Secret files detailed in Philadelphia priest-abuse trial

Prosecutors are expected to continue showing jurors once-secret Archdiocese of Philadelphia files they say track how priests accused of molesting children were shuffled from one unwitting parish to another.

Hundreds of documents are being presented to a jury in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, who was entrusted with investigating complaints against priests as the archdiocese’s secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children for allegedly transferring priests suspected of molestation. His attorneys insist that Lynn tried to drum out predator priests but his efforts were hindered by his superiors.

He is on trial with the Rev. James Brennan, who is charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Both have pleaded not guilty.