Lynn — the first U.S. church official ever charged for his handling of abuse cases — insisted he did the best he could as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004 to help victims. He said he prepared the list to get superiors to address the problem.

Bevilacqua ordered the list shredded, although Lynn said he only learned that when the surviving copy and a "shred memo" surfaced this year.

"I'm not perfect," Lynn said at one point, referring to a seminarian's 1992 abuse complaint that he admits "fell through the cracks."

At the time, Lynn was new on the job, juggling a dozen active complaints, and dealing with his mother's death and father's illness, according to his testimony.

The seminarian said he had been raped throughout high school by the Rev. Stanley Gana, who Lynn acknowledged "did horrible things" to children. Gana was defrocked in 2006.

"I'm not happy it fell through the cracks, and I'm sorry it did," Lynn testified.