Prosecutors want to submit evidence of about 30 instances of Catholic priests who were reported to have committed sexual abuse or other improprieties into the unprecedented trial of a high-ranking church official in charge of human resources for priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
But a Philadelphia judge who must decide if that evidence has probative value in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn — on the charges he endangered the welfare of two young men who were allegedly abused by priests Lynn oversaw as secretary for clergy — would be hard-pressed “to find the needle [in the haystack] that only has to do with defendant Lynn,” one of Lynn’s defense attorneys, Thomas Bergstrom of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, argued Monday.
