Monsignor William Lynn, former head of the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia's Office for Clergy, has been charged for allegedly failing
to protect children from sexual abuse by priests, District Attorney
Seth Williams announced Thursday.
Two felony counts of endangering the welfare were lodged against Lynn
follow a grand jury investigation, Williams said at a news conference.
Williams also announced the Revs. Charles Engelhardt, 64, and Edward
Avery, 68, and Bernard Shero, 47, a former 6th grade teacher at St.
Jerome's School in Northeast Philadelphia, had been charged with raping
and sexually assaulting the same boy in the parish between 1998, when he
was 10 years old, and 2000.
Another priest, the Rev James Brennan, 47, is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1996.
All five men were arrested Thursday, an official said.
Williams said Lynn, who was the Archdiocese's Secretary of the Clergy
from 1992 to 2004, "supervised two of the abusers . . . knew they were
dangerous and chose to expose them to new victims."
Since 2004 Lynn has served as pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Downingtown, a parish of nearly 4,000 families.
As head of the clergy office, Lynn oversaw all priest personnel
issues, which included advising Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and his
successor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, on the assignment of priests;
interviewing persons who reported sexual abuse by a priests; and
overseeing the treatment of clergy known to have abused children.
In a message to church deacons, Rigali said he could not comment
directly on the grand jury report because he had not yet received it.
But, he added: "I know the release of this report will be painful and
my deep concern is for all of those who have been abused. I urge all
the faithful of the Archdiocese to pray for, to extend every concern for
and remain open to understanding the experience of the victims. It is
in that spirit that we reflect upon the grand jury's actions and the
recommendations they make."
At Lynnn's church in Downingtown, workers in the parish office
declined comment, abruptly referring reporters to Donna Farrell, the
archdiocesan spokeswoman.
When an Inquirer reporter began to speak with a female parishioner
outside the building, one of the workers ran out, grabbed her, and
pulled her inside.
Several other parishioners expressed shock at news of the charges but
declined to give their names.
A man arriving for choir practice said he
did not have enough information to comment.
A woman who pulled up at
the adjacent church school - which her daughter attends - said she did
not want her remarks to reflect adversely on the school.
"We love this school," she said. "I'm absolutely stunned; we totally trusted him."
Thursday's charges come nearly 5 1/2 years after a Philadelphia grand
jury excoriated the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for an "immoral
cover-up" of its sexually abusive clergy, and for creating what it said
was a climate that exposed hundreds of children to assault.
Although the 2005 report directed much of its ire at Bevilacqua, the
Roman Catholic archbishop from 1988 to 2003, it mentioned Lynn 652 times
- more than any other member of the archdiocesan hierarchy, including
Bevilacqua.
"Secretary for Clergy Lynn . . . treated victims as potential
plaintiffs. Not only did they not receive apologies acknowledging their
abuse, but many were bullied, intimidated, lied to, even investigated
themselves," the report said.
It also accused Lynn of repeatedly failing to investigate abuse
charges, reassigning abusive priests, and concealing their crimes from
civil authorities and the Catholic laity.
"It became apparent to the Grand Jurors that Msgr. Lynn was handling
the cases precisely as his boss [Bevilacqua] wished," it said.
The assistant district attorneys who wrote the scathing, 468-page
report in 2005 said their office had sought ways to bring criminal
charges against several archdiocesan leaders but were frustrated by
Pennsylvania's "inadequate" state laws, such as the statute of
limitations.