PHILADELPHIA , PENNSYLVANIA — On Friday, Monsignor William Lynn became the first senior Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to be convicted of concealing sexual abuses by priests under his supervision.

Lynn, 61, from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was found guilty of endangering children, a conviction hailed by victims’ advocates, who have called for accountability on the part of senior church officials who covered up misdeeds, and transferred predatory priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Lynn faces a prison term of three-and-a-half to seven years when he is sentenced on August 13. Lynn served the 1.5 million-member archdiocese from 1992 to 2004, where he recommended priest assignments and investigated abuse complaints.

Prosecutors showed that Lynn neither kept suspected molesters away from children, nor reported sexual assaults to authorities.