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June 1st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The prosecution in the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Church sex abuse trial said on Thursday an accused monsignor covered up cases of pedophile priests to avoid scandal, but his defense attorney said his efforts to handle the problem were stymied by the church’s hierarchy.
Monsignor William Lynn, who in his 12-year job as secretary of the clergy supervised hundreds of priests, is accused of conspiracy and child endangerment and, if convicted, faces the possibility of 28 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Lynn, 61, the highest-ranking U.S. clergyman to go to trial in the church pedophilia scandal, covered up child sex abuse allegations, often by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes.
“Keep the priest in the ministry, keep the congregation in the dark,” said assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington in his closing statement in Common Pleas Court. “That was the plan. You saw it over and over again.”
Lynn’s motive was to protect the church from scandal and avoid any potential loss of money, the prosecutor said. Lynn’s job was to supervise 800 Archdiocese priests, including investigating sex abuse claims, from 1992 to 2004.
“Parishioners and supporters contribute money,” he said.
But the defense said Lynn tried to handle documented cases of pedophile priests, making a list in the 1990s of 35 accused predators and writing memos suggesting treatment and suspensions.
Lynn could only make recommendations to the head of the Archdiocese, Cardinal Anthony Bevilaqua, who died in January at age 88, said defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom.
“The man who documented the abuse in the Archdiocese was none other than Monsignor Lynn,” Bergstrom said before Judge M. Teresa Sarmina. “He did not do nothing.”
The judge was expected to give instructions on Friday morning to the jury, which was likely to begin deliberating in the afternoon.
The jury has heard ten weeks of testimony in the closely watched trial that has rocked the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the nation’s sixth largest with 1.5 million members.
Nationwide, more than 10,000 allegations of child sex abuse were brought against priests between 1950 and 2002, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“You have witnessed evil, and you have seen the dark side of the church,” the defense attorney said to the jury. Lynn, he said, “tried to heal it.”
Lynn had nothing to do with Bevilaqua’s order to shred the list, he said.
“In the church, in the military, there is a hierarchy. There are people who are middle managers,” the attorney said.
The prosecutor responded that “following orders is not a defense” and added that Lynn never contacted police, “not once in 12 years.”
Also on trial is the Reverend James Brennan, 48, who is charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old child in 1996.
In his closing statement in defense of Brennan, attorney William Brennan questioned the credibility of the alleged victim. He said the youth’s family waited a decade before making a complaint and did so when it was in financial trouble.
He said soon after the complaint was made, the Archdiocese began paying some of the family’s bills.
(Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by Greg McCune and Todd Eastham)
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