Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Records: Archdiocese ignored warnings about ‘powder keg’ pedophile

 

An Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest active in schools and scouting was allowed to work in suburban parishes for five years after doctors diagnosed him as a pedophile, called him “a very sick man,” and told church officials he was a “powder keg” waiting to explode.

The priest, the Rev. Peter F. Dunne, paid off one accuser himself and repeatedly resisted or ignored recommendations for therapy, according to internal church records shown Tuesday to a Common Pleas Court jury.

When the pastor overseeing Dunne at a Bucks County parish in 1990 petitioned archdiocesan officials in a “very urgent plea” to get the priest some help, they responded by transferring Dunne to a parish 25 miles away in Montgomery County, …

Prosecutors say the files on Dunne and other priests suggest Lynn and other church leaders had long recognized the signs and depth of clergy sex abuse but chose not to act

tenet of their defense, one of Lynn’s lawyers, Thomas Bergstrom, noted that two cardinals and at least four other archdiocesan officials left Dunne in the community for years before Lynn recommended his removal.

Click on the following to read the rest of the story:  Records: Archdiocese ignored warnings about ‘powder keg’ pedophile

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