Posted on 09/07/2012 6:49:04 AM PDT by marshmallow
Head of diocese is the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in U.S. to be convicted in abuse scandal.
Once relatively anonymous in the Roman Catholic world, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Thursday made an unwelcome piece of history for the 2,000-year-old institution.
A judge convicted the diocese’s bishop and spiritual pastor, Robert W. Finn, of failing to report child abuse suspicions, making him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
Finn, 59, was acquitted of one other misdemeanor count of failing to report. And with Finn’s conviction, Jackson County prosecutors dismissed two similar counts that had been pending against the diocese.
The verdicts came after a short nonjury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.
Finn had faced a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine on each charge. The diocese had faced a fine of up to $5,000 on each of its two counts if convicted.
Before hearing his sentence, Finn told the judge, “I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events caused.”
He also said, “The protection of children is paramount, and sexual abuse of any kind will not be tolerated.”
Because of the nature of the suspended sentence, Finn cannot appeal his conviction, said J.R. Hobbs, who represented the bishop at the trial.
The charges stemmed from the church’s handling of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, on whose laptop computer a diocesan vendor found hundreds of lewd photos of young girls in December 2010.
Finn’s second-in-command at the diocese, Monsignor Robert Murphy......
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Somewhat related - this is very sad:
http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=16229
Fr. Benedict Groeschel Resigns from EWTN
Posted on September 5, 2012 by SBrinkmann
The fallout continues over comments made by Father Benedict Groeschel to the National Catholic Register last week in which he suggested that minors often seduce priests in sex abuse cases, with the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) announcing that Father Groeschel will step down as host of Sunday Night Prime.
They should have never shoved this stuff under the rug. From day one they should have turned over the offenders to the authorities.
Finn, 59, was acquitted of one other misdemeanor count of failing to report. And with Finn’s conviction, Jackson County prosecutors dismissed two similar counts that had been pending against the diocese.
[Faithful Departed author Philip] Lawler points out that while less than five percent of American priests have been accused of sexual abuse, some two-thirds of our bishops were apparently complicit in cover-ups. The real scandal isn't the sick excesses of a few dozen pedophiles, or even the hundreds of priests who had affairs with teenage boys -- the bulk of abuse cases. No, according to Lawler, it is the malfeasance of wealthy, powerful, and evidently worldly men who fill the thrones -- but not the shoes -- of the apostles. In case after case, we read in their correspondence, in the records of their soulless, bureaucratic responses to victims of psychic torture and spiritual betrayal, these bishops' prime concern was to save the infrastructure, the bricks and mortar and mortgages. Ironically, their lack of a supernatural concern for souls is precisely what cost them so much money in the end.
-- from the thread Kneeling Before the World"Even if the problem were recent, the Bible isn't. You'd think, if they had any trust in it, the bishops would have gone to God's Word for help and advice. Rather, the bishops were ignorant and inexperienced with the Bible."
-- Alex Murphy, December 16, 2011
Anyone else feeling like...with all the rapes of little boys by the homosexual monsters that have infiltrated the church...this is all they could get a conviction on?
Glad to see them protecting children from slimeballs who take pics of little girls but where are the convictions for the homosexual rapes?
I have no problem with holding the Bishop accountable, but will we hold principals of public schools to the same standard?
Sad that he had to resign or sad that he is such a misguided apologist he believes that children seduce grown men?
I heard Muslims like to play Rump Ranger Cowboys with little boys...
Anyone looking into that?
Both. Unlike people like Mahony, Law, Bernadin, Skylstad, Weakland, etc., Groeschel always taught the true faith, in his words at least. It’s quite shocking to hear him say something like this.
Do you have some evidence we haven't? Of course we hear about abusive predatory public school teachers with some regularity. What I don't hear about is principals and aministators who transferred those teachers to other unsuspecting schools or who didn't report the matter to the police in a timely fashion.
The 78 year old Fr. Groeschel humbly apologized and clarified what he said:
http://franciscanfriars.com/for-immediate-release-august-30-2102/
Thanks.
I somewhat remember this and if I remember correctly law enforcement was informed early on but did not report any concerns to the Bishop after a teacher had submitted allegations to them.
Here in brief are the details which are not lacking in the story. From the Kansas City Star.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/06/3801058/a-time-line-in-the-bishop-finn.html
There was no coverup.
” Dec. 20, 2010: No later than this date the laptop, Creech’s written report and hard copies of some of the photographs are turned over to Jon Haden, an attorney who represents the diocese. Haden sees some photos but not the images on the computer and tells the diocese that in his legal opinion the images are not child pornography.
At some point later, Rebecca Summers, director of communication for the diocese, tells Murphy to call police. Finn and several other officials are under the impression that Murphy had actually shown the Ratigan computer images to police.”
So Bishop Finn believed the police already had the images prior to his placing restrictions on Ratigan.
Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Shawn Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.
On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic.
Finn then asked a psychiatrist to evaluate Ratigan. The bishop was given the judgment of a professional: the priest was not a risk to children (he was diagnosed as suffering from depression). Finn then placed restrictions on Ratigan, which he broke. When it was found that Ratigan was again using a computer, upon examination more disturbing photos were found. Murphy then called the cops (Finn was out of town) and a week later Ratigan was arrested. Yesterday, Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse.
The Catholic League supports harsh penalties for child sexual abusers, and for those who cover it up. But it also supports equal justice for all, and given what we know of what is going on in many other communities, religious as well as secular, we find the chorus of condemnations targeting Bishop Finn to be as unfair as they are contrived.
We would be remiss if we did not mention that only two newspapers in the nation put this story on the front page: the Kansas City Star, understandably, and the New York Times.
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