Altar Boy

MINUTES before former Catholic-school teacher Bernard Shero was convicted Wednesday of raping an altar boy, he joked with the court crier and a deputy sheriff about leaving the courtroom. "Good effort, though," Shero chuckled, when told he couldn't. Shero wasn't laughing for long. On its fourth day of deliberating, a Common Pleas jury convicted Shero, 50, of all five crimes of which he was accused, and convicted his co-defendant, disgraced priest Charles Engelhardt, of four of the five counts against him. The jury deadlocked on one charge against Engelhardt, 66: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child.

A former altar boy has accused Lexington Bishop J. Kendrick Williams of abusing him 21 years ago, one of a dozen new lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Louisville alleging its priests sexually abused children. James W. Bennett said he was 12 at the time of the alleged molestation. "I quit going to the church after it happened," he told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Williams proclaimed his innocence yesterday. "I am stunned and saddened by this accusation," he said.

Two sides of reputed Junior Black Mafia street boss Aaron Jones emerged at a hearing yesterday to consider whether Jones' $5 million bail for shooting a convicted drug dealer should be reduced. John Jones Jr., a new car salesman, testified that his younger brother, Aaron Jones, 27, of S. 51st Street near Cedar Avenue, is one of 13 children. Aaron Jones was an altar boy at St. Francis DeSales, played sports and chess, worked on the yearbook and graduated from West Catholic High School in 1979 before attending Temple University, his brother said.

James Lombardo's hearing is failing a little, he has an ornery knee and a squinty eye, but otherwise, time appears to have done little to weaken the oldest altar boy in the history of St. Mary's Manor retirement home. When he kneels on the red velvet pad to ring the brass bells during Mass, Lombardo sometimes leans against the marble pillar to ease his descent. When he carries the cut-glass pitcher of wine to fill the priest's chalice, his steps verge on a shuffle. He is 94. These are the small concessions he must make to his age. Lombardo was somewhat mature to make a start as an altar boy. He was 77 and had just moved into St. Mary's Manor in Lansdale.

The criminal case resulting from the serial sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast Philadelphia altar boy may well have ended with Wednesday's guilty verdicts against a priest and a former Catholic-school teacher. But the convictions of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero have also opened the door for a civil lawsuit with the potential to reach beyond the two defendants into the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The lawsuit by the former St. Jerome's altar boy dubbed "Billy Doe" was filed in July 2011 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

A PHILADELPHIA judge Tuesday reinstated three felony charges against a Catholic priest who is accused of forcing oral sex on a 10-year-old altar boy in 1997. Father Andrew McCormick sat stoically at the defense table as Common Pleas Judge Paula Patrick held him for trial after a brief hearing on involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and statutory sexual assault. Those charges were dismissed by Municipal Judge Karen Y. Simmons following an August preliminary hearing, during which the now-24-year-old alleged victim testified that McCormick, 56, straddled him and put his penis on the victim's lips and on his teeth.

A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy, four days before he and two priests were to face the start of a landmark trial about clergy sex-abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Edward V. Avery, 69, was sentenced to 21/2 to five years in prison under an agreement with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. It was unclear how the sudden plea would affect the trial, scheduled to start Monday, or if Avery would become a witness for the commonwealth.

A former altar boy at a North Philadelphia parish today filed a lawsuit accusing a priest of molesting him for three years in the 1990s and blaming church officials for not preventing the abuse. Filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, the claim by a 28-year-old Philadelphia man said the Rev. William Ayres sexually abused him in the church and rectory at Incarnation of Our Lord parish, as well as at other spots. The lawsuit names the man only as "John Doe 187" but his lawyers say Ayres and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been told his identity.

In the same peaceful church sanctuary at St. John Bosco Church where Air Force Staff Sgt. Thomas Walkup Jr. once served as an altar boy, mourners yesterday attended his Funeral Mass. Walkup, 25, who grew up in Millville, was aboard a transport helicopter that crashed Nov. 23 during a military support operation near Bagram, Afghanistan, killing five U.S. soldiers and injuring eight others. "I have such fond memories of Tommy, because he was always ready to serve," said Msgr.

Albert Lord Jr., at age 67, is planning to retire as chief executive officer of student loan giant SLM Corp., better known as Sallie Mae, where he has battled presidents and barons of Congress, college heads and student protesters, rival bankers. and other ferocious foes since 1981. He's left Sallie Mae twice before - once voluntarily, once not. Tough job? Even for a guy paid $7 million in cash and stock in 2011, the last year Sallie reported his income? Albert Lord knows tough.

In convicting a priest and a former parochial-school teacher last week of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy from the Northeast, a jury effectively opened the door to further courtroom revelations about how Archdiocese of Philadelphia officials may have shielded these and other predators. A civil lawsuit filed by the former St. Jerome's altar boy known as "Billy Doe" - which was on hold pending the joint trial of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and teacher Bernard Shero - could prove just as important as the criminal inquiries in finding the truth and achieving justice for sexual-abuse victims.

The criminal case resulting from the serial sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast Philadelphia altar boy may well have ended with Wednesday's guilty verdicts against a priest and a former Catholic-school teacher. But the convictions of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero have also opened the door for a civil lawsuit with the potential to reach beyond the two defendants into the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The lawsuit by the former St. Jerome's altar boy dubbed "Billy Doe" was filed in July 2011 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

MINUTES before former Catholic-school teacher Bernard Shero was convicted Wednesday of raping an altar boy, he joked with the court crier and a deputy sheriff about leaving the courtroom. "Good effort, though," Shero chuckled, when told he couldn't. Shero wasn't laughing for long. On its fourth day of deliberating, a Common Pleas jury convicted Shero, 50, of all five crimes of which he was accused, and convicted his co-defendant, disgraced priest Charles Engelhardt, of four of the five counts against him. The jury deadlocked on one charge against Engelhardt, 66: involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child.

In a case that has already put a Philadelphia Catholic Church official behind bars for covering up child sexual abuse, a jury returned guilty verdicts Wednesday against a priest and a former parochial-school teacher for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast altar boy. Wednesday's verdicts against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero for the serial sexual assault of a St. Jerome's pupil in 1998 and 1999 were lauded by District Attorney...

The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury evaluating the child-rape case against the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and former parochial-school teacher Bernard Shero will return Wednesday after a second full day of deliberations without a verdict. The jury of eight men and four women, which deliberated for two hours on Friday, followed by seven-hour days Monday and Tuesday, broke only to send a request to Judge Ellen Ceisler to have portions of the transcript involving Shero read back to them.

The Philadelphia jury in the child-rape trial of a priest and ex-Catholic schoolteacher continued deliberations today, submitting a series of questions to the judge about the allegations against Bernard Shero. The Common Pleas Court jury of eight men and four women asked for a rereading of testimony involving the alleged 1999 rape of a sixth-grader who was in Shero's English class at St. Jerome's parish school in the Northeast. In addition to the testimony of the now-24-year-old victim, the jury also asked to hear the testimony of Philadelphia Police Det. Andrew Snyder about his investigation of the incident.

JURY DELIBERATIONS began Friday afternoon in the trial of a Catholic priest and a former Catholic-schoolteacher who are accused of sexually assaulting the same altar boy in the late 1990s. The Common Pleas jury got the case after hearing closing arguments from Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti and defense attorney Michael J. McGovern, who represents the Rev. Charles Engelhardt, 66. Defense attorney Burton Rose, who represents Bernard Shero, 50, gave his closing argument Thursday.

After 81/2 days of testimony and closing arguments that brought the alleged victim to tears, a Philadelphia jury has begun working toward a verdict in the child-rape trial of a Philadelphia Catholic priest and ex-parochial-school teacher. The Common Pleas Court jury of eight men and four women met for two hours Friday before breaking until Monday. The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero are charged in one of the most salacious episodes in the 2011 county investigating grand jury report on child sex-abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia: the serial rape of a 10-year-old Northeast boy. Engelhardt, 66, and Shero, 49, have pleaded not guilty to assaulting the altar boy the grand jury named "Billy Doe. " The victim, now 24, contacted archdiocesan and civil authorities in January 2009, alleging that Engelhardt, Edward V. Avery, and Shero had serially raped him when he was in fifth and sixth grades at St. Jerome's parish.