Kansas City's anti-gay and "pro-life" Roman Catholic bishop has been indicted on a charge of "failing to protect children" after he and his diocese waited five months to report to police that "hundreds of images of child pornography" were discovered on a priest's computer, reports the AP.
Bishop Robert Finn becomes the first U.S. bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman and the "highest-rank clergyman charged" in the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandals, reports the Kansas City Star.
A Jackson County grand jury on Oct. 6 secretly indicted both Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse in a case involving a priest facing child pornography charges. As Finn and the diocese denied wrongdoing Friday after appearing in court, news of the charges roiled the nation and the Catholic world.
The charges were announced Friday at a news conference by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. "This is a significant charge," Baker said. "To my knowledge, a charge like this has not been leveled before."
Finn as a member of the clergy and the diocese as the operator of schools are required under Missouri law to report reasonable suspicions of child abuse. But they did not do that for five months in the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, the indictment alleges. In a statement, the diocese said its lawyers entered a plea of not guilty for the diocese.
Ratigan faces multiple child pornography charges in state and federal court. A separate lawsuit filed in June accuses Finn and the diocese of violating federal and state child pornography and child abuse laws when they allegedly concealed evidence that the priest "was creating child pornography by photographing and being sexually inappropriate with young parish girls."
The Kansas City Star has published an editorial demanding the Bishop's resignation, saying that Finn "must go."
Bishop Finn is affiliated with the Opus Dei movement. Finn has called for "war" against gay rights and pro-choice activists. Kiddie porn producing priests? Not so much.
Sad but not surprising given the extraordinary cover ups in the RC church for decades on end. Acting like an empire beyond all state Laws and going bust to avoid claims for compensation.
Posted by: Keith | 15 October 2011 at 10:25
This is disgusting! However, I agree with Keith. Its not surprising AT ALL! I just hope no children were harmed by this Pedo-Priest, that had the images on his computer.
Posted by: Isis | 15 October 2011 at 11:43
Yet, there are still "Liberal Catholics" that insist they can change the church from within. Silly gooses, you cannot change the hierarchy!
Posted by: Account Deleted | 15 October 2011 at 22:30
Typical. I no longer bother with the CC anymore. They still havent learned
Posted by: fff | 16 October 2011 at 16:04
Robert Finn and his ilk are repugnant wolves and dangerous criminals covering-up ongoing Roman Catholicecclesiastical crimes. Pope Benedict XVI, the bishops and 1 billion Catholics, worldwide, are engaging in crimes of obstruction of Justice and more.
I live with PTSD, being violated in two seminaries. I am a revivor rising each day to meet the demands of Justice rather than cower to any clericalism.
Until the Vatican, i.e., the Pope removes the penalty of excommunication for openly speaking the Truth about such vile
'incest' within the family of faith, individual souls and all suffer senselessly, tortured by silence, someunto death.
Thanks to Rod and Kansas City Star investigative reporters, whose article in 2000 exposed that 'celibate' priests had an HIV/AIDS infection rate 8-12 times greater than US population.
Let Justice and the will of God be done: "Render to [Civil law] what is under [Civil law] and to God what is of God."
Pastor Michael-Vincent Crea
One World Life Systems
Posted by: Pastor Michael-Vincent Crea | 21 October 2011 at 06:17