Priest Admits Guilt in Sex Abuse Cover Up, Then Asks Court to throw out charges

In the Philadelphia Archdiocese case Monsignor William Lynn says he’s not guilty because a superior ordered him to destroy the lists of pedophile priests, but that’s merely admitting his guilt and a demonstration that the average priest still thinks that the church’s instructions outweigh civil law.

The fact that the church ignored civil laws and aided and abetted child abusing criminals for decades is the problem, and the reason for this case. It really doesn’t matter that his superior in the church ordered him to cover it up, he still should have reported the crimes and the list of perpetrators to the authorities. He cared more for the church and his position in it than the abused children.

The recent unexpected and shocking discovery of a March, 1994 memorandum composed by Monsignor James Molloy, Monsignor Lynn’s then-supervisor, on the topic of this review, clearly reveals that justice demands that all charges against Monsignor Lynn be dropped,” Lynn’s attorneys said in a filing. As revealed in court papers filed on Friday, Molloy’s handwritten memo dated March 22, 1994, informed Bevilacqua that the secret list of 35 priests had been shredded per his instructions. On 3-22-94 at 10:45 AM I shredded, in the presence of Reverend Joseph R. Cistone, four copies of these lists from the secret archives, Molloy’s memo stated. The action was taken on the basis of a directive I received from Cardinal Bevilacqua at the Issues meeting of 3-15-94 ….”

via Attorneys: Cardinal ordered memo on priests destroyed – CNN.com.

The church thinks it is above the law, and another example of that is the bishop’s screeching over having to let their female employees choose when they bear children by refusing to provide for birth control in their insurance plans.