Secretary for the Archdiocese, did not have the power to remove priests but that said power rested with the Cardinal.

A second interesting witness testified at the intersection of canon law and criminal law. Here is some of the Washington Post's (via the Associated Press) reporting:

An expert on "canon" law angrily called it "obstruction of justice, cubed" for a Roman Catholic archbishop to have shredded a list of 35 active priests accused of molesting children.

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The Rev. Thomas Doyle, an expert on Roman Catholic law, testified at Lynn's child-endangerment trial Thursday. Lynn, 61, is the first Catholic church official in the U.S. charged with child endangerment for allegedly failing to protect children from suspected priest-predators.

Church law requires church officials to investigate the complaints, Doyle said. And the archbishop — following the teachings of Christ — should have sought out victims to offer pastoral care, he added.

"He's got a list of men who are sexually abusing children, and he's going to shred it?" an incredulous Doyle asked on cross-examination from defense lawyers.

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Jurors also heard excerpts Thursday from Lynn's 2002 grand jury testimony. Lynn testified that his office had never referred any of the complaints to local authorities despite a 1995 state law that added clergy to a list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse.

Lynn believed the law only required reporting if a "child" had made the report. That rarely if ever happened. The reports were coming in from adults who said they were abused as children, or occasionally from parents of minors, he testified.

 

If this reflects Msgr. Lynn's beliefs accurately, this would be a rather narrow reading of mandatory reporting statutes. The purpose of such statutes lies in the fact that child abuse is so often underreported by children. As a result, mandatory reporting statutes require certain professionals to report suspicions of child abuse to state officials so that cases will be investigated even without a disclosure from a child. As the trial progresses it will be interesting to see what the jury thinks of this claim. Notably, Lynn is not charged with violation of that statute but with endangering the welfare of children.

The trial will start its fourth week on Monday.