Posted on 11/06/2010 11:54:39 PM PDT by Robert Drobot
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A man charged with assaulting a priest at a Jesuit retirement home has sued the Vatican, claiming it knew its priest had sexually molested him and others, and failed to protect him from being "raped, tortured, and forced to engage in sexual acts with his own brother," when they were children.
William Lynch, 43, was arrested on Friday, 2 days after he sued the Vatican, the Oakland Archdiocese, the Jesuit Order, The Christian Family Movement and others in Federal Court. Lynch was accused of assaulting the Rev. Jerold Lindner, 65, in the lobby of a retirement home in Los Gatos, in May this year.
Lynch claims Lindner oversaw his rape, torture and abuse at a summer camp when he was 7, and that the religious defendants knew of Lindner's propensities, and covered for him for decades.
"In May 1975, plaintiff was entrusted to a CFM [Christian Family Movement] children's camp in Portola State Park in the state of California, whereat he was raped, tortured, and forced to engage in sexual acts with is own brother by Jesuit priest and CFM Camp Spiritual Advisor Jerold W. Lindner. Plaintiff was 7 years old at that time," according to the complaint.
"Not only did the Jesuit Order know of Lindner's propensities for child rape and abuse, Lindner was well known by his order as a 'torturer of children.' He was specifically known for sexual gratification while torturing his victims among his order, and his reputation and knowledge of his crimes extended all the way to the Holy See in the 1970s [and] 1980s."
Lynch's lawyer told The Associated Press last week that Lynch put up $25,000 bail and will plead not guilty to the assault charges. No explanation was provided why Lynch was arrested 2 days after he filed his lawsuit for an assault that allegedly occurred in May.
Lynch says in his complaint that the Vatican and the other defendants continue to protect the retired priest after "decades of abuse and hundreds of victims."
"Lindner was a Roman Catholic Priest and employee of Defendant Catholic Church for over four decades," according to the complaint.
"Even now, although the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy See know of Lindner's decades of abuse and hundreds of victims, Lindner still receives a pension from the Holy See and Oakland Archdiocese and has yet to be defrocked," the complaint states.
Lindner is not named as a defendant in Lynch's complaint.
The Associated Press reported on Friday, however, that "Father Lindner, 65, has been accused of abuse by nearly a dozen people, including his sister and nieces and nephews. ... He has previously denied abusing the Lynch boys and has not been criminally charged. The abuse falls outside the statute of limitations."
The AP report continued: "Father Lindner was removed from the ministry and placed at the Los Gatos retirement home in 2001.
"He was named in two additional lawsuits for abuse between 1973 and 1985, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The cases were included in a $660 million settlement struck between the church and more than 550 plaintiffs in 2007."
Lynch claims that the Vatican and the other defendants not only covered for Lindner's sexual abuse but continued to promote him despite their guilty knowledge.
"Lindner's sexual abuse of children began in [the] 1950s, continued through the 1970s and persisted into the 1980s, when Lindner was actually promoted by defendants to a teacher post at an all boys school, Loyola High School in Los Angeles," according to the complaint.
"Lindner actually abused his own nieces, nephews and a younger sibling, all of which was brought to the attention of the Catholic Church by Lindner's own brother. One memorandum among his superiors regarding Lindner's conduct reads that the accusations ... should be kept 'internal to the Society of Jesus.' Further, the Catholic Church has never reported Lindner's crimes, despite knowledge of them, to any law enforcement agency, parent or teacher," according to the complaint.
Lynch and his brother settled a previous lawsuit for their alleged abuse at the children's camp, accepting $625,000 from the Jesuits of the California Province in 1998, the AP reported.
According to his federal complaint: "The sexual abuse of plaintiff, and the circumstances under which the abuse occurred, caused plaintiff to develop various psychological coping mechanisms and symptoms of psychological distress, including great shame, guilt, rage, alcohol abuse, self-blame, depression, repression and disassociation. As a result, plaintiff was unable to perceive or know the existence or nature of his psychological and emotional injuries and their connection to the sexual abuse perpetuated upon him by Lindner.
"Plaintiff is still unaware of the deep and troubling psychological pain caused by Lindner and all defendants."
Lynch seeks punitive damages.
He is represented by Eugene P. Harris with Geragos & Geragos of Los Angeles.
There you have it. Lying POS law firm + attention whore with repressed memory in need of money = match made in hell.
The responses here are absolutely disgusting.
‘Who knows’
That seems an accurate summary of our knowledge of this situation.
More reason why I would not let my son join the church Boy Scout troop or be an altar boy like I was.
The church leadership has no interest in protecting children from gay priests who molest them.
Like our parish, they just pay the cash for the lawsuits by selling off property and never mention it.
and what is Lindner guilty of?
"Lindner actually abused his own nieces, nephews and a younger sibling, all of which was brought to the attention of the Catholic Church by Lindner's own brother. One memorandum among his superiors regarding Lindner's conduct reads that the accusations ... should be kept 'internal to the Society of Jesus.' Further, the Catholic Church has never reported Lindner's crimes, despite knowledge of them, to any law enforcement agency, parent or teacher," according to the complaint.
Lynch and his brother settled a previous lawsuit for their alleged abuse at the children's camp, accepting $625,000 from the Jesuits of the California Province in 1998, the AP reported.
Lindner does not appear at all innocent of these charges. Practically his entire family has dissassociated themselves from him, with several having threatened violence upon him. They appear to have gone public, despite being counseled not to do so by their church, due to outrage that the abuse continued.
That had to be a hard decision to make. Your rationalizing and diminishing their honesty does not help matters.
Why do you "traditionalists" try so hard to defend the tares in your midst? Root them out and let them burn of their own accord.
Lindner does not appear at all innocent of these charges.
No, he does not. From all accounts, he is a very evil man. I said nothing to the contrary.
Practically his entire family has dissassociated themselves from him, with several having threatened violence upon him. They appear to have gone public, despite being counseled not to do so by their church, due to outrage that the abuse continued.
That had to be a hard decision to make.
Yes, they did come forward, and yes, that was a hard decision - and again, I said nothing to the contrary.
Your rationalizing and diminishing their honesty does not help matters.
I'm not defending Fr. Lindner, nor am I rationalizing or diminishing the honesty of his siblings, or even of Mr. Lynch (who despite the abuse was unjustified in assaulting Lindner).
What I am saying is that there either is more to the story than was printed - and even then, the actions of his siblings seem rather strange to me.
Why? Because God is Mercy. Because there is nothing "traditional" about giving up on the sinner. EVERYONE is entitled to the offer of forgiveness, no matter what the sin was. Yes... there will be those who never repent - and they WILL burn. And yes, it is right to be angry about situations like these - just as it is right to turn over the guilty to the secular authorities. But it is for the sake of those who DO repent, that we must always be willing to forgive. To forget that is to lose sight of the Gospel.
As I said already, from all accounts, Fr. Lindner is an evil man - worse than that, an evil priest - and that has wrought great damage, especially on those that he sinned against. I will pray that he accepts the forgiveness that God offers - and then will willingly accept the justice that man rightly demands.
‘and what is Lindner guilty of?’
Whatever he has been convicted of, and a bunch more, most likely.
>>One memorandum among his superiors regarding Lindner’s conduct reads that the accusations ... should be kept ‘internal to the Society of Jesus.’ <<
This kind of thing should be a felony for all involved.
It could be construed as aiding and abetting, at a minimum.
Why is this monster still alive? William Lynch should not be charged with ANYTHING in this case. The perverts that covered up for this “priest”, should all be in jail.
This evil needs to stop.
To conceal a criminal act such as raping a child is a felony. I am thankful that my children nor I wasn’t a victim of this sick pervert because today he would have long ago been lubricant for a wood chipper.
Sure, the two brothers made the whole thing up. The priest's sister, nieces and nephews too. /s
What a ridiculous headline
‘Sure, the two brothers made the whole thing up.’
If that is what you think I suppose it is a possibility, but I think there is most likely a core of truth, surrounded by a certain amount of childish fantasizing. The exact proportion of which is hard to determine without more of the details. I do not take a lawyer’s brief as the gospel truth. Lawyers, like the politicians they so often become, lie for a living.
There’s a lot of truth to these allegations. The damage has been immeasurable.
I went to school with a kid who was the nicest, most normal kid you’d ever want to meet. Smart too. About a year after his father died he changed dramatically. We figured it was because he lost his father. It turns out he was being molested by a local priest.
I’d like to tell you that story turned out okay - but it didn’t. The kid is in prison now.
‘There’s a lot of truth to these allegations.’
In general that is correct, but there have also been a number of false or exaggerated charges. I have no personal knowledge of this case, but do not trust lawyers.
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