Philadelphia Church Official to Be Sentenced in Abuse Case

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: July 24, 2012

Sentencing is expected Tuesday in the landmark conviction of a Roman Catholic official for covering up child sex abuses by priests under his supervision.

The official, Msgr. William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, was found guilty on June 22 on one count of endangering a child. The crime carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Monsignor Lynn served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, recommending priest assignments and investigating abuse complaints. In a trial that lasted more than two months, prosecutors argued that he had shielded predatory priests, often transferring them to unwary new parishes, and lied to the public to avoid bad publicity and lawsuits.

Last week, Monsignor Lynn’s lawyers asked Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina to spare him from prison and sentence him to probation and work-release or house arrest. They argued in a written memorandum that a long prison sentence would be “merely cruel and unusual,” and “would serve no purpose at all.”

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