Accuser returns to the stand to testify in priest-abuse trial

The emotional and explosive testimony has resumed at a clergy abuse trial under way in Philadelphia.

A 30-year-old former Marine who says he was molested as a 14-year-old by the Rev. James Brennan in 1996 is back on the stand Thursday for a second day of blistering cross-examination.
The man yelled and told the priest’s attorney that he should be ashamed of himself for suggesting he’s lying about the abuse.

Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly keeping predator priests in parish work. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Several alleged priest abuse victims have testified since the trial began last week, but Brennan’s accuser is the first whose claim falls within the statute of limitations.