Congratulations Mr. Lynch. Please stop apologizing now.

The BBQ Pit
1

*There was never any doubt that William Lynch throttled the priest. Lynch even conceded as much the moment he took the witness stand.

But a jury acquitted Lynch of felony assault and elder abuse on Thursday, bringing a stunning conclusion to Lynch’s 37-year desire to confront the priest he says molested him in a tent on a 1975 camping trip. *

It appears they removed the details of Jerold Linder’s crimes from the article.

http://williamlynchdefensefund.com/lindner.html is Mr. Lynch’s side of the story.

If he had done that to me or my kids, I kill him and feel absolutely no remorse.

Unfortunately, the man will never see a day of jail time for any of it because the statute of limitations has run out.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Lindner_Jerold_W_sj.htm

Burn in Hell, Mr. Linder. Should God exist and you go to face him, I truly hope that he judges you harshly. There can (or at least should) be no grace for people who do such things to children while wearing God’s robes.

2

I would suggest two things:

First, you have an accusation, not proof. It may or may not be as the former defendant claims. That priest has a total molester face in his photo and acts suspiciously, but the accusation was rather… outlandish to begin with and the former defendant is also not neccessarily credible or reliable himself.

Second, you should hope grace is more forgiving than yourself.

3

From that last link;

• Lindner is was accused of molesting at least six children during this time. One accuser was his nephew, who said Lindner sexually abused him repeatedly when he was 5 to 9 years old, in Arizona and in Berkeley, CA.

• A man who came forward in 1997 accused Lindner of sexually assaulting him and his younger brother during Christian Family Movement camping trips in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1975, when the brothers were ages 4 and 7. The abuse is said to have included sodomy and forcing the brothers to orally copulate each other, while Lindner watched. The older brother said Lindner threatened to hurt his younger brother if he didn’t comply. The younger brother said Lindner threatened to kill him. Lindner also is said to have told the boys they would go to hell if they told. The older brother said, “[Lindner] destroyed my life.” Lynch denied abusing anyone.

• A woman in 2002 stated that when she was a 7 year old girl in 1977 Lindner grabbed her, rubbing her up and down her body and kissing her “really passionately” while moaning. The assault is said to have occurred in her family’s Oakland home.

• Another woman accused Lindner of sexually assaulting her in 1976 when she was 10 years old, in her family’s home in Oakland. Lindner was there to say mass for the family.

• A nephew of Lindner disclosed having been sexually abused by his uncle for several nights during a family reunion in Arizona, when the boy was about 11 years old, in 1979.

• In a 2003 lawsuit, Lindner was accused of molesting a girl at Corpus Christi parish in Piedmont, CA while he was a St. Ignatius teacher.

• Lindner was accused of molesting his brother’s three young daughters in 1982, in their Los Angeles home. Two of the sisters said he would stick his tongue in their mouths. The youngest said he sodomized her three times, when she was 5 to 7 years old. She said he yelled, grabbed her hair, called her “dirty”, and said “Bad things happen to little girls who open their mouths.” She said he ruined her life.

So not just one accusation there SB, and that’s just the notes/accusations column.

Lindner’s mother in 2002 stated that she believed the allegations against her son, and that “If he wasn’t a priest and didn’t have the Jesuits standing behind him, I think he would be in jail”.

4

smiling bandit, I usually try to give someone accused of a crime the benefit of the doubt, but it’s difficult in this case. The Church hid him and covered up for him for many, many years, and now it’s too late for justice.

Things like this make me wish I believed in Hell. I wish I could believe this waste of oxygen would be punished for what he has done. Instead the pulls the “sweet elderly priest” card.

I’m very glad Lynch wasn’t convicted.

5

Why? Do you think Chimera is a child molester?

6

Man, if he doesn’t look out the name Lynch will come to be associated with vigilante justice administered via strangulation.

7

I have to admit, that was well-done.

8

I confess to mixed feelings on this issue.

There is a lot of evidence against this priest; even with the benefit of the doubt, there seems little room for doubt that he did despicable things to children, not the least of which were the threats which kept them quiet.

But if we approve of vigilantism, then we are giving up on the rule of law*. And it is the rule of law that, in the long run, saves us from evil acts like this, and worse.

*Yes, I know a jury legally acquitted him; there is little doubt in my mind that they did so because they approved of this vigilante act. I would have been a little happier if he had been convicted of the felony that he committed, even if he was given only a token sentence.

And I will close with the obligatory quote from A Man For All Seasons (the movie, at least):

[QUOTE=Robert Bolt]
Margaret More: Father, that man’s bad.
Sir Thomas More: There’s no law against that.
William Roper: There is: God’s law.
Sir Thomas More: Then God can arrest him.
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!

[/QUOTE]

Roddy

9

There is nothing more comforting in the face of child rape by a religious figure than to be told that while God may forgive Priests for fucking little children he may not forgive you for being outraged by it.

10

That’s not the only interpretation of that quote. They could just be making a general aphorism: we should always hope the most merciful force in the universe supersedes human caprice. While I take a pretty standard (nay, even authoritarian*) view of child rape, I don’t think it warrants eternal torture.

  • I think those with an inclination to attraction to children should be segregated from society.
11

Margaret More: Father, that man’s bad.
Sir Thomas More: There’s no law against that.
William Roper: I’m pretty sure there are several laws against raping children.
Sir Thomas More: Oh, right. Let’s get him.

12

The funny thing overlooked by most Christians is that Romans 2 seems to say that we will all get as we gave, even Christians. And in several of the warnings to the Church in Revelations, John of Patmos threatens that they may be removed or punished for their misdeeds.

So when people do heinous acts and use their Christianity as a cover, saying everything they do is forgiven, I have to look at those two books which tell us otherwise.

13

This is a local story here, and has been much in the news. The whole trial was sort of a train wreck, and the jurors were directed by the judge to ignore the testimony by the accuser. No one wins here, but maybe Lynch can finally put this whole sordid business behind him. I doubt it, though.