“The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, with its roots deep in the soil of a secretive, authoritarian, Irish Catholicism, produced a tightly wound clerical culture unparalleled in this country for its loyalty to itself.”

So begins an article by Tom Roberts of National Catholic Reporter, “A Deep Look into Philly’s Clerical Culture,” which was posted yesterday to ncronline.com and shows how clericalism has helped perpetrate the clergy sexual abuse scandal in Philadelphia. The story bears on the issue of the “conspiracy memo” used by Msgr. William Lynn’s lawyers to argue for dismissal of the charges of child endangerment against him. Their arguments failed to convince the judge to dismiss the case.

The “conspiracy memo” issue was the topic of a Voice of the Faithful blog post yesterday.