Click here to read, “Lynn’s lawyers ask for bail and a new judge,” by Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 24, 2015
Click here to read, “Lynn’s lawyers ask for bail and a new judge,” by Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 24, 2015
Keep up the good reporting And a Blessed Christmas
Don’t forget to dig deep for that 2nd collection. Lynn’s going to have the best lawyers, and they’re pricey. But, why? A priest doesn’t make that much; he should be able to qualify for a public defender.
Susan,
“Error – Page not found” comes up, on this and previous email on this subject, when I click on “click here”.
Just thought you ought to know.
Auntie
Try this one: http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news&id=363409621
Susan, I have just learned that Seth Williams has filed something called a En Banc Reargument in the case of Commonwealth vs. William Lynn.
I believe it has something to do away with the 3 judge panel decision. If you or any of your readers know the law can you elaborate what this means.
you mean you read it elsewhere and passing it off as if you know all the facts of this case. Another fraud in your so called crusade against the RCC
Where do I state I know all the facts ? Please take your words to those blogs who welcome your type of comments.
hmm, where did you come across that information?
http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news&id=363649181
Press conference at 3:30
Noticeably absent from this site is any mention of Ralph Cipriano’s blog Big Trial and his stellar reporting on Msgr. Lynn’s case. I guess it just doesn’t fit the narrative the creators and readers of this blog. At this site Truth is relative.
You might try using the search button as his site has been mentioned here. When I was an editor at The Catholic Standard and Times in the early 90s, I looked to his Inq work as an example of excellent journalism. There is no agenda here. We are all looking to shine a light on the truth. Statisically, a very small percentage (about 2 percent) of claims are false. That doesn’t change all those that were true. Also, this site is not subsidized in any way. Just people sharing. Happy to have you join in.
I was going to expend my energy on trying to explain the “truth” to Ray. However, I will classify that energy as useless and move on to other things.
Happy New Year to all on this blog. Thanks to all that support survivors like myself. Special thanks to Susan and Kathy whose commitment to survivors extends far beyond the reaches of this blog.
2015 closes a monumental year for me. My abuser was removed from the priesthood. I truly believe someday I will confront him – and will show him firsthand the power and influence I HAVE OVER HIM by taking away his “vocation” {I type with a smirk}.
I began a healing by spending a day with 1 million or so of my fellow Catholics during the Pope’s visit. I learned that the Catholic Church is a community – a fellowship – with power. It is not a man in a white robe – not clerics in scarlet and red.
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” – Matthew 18:20
And, I have been able to start telling my story to people in hopes that they may understand – both individuals associated with the Archdiocese and others. I have been called “brave” more times this year than I can ever remember!
May 2016 bring all of us hope, health, healing, and a promise for a better future.
owlfan, I truly took interest in your writing when you expressed how you wanted to write to Ray and you decided to not act. The depth of your strength by not acting when you could act forcefully is a genuine strength. It seems your self-restraint is deep courage and it appears the depth of your courage is in your ability to do or not do. Your courage, moral courage, appears to be your ability to put yourself on the line for what you believe in. To me it is your courage and your self-assertion to not destroy is your power, because as you know, the dark side of power is the ability to destroy.
Your courage and your center of awareness is a new force entering the world. You are real, decisive, and there is a spiritual event here I am having difficulty describing. And yet I can say, breaking your feeling of abandonment and breaking this feeling people always letting you down is profound. Your spirit appears to offer this new center of awareness and a new force entering the world. Your spirit is teaching us this move from self-consciousness and alienation to self-respect and to enormous dignity.
Thank you for your great equanimity and may the deepest peace be with you.
Here are well founded opinions that certaintly disprove christine flowers column and her opinion which is not grounded in facts just her emotion, now I can understand why is not practicing.
OVER THE WEEKEND, I read a column on philly.com by Christine Flowers. It was about Bill Cosby and William Lynn. In it, the author wrote that Lynn was charged under a law that does not apply to him. That is not correct. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled, in Lynn’s case, that Lynn could be charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Since the author’s incorrect statement of the law seems to be the basis for her conclusion that Lynn was convicted of a crime he did not commit, the entire column – as it relates to Lynn – is false.
While a panel of the Superior Court recently ordered a new trial on a different issue (whether the commonwealth presented too much evidence that Lynn was a principal participant in a long-running conspiracy by Archdiocese officials to protect pedophiles and endanger children), that decision has no bearing on whether Lynn was properly charged or whether he committed the crime.
I request a correction – or retraction – of the column as it relates to Lynn.
Mariana Sorensen
Philadelphia
I used to read Christine Flowers’ column regularly. After a while, I tired of her vitriolic attacks on people or things that didn’t agree with her points of view, no matter how jaundiced they were. Now she attacks the prosecution of Bill Lynn and Bill Cosby, because she thinks they are politically motivated. From what I read, both cases are justified, and I think the defendants are guilty as charged. That’s just my opinion, but it’s based on facts, not political or religious motivation. Christine says that the cases are worthless, because nothing that happens (in both cases) can ever make the true victims whole again. I would ask Christine what prosecution or punishment makes the true victims whole again? That just never happens!
Joe Orenstein
Come on, you can’t take anything Christine Flowers seriously. She’s the female version of Bill Donahue. When you disagree with her relative to church clergy abuse matters, you are a Catholic basher and Catholic hater.
I had an email exchange with Christine a few years back about one of her articles (not clergy abuse) and she was very gracious about my opinion which differed slightly from hers on an issue. I think there is a knee jerk reaction from many people to think that the people involved in the clergy abuse issue are ex Catholics or against the Church . Susan and I don’t fit that stereotype nor do most of the people I have met over the past few years.. Susan is a former editor at the Catholic Standard &Times, I was an RCIA sponsor at one time..my husband converted to Catholicism. The most devout Catholic I know has donated a large sum to fund the lobbying effort for the SOL reform..I could go on and on with examples. I always laugh and think why would I as a lifelong Catholic with 16 years of Catholic education, a convert husband ,2 kids who were in Catholic school..wake up one day in 2011 and decide that I was now against the Church? That is not true of me or of so,so so many people we have met over the past four years.
I get the sense that Christine has been frustrated about all the recent immigration bashing as it is an issue close to her heart..there are as many inflammatory remarks and stereotypes associated with that issue as there are with the clergy abuse issue . I have met phenomenal Catholic people over the past few years involved in the clergy abuse issue…none of them have fit the stereotype.The first vigil I ever attended outside of 222 ,an elderly man came walking towards us and I thought we were going to get an earful… I didn’t notice that he had a sign in his hand…he was there to join us..shame on me. Being involved in the issue for the past few years, Susan and I have received mostly all positive remarks from the Catholic people we encounter in our lives…including many religious. When I read any article that describes people involved with victims or child protection as anti Catholic,I always think well then what is Catholic?
Msgr Lynn’s case will continue to be handled in the courts and whatever the outcome will be is something all will need to abide by. But I do find the irony that some people use to describe a man as good and holy based on Pennsylvania law..if it wasn’t such a serious subject, it would almost be funny .If someone did what Msgr Lynn did now, he would be a criminal..do it prior to 2007 and you are good and holy? The only good that I think of is good timing.
Kathy, your comments re those who are standing up and speaking out regarding the sexual abuse issues not only within the RCC but re the larger issue of SOL reform is true. Many, many of those involved in these issues, concerns and advocacy are Catholics who cherish their faith and honor the commitment to it by their actions and work. There was a wonderful article about the two founders of BishopAccountability.com a couple of months ago that showed that they felt it was their Catholic faith and duty to do this work.
Ms. Flowers has cast me in the role of Catholic Church basher and that is simply inaccurate.
Michael, I had an excellent sociology professor at St. Joseph’s University. I also had two of the best teachers at Archbishop Prendergast High School. Both of which happened to be IHM sisters. All of the above I admired greatly because they modeled the behavior they were teaching us in class outside the classroom and truly cared about their students and taught us it was up to us to make the change we want to see in the world. I am who I am today because of teachers like these. Teachers that taught there was right and wrong and when something was wrong you got involved to try and correct the situation.
Yes, we have our religious education and values and we are expected to live them and act on them. That is what our Catholic faith is all about. Of course, in this environment re sexual abuse and child protection, when we advocate and speak up and out, many times we are labeled as “catholic-bashers”.
Another of one of the many falsehoods leveled against those who are working diligently on behalf of the protection of ALL children here in the Commonwealth.
The victims are making it up, they’re in it for the money, they want to destroy the Catholic Church, the new SOL proposals single out only religious institutions, etc…..on and on, each new bogus challenge is just that…….false.
For example, the current civil case that was presented in today’s Inquirer indicates the family, who lost their son to drugs and who was a victim of clergy sexual abuse, insist on NO CONFIDENTIALITY in the litigation. Accountability, openness, transparency………in order to learn just what happened to their son.
Oh, yes, I seem to recall that there are the same principles (accountability, openness, transparency) that the USCCB and Archbishop Charles Chaput have promised in the protection of our children. Has the USCCB and Chaput changed their minds in 2016 and in response to the litigation in this current case? So why is our archdiocesan leadership is spending parishioners’ contributions to fight for confidentiality in the release of documents, correspondence, etc. during the discovery process?
Archbishop, you can’t have it both ways…………..confidentiality or transparency? But we do have transparency…………..Philadelphia Catholics can see “right through” the reasons for such legal maneuvering by the archbishop and the legal representative, Nicholas M. Centrella.
Truth be told, we do have openness and transparency in Harrisburg. It is well documented that the lobbyists from the PA Catholic Conference spend a great deal of time going from one legislator’s office to the next speaking out against the valuable legislative proposals that would extend and/or eliminate the Statute of Limitations, civilly and criminally, for child sexual abuse.
Keep it going to more folks