Via Chicago Tribune.

Molested?  Let’s call it what it is Raped Children.  I though one of their jobs was to protect the little children.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Monsignor William Lynn, the highest-ranking clergyman convicted in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church scandal, was sentenced on Tuesday to up to six years in prison for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

Upto? 6 years.  Not enough!

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Lynn, 61, the former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, that he protected “monsters in clerical garb who molested children.”

He is a very bad man.

Lynn, who oversaw the work of 800 priests, was convicted of covering up sex-abuse allegations, often by transferring predatory priests to unsuspecting parishes. His case, which was closely watched by the Vatican, followed a series of child abuse scandals that hit the church in the United States and in Europe.

One after another and each and every time they fight the law and try to cover things up.  God’s law is above the US law.  Just look at this comment I got from Terry Carroll…

…the American Constitution must be understood as nothing more, and nothing less, than the “rules of order” for our form of Republican government. “Rules of order” are never other than matters of “prudential judgment” and, thus, able to be debated and/or prioritized relative to other “rules of order.” A Roman Catholic can never give unconditional assent to “Caesar” because God’s “rules of order” take precedence.

Got that?  When there is a conflict between US Law and god’s law (as dictated by the pope) god’s law wins.  That is why the movement of crazy catholics is dangerous.  It appears that the pope does not have a problem with child rape so it is not going to stop.

Back to our story….

Problems with abusive priests in the Philadelphia diocese had been flagged in a 2003 grand jury report that found church leaders failed to report abuse to the authorities.

2003!  It took 11 years to convict the guy.  Just a few hours away at Penn State a complete review and action was taken by the NCAA in just a few weeks.

Among Lynn’s job responsibilities was investigating sex abuse claims from 1992 to 2004. “I tried to serve God. I tried to help people,”

You didn’t try very hard.

…his defense attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, later called the sentence “grossly imbalanced”.

“All of a sudden (Lynn) is being held responsible for all of the abuse that occurred over 30 to 40 years, none of which he participated in,” Bergstrom said.

30 to 40 years!  That is part of your defense?  Damn!

The defense argued that Lynn tried to handle cases of pedophile priests, making a list in 1994 of 35 accused predators and writing memos to suggest treatment and suspensions.

Now imagine if Yahoo or Google said they had a list of 35 child rapers and wanted to take care of it with their own in house treatment.  However, the CEO said that it was not a problem.  The company would be shut down – game over.  Not the catholic church.  They just complain that they are under attack and did nothing wrong.  Too crazy to be true?  read on….

“He is being punished for things he did and did properly,” Bergstrom said. He said Lynn would appeal and he was seeking bail.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a statement saying “fair-minded people will question the severity” of what it called a “heavy” sentence. “We hope that when this punishment is objectively reviewed, it will be adjusted,” it said.

Noting the “public humiliation” the church has undergone, it said the church has changed since the events at the center of the trial.

It all comes back to the image of the church.  It is not about the victims.  The church has behaved this way for about 1,800 years and it is NOT going to change.