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A Philadelphia monsignor tasked with investigating abuse claims has become the highest-ranking US church official to be convicted of covering up child sex allegations. Monsignor William Lynn, who was secretary of the archdiocese from 1994 to 2001, was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child. The jury acquitted Lynn, who oversaw hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, on counts of conspiracy and another charge of child endangerment. Sentencing for Lynn, who faces up to seven years in prison, was set for August 13 by Judge M Teresa Sarmina.

Philadelphia priest says cardinal ordered child abuse list

(Reuters) - The highest ranking cleric charged in a Philadelphia pedophilia scandal asked a judge on Friday to dismiss his case because his boss - the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua - ordered a list he made of predator priests be shredded.

A Catholic priest in Waterford, Connecticut, has been charged with possession of child pornography, according to a statement Tuesday from Waterford police. Dennis Carey, 66, who resigned recently as the pastor at St. Paul Parish Rectory in Waterford, was originally held on $100,000 bond after appearing Tuesday in New London Superior Court, the statement said. The court appearance was a bond hearing and no plea was entered, according to CNN affiliate WFSB.

FAIRFAX, Va. - A man charged with indecent exposure after two women said they saw him naked inside his own home was acquitted Wednesday by a Virginia jury.

Erick Williamson, 29, has argued since his October arrest that he should not be punished for being naked in the privacy of his own home.

YUMA — A jury has acquitted a Tempe pastor charged with failing to obey officers' instructions at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Yuma.

The jury also cleared Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of obstructing a highway during the April 2009 incident at the Interstate 8 checkpoint. Both charges are misdemeanors.

California man admittedly hit CHP officer, but was not convicted by the jury who viewed it as self defense.

As a resident of the most Catholic state in the nation (Massachusetts), I have watched for more than a decade as the Roman Catholic Church responded to charges of priestly pedophilia with a troubling combination of procrastination and obfuscation. Far too often, Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals have identified not with abused children but with their “band of brothers,” their fellow priests. In the case of the sex crimes committed by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, officials at Penn State also looked the other way.

The Vatican has been served with court papers stemming from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse against a now-deceased priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf, attorneys for the accuser and the Vatican said Tuesday.
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The lawsuit was filed nearly a year ago in federal court on behalf of Terry Kohut, now of Chicago. It claims Pope Benedict XVI and two other top Vatican officials knew about allegations of sexual abuse at St. John's School for the Deaf outside Milwaukee and called off internal punishment of the accused priest, the Rev. Lawrence Murphy.

With San Jose leaders locked in a heated debate over how to curb retirement costs, an analysis by this newspaper shows a startling jump in six-figure pensions for retired cops, firefighters and top City Hall bureaucrats.
Nearly 1 in 3 retired San Jose police officers and firefighters now receive annual pensions of $100,000 or more -- up from 1 in 5 just two years ago, according to newly released records.