PHILIDELPHIA. - The Archbishop's top former aid former Msgr. William J. Lynn was convicted Friday of child endangerment. A jury of 12 found Lynn guilty of knowingly putting a priest alleged to be a child molester in charge of a youth project involving many children.
The 61-year-old was found guilty on one count of child endangerment. He was acquitted of conspiracy and a second count of endangerment. Never the less he could face up to seven years in prison. The sentencing is set for August 13. Msgr. Lynn is expected to file for appeal.
The ruling is truly a milestone since it is the first time a top member of the Roman Catholic Church has been convicted in a sex-abuse case in the history of the U.S.
The 10-week trial resulted from the U.S. district attorney crack-down on various reported sex-abuse incidences involving high-level priests in the archdiocese.
Rev. Raymond Helmick, a Jesuit priest, and an instructor at Boston College told the Wall Street Journal: "The verdict has certainly produced a great new crisis for Catholic authority...this is the first time that someone responsible for the supervision has been held to that civil accountability...That is a precedent that may go very far. I'm sure all kinds of people are itching to bring criminal cases against many, many authorities, and we'll have to see how far it goes."
In a statement released on Friday The archdiocese said: "the lessons of the last year have made our church a more vigilant guardian of our people's safety.... and offering a heartfelt apology to all victims of clerical abuse," as reported by the New York Times.
Msgr. Lynn served the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as secretary from 1992 to 2004
