Judge issues gag order in Monsignor's conspiracy case

Monsignor William J. Lynn was held for trial Friday on child endangerment and conspiracy charges for allegedly enabling sexually abusive priests to serve in ministerial posts with access to children.

Lynn, once secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is accused of conspiring with three priests accused of raping or sodomizing two altar boys in the mid-1990s. He is the highest-ranking member of the Catholic hierarchy nationwide to be charged with such a crime.

The Rev. James Brennan, the Rev. Charles Englehardt, and a defrocked priest, Edward Avery, also were held for trial, as was Bernard Shero, a former parochial school teacher charged with raping one of the boys.

Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes ruled there was sufficient evidence for the case to go forward, despite defense requests for a preliminary hearing that would allow the defendants to confront their accusers in open court.

Through their lawyers, the men have denied the charges.

Because the charges were recommended by a grand jury that reviewed exhaustive evidence over the course of a year, the judge said the panel's recommendation that charges be filed was sufficient grounds for the case to proceed to trial.

"There is no necessity for a preliminary hearing," said Hughes.

Last month, a grand jury found that Lynn had put children in harm's way by allowing priests known to be sexually abusive to remain in ministry.

Citing the "extraordinary amount" of media attention to the case, which has included television and radio appearances by lawyers and defendants in the case, Hughes imposed a gag order and barred all parties in the case from talking to reporters until at least the April 15 arraignment.

"There are to be no more interviews with anyone," she said. "I don't want tweets. I don't want Facebook. I don't want to see any of you on Chris Matthews," a reference to District Attorney Seth Williams who appeared recently on the show.

Earlier in the hearing, Hughes allowed prosecutors to add conspiracy charges against the priests. Prosecutors alleged that Lynn "colluded with the accused priests and archdiocese managers to deceive parishioners so that known child abusers could continue as active and revered priests."

They said Lynn, 60, also "thwarted" victims' efforts to have their attackers removed or punished, and instead allowed them to remain in positions where they could harm children.

Prosecutors said Lynn "actively abetted" Avery and Brennan, who went on to assault the boys.

Brennan is accused of sexually assaulting a teen in 1996, while on a leave of absence after a five-year teaching stint at Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield, Delaware County. Avery was defrocked in 2006 over an earlier abuse allegations. Shero no longer works as a teacher.