First US church official branded felon for sex cover-up gets 3-6 years

Monsignor William Lynn, a felon convicted recently of covering up the rape of children by Catholic priests, was sentenced to three to six years in prison today.

The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he “enabled monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children.”

Monsignor William Lynn, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, “helped many but also failed many” in his 36-year church career, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said.

Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999.

“I did not intend any harm to come to (Avery’s victim). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm,” Lynn said. “I am a parish priest. I should have stayed (one).”

Msgr. Lynn seems to think that someone who covers up and enables the rape of children is “good enough” to be a parish priest. Is that the level of care he believes that parish priests are expected to provide?

Msgr. Lynn was not “good enough” to call the police? He couldn’t figure out “9-1-1″?

Lynn’s attorney complains that Lynn should not serve such a long sentence, one which is slightly longer than former priest Edward Avery, the pedophile whose sexual assault of a child under Lynn’s not-so-watchful eye is at issue. (At least one other underling of Lynn’s has been charged, but not convicted.)

If you ask me–which you haven’t, but I’ll tell you anyway–Lynn’s sentence of three to six years is woefully inadequate for his years-long role in crimes against children.

As the Monsignor, he is responsible for those who work under him. He chose to cover up vicious crimes by one of his underlings.

While a case could be made that Avery was psychologically disturbed–who else would sexually assault children?–no such case can be made for Lynn. This man, in full possession of his faculties, made a rational decision to place the image of the Catholic church over the safety of children in the archdiocese.

His corruption kept Avery not just out of jail and out of treatment, but also placed many more children within Avery’s eager grasp. And who knows how many other children in the reach of other rapists?

It will be interesting to see how this sentence compares to the Penn State administrator sentences.

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