Suspect in Priest Beating: He Molested My Brother and Me

A suspect in the beating of a 65-year-old Catholic priest says that he attacked the cleric out of revenge for the molestation he and his brother allegedly suffered at the priest's hands.

Rev. Jerold Lindner was attacked and beaten on May 10 at the Jesuit retirement home for elderly priests where he works in Los Gatos, California. 43-year-old William Lynch was arrested and charged with the beating after phone records showed that it was he who had called the home shortly beforehand to ask if Lindner was on the premises, an Oct. 30 Associated Press report said.

Lynch claims that Lindner sexually assaulted him and his brother when Lindner was 7 and his brother was 5. A Nov. 1 AOLNews story said that, according to authorities, Lynch appeared at the retirement home and confronted Lindner, demanding, "Do you remember me? You abused me and my brother." Lindner responded that he did not remember Lynch, and Lynch then allegedly launched a flurry of punches that left the priest covered with bruises. Lindner then drove himself to a hospital for treatment. He has not been charged with sexual assault in connection with Lynch's claims because the statute of limitations has expired.

Lindner has denied in the past that he molested Lynch and his brother. The cleric has been accused by numerous other people of sexual assault, including a claim by his brother, a former police officer, who says he caught Lindner sexually abusing his daughter. Lindner's sister also says that he abused her when she was a child, and that Lindner also abused her son, Linder's nephew.

Media sources said that Lynch and his brother had received a $625,000 settlement from Catholic order Jesuits of the California Province in 1998. But Lunch mulled over fantasies in which he took his revenge, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2002, "Many times I thought of driving down to LA and confronting Father Jerry.... You can't put into words what this guy did to me. He stole my innocence and destroyed my life." Lynch added that he had tried twice to kill himself, and that he had suffered bouts of depression and alcoholism.

Psychologist and Virginia Commonwealth University professor Steven Danish told the Associated Press that such fantasies, while rarely acted upon, are commonplace for victims of sexual abuse. "Imagine holding something inside for 35 years and letting it fester," Danish told the AP. "He's probably thinking, 'You're living your life and here I am a failure and all because of what you did to me on that day.' "

"Lindner was removed from ministry and placed at the Los Gatos retirement home in 2001," The AP story said. "He was named in two additional lawsuits for abuse between 1973 and 1985, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The cases were included in the record-breaking $660 million settlement struck between the church and more than 550 plaintiffs in 2007."

"As you can imagine it's very emotionally distressing to go through something like this," said the Rev. John McGarry of the beating. "[Lindner] hasn't spoken a lot about it. He's living a quiet life of prayer and service within our community."

Lynch faces a single assault charge. He plans to enter a not guilty plea, according to his attorney.

The AP article reported that as the Catholic pedophile priest scandal has continued over the past eight years, several other priests accused of child molestation have been attacked. John Geoghan was murdered in jail; another priest was shot to death by an alleged victim.

In another California town, Fort Bragg, a similar revenge story unfolded when a 32-year-old man shot a 63-year-old former neighbor. Aaron Vargas confronted Darrell McNeill in 2009 about abuse that Vargas claims went on for years. Even after the alleged sexual assaults ceased, McNeill still plagued Vargas, or so Vargas claimed; when he confronted McNeill with a gun in his hands, Vargas said, he was only looking to warn the older man to leave him alone. But the confrontation ended with Vargas shooting McNeill with a hair-trigger revolver, even as the older man's wife looked on.