Priests use moms to get to kids. Philly trial sparks memories

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One time I walked in on Father Horne with my mom sitting on his lap. Her blouse was open and he had his hand flat firm right smack in the middle of her large naked breast, it's not an image you easily forget.

So when I read about testimony last week in the Philadelphia Clergy Abuse trial, that image of Father Horne with my mom erupted in my head. The testimony concerned the acts of Rev. Sylwester Wiejata, who in at least one of his endeavors, took up with the mom then progressed on to her pre-pubescent daughter From Philly Dot Com article*:

In August 2000, Monsignor Lynn received an anonymous call from a woman who said she knew of Wiejata’s history because she had had an affair with him. She said that she came home and discovered Wiejata fondling and kissing her 13-year-old daughter.

None of this abuse had to happen, you realize, as you read and watch coverage of the Monsignor Lynn trial in Philadelphia. A hundred thousand kids in the U.S. would not have been sexualized by Catholic priests, if decades ago these monsignors and higher had shown some basic human instincts of protection and concern.

More from news of last week’s testimony by the Monsignor:

"How about asking Wiejata? You didn't even ask Wiejata, did you?" DA Patrick Blessington said. He did not, Lynn testified. He said he assumed Wiejata would lie to him.

"You had a girl who was molested, and you did nothing?" Blessington pressed on.

Lynn paused, then said: "I did my best for the people that were injured by priests."

"So by your standard," the prosecutor retorted, "your best is nothing?" 

I've never forgotten walking in on my mom and Father Horne in flagrante with her bare breast in his hands.  That memory has always lurked in my brain. Who knows who else Father Horne got to from the early 1950s to 1985 when he left the planet.

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Here is the story that triggered the memory back into front and center in my brain with their headline

* Philly Dot Com story from May 1, 2012:
Story of ‘ladies man’ priest turned molester unfolds in court

By Joseph A. Slobodzian and John P. Martin

Just four years out of the seminary, the Rev. Sylwester Wiejata was rapidly making a name for himself. Unfortunately for officials of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the reputation of the young, darkly handsome Wiejata was as a ladies man — and one with an eye for married women. On Tuesday, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury listened to the grand jury testimony of Msgr. William J. Lynn as he tried to explain his alleged failure to act as Wiejata’s sexual overtures went from married women to single women in their 20s and, ultimately in August 2000, allegations that he had fondled the 13-year-old daughter of a woman with whom he had an affair. Wiejata’s sexual overtures went from married women to single women in their 20s and, ultimately in August 2000, allegations that he had fondled the 13-year-old daughter of a woman with whom he had an affair.... Wiejata was allowed to attend a retreat house in Larchmont, N.Y. The archdiocese paid the bills. ( http://articles.philly.com/2012-05-01/news/31519789_1_grand-jury-sexual-abuse-priests )

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Posted by Kay Ebeling