Nun tells Philadelphia court she was fired for noting priest's child-porn conviction
April 10, 2012
A nun has testified that she was dismissed from her post as director of religious education in a Philadelphia parish after she probed into a priest’s arrest on child-pornography charges.
Sister Joan Scary said that she was fired in 1995 for “spreading rumors” about Father Edward DePaoli, after she learned that the priest had been convicted on child-pornography charges ten years earlier. Her testimony came during the trial of two Philadelphia priests, Msgr. William Lynn and Father James Brennan, on charges related to sexual abuse.
Sister Scary’s testimony did not involve either of the defendants in the Philadelphia trial. But Judge Teresa Sarmina has allowed prosecutors to introduce testimony about other sex-abuse cases in the Philadelphia archdiocese, in order to illustrate a pattern of behavior. Msgr. Lynn, who once handled clergy-personnel issues for the archdiocese, is charged with endangering children by covering up evidence of abuse. The prosecution has argued that archdiocesan policies encouraged such cover-ups.
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